Beijing, Aug 11 (PTI) China will create a blacklist for karaoke songs, banning those that contain "harmful content" at karaoke venues across the country, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said, a move observers say is part of the crackdown to contain foreign influence.

Separately, Beijing education authorities have banned the use of foreign textbooks in primary and junior high schools in the Chinese capital, which is seen by experts as the latest development in China's regulations on schools' use of teaching materials.

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The crackdown will cover Karaoke songs containing content that endangers national unity, sovereignty or territorial integrity; violates China's religious policies and spreads cults and superstitions; and advocates obscenity, gambling, violence and drug-related crimes or instigating crimes, according to a set of interim regulations issued by the ministry of culture.

The regulations will take effect on October 1 this year, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

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China has nearly 50,000 entertainment venues such as karaoke bars, which have a basic music library of over 100,000 songs, according to the ministry.

The ministry said that it was difficult for venue operators to identify illegal songs, given that some had music libraries of more than 100,000 songs - which was why they were encouraging content providers to take more responsibility.

This is not the first-time China has banned songs from karaoke venues.

In 2015, the ministry released a blacklist of 120 songs that "trumpeted obscenity, violence, crime or harmed social morality", according to BBC.

Songs like "Beijing Hooligans", "Suicide Diary" and "Don't want to go to school" were among those described as having "severely problematic content".

According to one CNN report, a song called "Fart" was also blacklisted. The lyrics of the song read: "There are some people in the world who like farting while doing nothing."

Also Beijing education authorities have banned the use of foreign textbooks in primary and junior high schools.

The ban was announced in a document on textbook regulation that the Beijing Municipal Education Commission issued on Monday, state-run Global Times reported on Wednesday.

According to the document, the textbooks that the city schools use will be written based on the national curriculum and reviewed by authorities.

Foreign textbooks will not be allowed in the teaching of primary and junior high school students, while foreign textbooks used in Beijing's high schools must be in accordance with relevant national and municipal policies.

The report said foreign textbooks are used more in private schools for English classes. Some schools choose to use such books for students with different learning needs.

China has been regulating on the use of teaching materials in schools providing nine-year compulsory education, said Chu Zhaohui, a research fellow at the National Institute of Education Sciences.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)