The conflict between Western fashion companies and the Chinese state has been going on for a few weeks. In its center stands: cotton. More precisely: cotton from the Chinese province of Xinjiang.

By the end of 2020, the media had reported that members of the Muslim Uygar minority were being used as slave labor in cotton production. Several large Western fashion groups had then announced that they would not process cotton from the area in the future, all over the Swedish chain H&M.

Singers and actors swim on the clouds

In return, the companies have faced a storm of outrage from Chinese customers (orchestrated by the state). Among other things, there were calls for boycott. Chinese consumers “voted with their feet and boycotted unregistered companies,” it was said a few days ago on state broadcaster CCTV.

But it did not stop there. according to a message The british BBC Chinese TV stations have begun to fade all references to Western clothing manufacturers in many programs. Popular formats such as the music show “Sisters Who Make Waves” or the reality TV show “Chung 21” are influenced.

However, this is clearly a complex undertaking: according to the BBC, some participants were “dressed with western logos from head to toe”. In some places it now seems as if “singers and actors are floating on the clouds”.

Censorship apparently mixed the schedule as well. For example, a production company had to postpone the release date of a show on short notice – officially without giving a reason, but apparently due to fashion.

The cotton conflict escalated in late March after the European Union imposed sanctions against China for human rights violations for the first time in 30 years.