China Unhappy With New GNR Album

Not Popular In Beijing

A newspaper published by CHINA's ruling Communist Party is blasting the latest GUNS N' ROSES album as an attack on the CHINESE nation.

Delayed since recording began in 1994, "Chinese Democracy" hit stores in the U.S. on SUNDAY, although it is unlikely to be sold legally in CHINA, where censors maintain tight control over films, music and publications. In an article headlined "AMERICAN band releases album venomously attacking CHINA," the GLOBAL TIMES said unidentified CHINESE Internet users had described the album as part of a plot by some in the WEST to "grasp and control the world using democracy as a pawn."

The album "turns its spear point on CHINA," the article said.

THE GLOBAL TIMES article referred only to the title of the album and not to specific song lyrics. The record's title track makes a reference to the FALUN GONG meditation movement that was banned by CHINA as an "evil cult" and warns "if your GREAT WALL rocks blame yourself," in an apparent message to the country's authoritarian government.

Songs from the album could be heard on Internet sites such as YOUTUBE and the band's MYSPACE page on MONDAY and it was not immediately possible to tell whether CHINA's Internet monitors were seeking to block access to it.

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