The youngest winner of the Chopin Competition, in 2000, the Chinese Yundi Li, who made a career under his first name Yundi, was arrested by the Chinese authorities in the presence of a prostitute, then detained. An official disgrace immediately followed.
It was Thursday, the morning of the announcement of the results of the 18the Frédéric Chopin international competition, which the Chinese media reported in snatches of the arrest of the “prince of the piano”. On Weibo (Chinese social media) police accounts, there was talk of a certain Li, 39, letting the first syllable of his first name “Yun” filter out, along with a photo of a keyboard and an edifying comment. : “It’s not just black and white in the world. But you have to clearly draw the line between white and black. “
Expeditious forfeiture
The cross-checks were made in a flash, one of the official bodies, Caixin, which uses the English-language Twitter network, on the same day broadcast several messages attesting that “Li Yundi, a famous Chinese pianist, was arrested by the Beijing police, who suspect him of soliciting prostitution ”. As early as Friday, the comment accompanying the pianist’s photo read: “Since 2014, at least a dozen singers, actors and other performers have fallen victim to Beijing’s crackdown on bad behavior. famous. The move is part of a campaign to ensure that China’s cultural elite serve as a moral role model for the masses. “
Under Chinese law, Yundi Li faces up to 15 days in prison and a fine of up to 5,000 yuan, or about 1,000 Canadian dollars. But above all, this event puts the ax in his career in China.
The Chinese Musicians’ Association has already announced that it will revoke the pianist’s membership, due to the “extremely negative social impact” of his behavior and his arrest. The China Performing Arts Association for its part said, according to the Global Times – media attached to the Chinese Communist Party – that “Yundi Li’s actions reflect his indifference to the law and his lack of moral self-discipline.” She therefore calls for the boycott of the 39-year-old pianist.
The move is part of a campaign to ensure that China’s cultural elite serve as a moral role model for the masses.
Yundi is an international celebrity who has invested heavily in the Chinese market, where her audience numbers in the hundreds of millions. His popularity is such that he appears on New Year’s TV shows and sits as a jury for a reality show, Call Me By Fire (sort ofAmerica’s Got Talent Chinese). the New York Times reported Thursday that his Weibo account is followed by 20 million people. From now on, all his functions and all his honorary titles have been erased, and he appears there as an “international pianist”. Always according to the New York Times, the episodes of the show Call Me By Fire in which the pianist had participated have already been removed from the streaming local.
Everything that Yundi built in his country in twenty years was therefore wiped out in a week.
The event and its media coverage on the day of the announcement of the winners of the 18the Chopin competition never ceases to disturb. More than twenty years ago the Hong Kong-based Information Center on Human Rights and the Democratic Movement as well as the American NGO Human Rights Watch already warned about the repression of dissent in China through of piaoji, the crime of associating with prostitutes, used to compromise and bring down opponents. No one knows for the moment what sin Yundi could have committed to alienate the city councilors of his country. Consternation reigns about his future and his career, which, obviously, he will have to completely rebuild in the West.
Yundi, elegant and very refined pianist, true anti-Lang Lang, who had made his debut in Quebec in Lanaudière in 2004 during a stoic recital given under downpours, was to perform in Montreal on April 8, but his recital had been canceled due to COVID-19. We hope to see him again very soon.