A Chinese comedy show company has been fined 1.9 million dollars after one of its comedians at a standup show in Beijing made a joke associating a military slogan with stray dogs.
According to local media, during his standup show on Saturday, the comedian made a joke that associated stray dogs with a slogan President Xi Jinping had used to instruct the People's Liberation Army.
Chinese often use metaphors of stray dogs when insulting others.
On Wednesday, the authorities said that the company must pay a fine of 13.35 million yuan. It said that it will never allow any company or individual to wantonly slander the glorious image of the PLA.
Also on Wednesday, police in Beijing said they had opened an investigation into the comedian for insulting the military.
In recent years, China has been stepping up its patriotic propaganda campaign by glorifying its military.
In 2021, a Chinese court sentenced a popular Chinese blogger to eight months in prison after he raised questions about the official number of deaths among the Chinese military in a border clash with India in June 2020. The court ruled that the blogger had "defamed heroes."