CHINA:ICELANDIC POP singer Bjork has provoked anger in China after she said "Tibet! Tibet!" at the end of a performance of her protest song Declare Independence during a concert in Shanghai.
Local media had flagged the concert, one of a growing number by Western bands and singers in China, as "Bjork's Shanghai Surprise" and the diminutive artiste certainly lived up to the billing.
"If she really did this, then this woman really makes people throw up," ran one comment on Sina.com, while the Danwei website quoted another webizen saying: "Those who put on the show should be severely fined and not allowed to bring this kind of trash in for performances."
Many of the 3,000 fans at the show reportedly missed the reference, and state media did not report the incident, but news of Bjork's message did prompt a number of outraged responses on bulletin boards and blogs.
It is precisely remarks like this that the Chinese government is hoping to avoid at August's Olympic Games in Beijing. Bjork, who performed in the ceremonies at the Athens Games, uses the song Declare Independence to highlight political issues.
Tibet is rarely discussed in China. The People's Liberation Army occupied it in 1950 and Beijing has since kept a tight grip on it. Tibetan activists say tourists and migration by ethnic Han Chinese could swamp the enclave's distinctive Tibetan Buddhist culture, a problem they say has worsened since the introduction of better road and air links to Tibet and, more recently, a rail line to Lhasa.
Beijing says it is bringing economic prosperity to the desperately poor region and that Tibetans enjoy a high degree of autonomy.
Hollywood stars such as Richard Gere and pop stars such as The Beastie Boys have taken high-profile stances backing the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising.
Bjork's Shanghai protest came as several Tibetan independence groups are running high-profile campaigns to promote their cause ahead of the Games.
