“China is powerful.” “China is on the rise” but when it comes to fair compensation and recognition, they will steal especially you are from a “weak” or “small” country.

Malaysian musician Zheng Binyan revealed that he was effectively “edited out” of the Shandong TV Spring Festival Gala 2026 after being invited to participate in its filming.

Zheng stated that he had completed filming in Malacca and that his self-composed New Year song, 来马过新年 (“Come to Malaysia for the New Year”), was selected as the opening performance piece. However, when the program aired, he discovered that all of his on-screen footage had been removed. In addition, the broadcast did not credit him as the lyricist, composer, or original singer. Although he could still be indirectly identified in certain shots by his clothing, there was no clear on-camera appearance of him.

He expressed confusion and disappointment over the decision, saying that if the organizers intended to invite him and use his song, removing both his appearance and proper credit was not merely a copyright issue but also a matter of respect toward the original creator. He added that he does not know the reasoning behind the editing and, as an independent artist, lacks the leverage to pursue accountability. He shared his feelings publicly in hopes that similar incidents will not happen again.

This is not his first dispute involving Chinese Spring Festival gala broadcasts. In the past two years, his songs 龙龙的新年 and 有舍必有得 were reportedly used in local Chinese TV Spring Festival programs without prior notification, and his attempts to claim copyright fees were unsuccessful.

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