Why 'entertainment soldiers' are here to stay

Celebrity soldiers, beware! Tougher times may be ahead as the military top brass is set to curtail your pampered lifestyle force. To keep their members busy, military song and dance troupes will have to stage at least 100 performances a year for troops, according to a regulation issued by the General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army recently. The number of shows for drama and opera groups is 60.

In addition, the regulation bars those who still have energy left from performing abroad without prior approval, or moonlighting at private concerts or in bars. And in response to a public backlash against "singing generals", the regulation says prominent members of art troupes should no longer be called "generals", even though they enjoy some perks pertaining to the rank.

However, while appeasing discontented regular soldiers and officers who rue the preferential treatment meted out to celebrity recruits, the decision has not addressed a more sensitive public issue: If the stars are so difficult to manage, why not retire them altogether and save the money for more worthy military causes?

Critics say that although military song and dance troupes have boosted soldiers' morale during war times, they have become obsolete today, when a multitude of entertainment is available at the click of a mouse and the tastes of military and civilian audiences have begun to blend.

The military recruits celebrity performers, granting them privileges equal to high-ranking officers. But the performers continue to sell their services in the market. And in recent years, a number of famous military artists have given the military a bad name by being implicated in high-profile scandals.

Supporters, however, have brushed aside calls for abolishing the time-honored practice as "over-simplistic". They argue that despite corruption, the entertainment units are still indispensable, even at a time when the Chinese military is modernizing to improve its combat readiness.