On Monday, Shanghai authorities reported that they detained a blogger for five days for violating the country's national anthem law.
The blogger, 20-year-old Yang Kaili, was shown in a viral video humming marching music before she started to recite the first line of the national anthem while waving her hands as if she was in an orchestra. She then greeted her audience with "Hello, good evening, comrades."
The Shanghai police saw the video and said that Yang "was disrespectful to the dignity of the national anthem and invited disgust among netizens. Live streaming sites are not outside the law."
Yang had already apologized last week in a Weibo post, vowing to stop live streaming and to conduct "self-retification" and "Seriously watch patriotic publicity films."
China introduced the national anthem law last year, mandating a 15 day police detention penalty for anyone who mocks the "March of the Volunteers" national anthem. This law also covers Hong Kong and Macau, which had reported incidents of citizens disrespecting the national anthem.
