First Steven Spielberg upset China's internet users after resigning as adviser to the Olympics over Darfur. Now Björk is under attack after shouting "Tibet! Tibet!" at the end of her song Declare Independence at a concert in Shanghai.
Her remark was not reported in official media, but led to criticism when it began to circulate on the web. While China's 58-year occupation of Tibet remains controversial abroad, most Chinese see Tibet as a part of their country and regard calls for its independence as intrusive and divisive.
One fan said it was "disrespectful" and "very selfish" to raise the issue while visiting China.
The Icelandic singer first dedicated Declare Independence to Greenland and the Faroe Islands, which still have formal links to Denmark, and the song's video shows her in clothing bearing their flags. She dedicated the song to Kosovo while performing in Japan last month.
Its lyrics include: "Don't let them do that to you. Raise your flag!"
Matt Whitticase, spokesman for the London-based Free Tibet Movement, said it was delighted by her remarks, contrasting them with Gordon Brown and David Miliband's "shameful" decision not to raise the issue publicly on their recent visits to Beijing.
"Speaking out while in China has shown it is perfectly possible to make a high-profile visit and raise the ongoing plight of the Tibetan people," he said.
Björk's representatives could not be contacted for comment last night.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu said last month: "Tibet has been an inseparable part of Chinese territories since ancient times, which is universally recognised by the international community."
The winner of the 2001 International Emmy award for Best Documentary, Welcome to North Korea is a grotesquely surreal look at the all-too-real conditions in modern-day North Korea. Dutch filmmaker Peter Tetteroo and his associate Raymond Feddema spent a week in and around the North Korean capital of Pyongyang -- ample time to produce this outstanding film.
A film by Peter Tetteroo for KRO Television
This film, shot mostly covertly, shows the irony of a regime where 20 million people lived in poverty, some on the brink of starvation, while former dictator Kim II Sung built extravagant monuments to reflect his power. He fostered a grotesque personality cult, which his son and successor Kim Jong Il perpetuates. All around the capital, Pyongyang, an endless stream of propaganda glorifies the leaders. Monuments and museums pay homage to them, but they are strangely empty.
The contrast between capitalist South Korea and the impoverished North is dramatically shown. The founder of Hyundai, Tsjoen Joe Jung is held in great esteem in the south. He believes in uniting the two Koreas and has made significant donations to economic development in the north, trying to ease the way to reunion.
The film crew was not allowed to interview people at random. The ones "selected to speak to foreigners" gave an idealized image of the regime that was hardly credible. Footage shot secretly by a Chinese relief organization attests to a generation dying from starvation and disease, and suffering terrible human rights abuses. Welcome to North Korea captures in a vivid manner the tight grip the regime has on its people, with a power not used benevolently.
Seattle International Documentary Film Festival, 2003 Chicago International Documentary Film Festival, 2003 Best Documentary, International EMMY Awards, 2001
"Recommended. After viewing this technically excellent film, and acknowledging that 1,000,000 soldiers face one another on the border, one comes away understanding the danger to world peace that this clash of cultures has produced." David W. Sewicki, Butler Library, Buffalo State College for EMRO
"gives students a glimpse into a country that has been virtually closed to the rest of the world." School Library Journal
