China detains ‘piano prince’ Li Yundi on suspicion of hiring prostitute amid crackdown on celebrity culture

China has detained a prima pianist, Li Yundi, connected suspicion of soliciting a prostitute, successful what state media are describing arsenic a “warning” to celebrities that they excessively indispensable debar “breaching the bottommost enactment oregon challenging the law.”

The determination comes amid a wide crackdown by China’s authorities connected aggregate sectors, including the amusement manufacture and personage culture. Activists and critics of the authorities have antecedently accused China’s authorities of utilizing prostitution charges to people and discredit them.

Beijing constabulary said in a societal media station Thursday that it had detained a 29-year-old pistillate and a 39-year-old antheral connected suspicion of prostitution pursuing extremity offs from the public, and that some radical had confessed to breaking the law.

The constabulary did not sanction either idiosyncratic successful full, but identified the antheral arsenic “Li Di,” with the mediate portion of his sanction removed, arsenic is communal successful constabulary statements. Beijing constabulary besides published a cryptic post that appeared to allude to Li, showing a photograph of a piano, with the words “this satellite is not conscionable achromatic and white, but we indispensable differentiate betwixt achromatic and white. This perfectly cannot beryllium mistaken.”

State media past reported than Li was the antheral who was arrested, and quoted experts saying that this could person a fatal interaction connected his career.

Li became a household sanction and personage successful China aft helium won the International Chopin Piano Competition successful 2000, astatine the property of 18 — becoming the youngest pianist, and archetypal Chinese person, to bash so. Since then, helium has go known arsenic the country’s “prince of piano,” and has performed astir the world, including astatine Carnegie Hall, and appeared connected assortment shows connected Chinese television.

On Friday, the Chinese Musicians’ Association said it had canceled Li’s rank fixed the “negative societal impact” helium had caused. In a abstracted statement, it urged its members to “continuously amended their idiosyncratic ideology and morality” and “stick to the bottommost line.”

Earlier this year, the Chinese authorities banned “American Idol”-style competitions and shows featuring men deemed excessively effeminate, portion high-profile Chinese histrion Zhao Wei has had her movies, tv bid and quality mentions scrubbed from the Internet arsenic if she had ne'er existed.

Experts person described the determination arsenic portion of the party’s efforts to power what is permitted successful fashionable culture.