Taylor Swift's new clothing line risks angering China

AAP

23 Jul, 2015 11:00 AM2 mins to read

Pop star Taylor Swift. Photo / AP

Taylor Swift's soon-to-be released clothing line and merchandise is treading a fine line in China.

The pop star's clothing line, called TS 1989 - alluding to her year of birth - is receiving unwelcome press about how it could be construed as promoting the Tiananmen Square incident in the same year.

Any talk of the 1989 incident has been suppressed by China's communist government ever since.

The dates are so sensitive that China has blacklisted searches with any combinations of the numbers 6, 4 and 89 on Chinese social media sites, to prevent people looking for information on what has become known as the June 4 Massacre.

Recently Swift released a promotional video promoting the line in China, introducing herself in Mandarin.

"Ni hao, it's Taylor Swift. Be sure to check out my new authentic merchy [merchandise], now available in China," she says.

The clothing line will be available for purchase in China via e-commerce site JD.com next month - assuming it gets past censors.

The internet has been quick to comment on the faux-pas.

Beijing based journalist Fergus Ryan said "forget Apple & Spotify, now Tay-Tay is taking on the Chinese Communist Party".

Twitter user @metapostasy channelled Taylor Swift's song Blank Space with "I gotta a(sic) blank space, baby, and it's an accounting of Tiananmen Square in Chinese history books".

Simon Kinnear asked "how long before the first Taylor Swift fan unwittingly gets arrested while on holiday in China?".

Fans - or Swifties - have been counteracting the jokes with their excitement for the line.