Last week, China made headlines with their opposition to Google’s announcement that they would no longer censor search results in their country.  Their next target; Bob Dylan.  Decades removed from his most famous “protest songs”, apparently China still sees Bob Dylan a threat to society. Today, the Chinese Ministry of Culture has refused permission for Bob Dylan to play his scheduled dates in Shanghai and Beijing this month.

Dylan’s past as “an icon of the counterculture movement” has been cited as to why he has become China’s latest censorship target.  The Chinese Ministry of Culture is said to have been on high alert since Björk’s started chants of “Tibet!, Tibet!” after performing a song called Declare Independence in Shanghai two years ago.

The 68 year old Dylan must be having flashbacks, as it has probably been quite some time since he has been considered a threat to anyone.  The Dylan camp has announced that they will be calling off the remainder of the East Asia tour including dates in Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan.

Better news on the Dylan front is that he is said to have completed 16 new songs for the soundtrack of the Olivier Dahan film “My Own Love Song”.   Dylan will get back on the “Neverending Tour” again starting 5/29 in Athens Greece.