All concerts in Beijing during the Olympics need government approval, a Beijing Municipal Culture Bureau spokeswoman told a press conference on Tuesday.

At present, most performances at hotels, bars and other venues are held by approved companies and foreign performers using employment passes, Wang Zhu said.

"But performers with only tourist visas are banned from commercial performances, since they have violated China's commercial performance regulations," she said.

She denied rumors that all musical performances at bars will be banned during the Olympics.

"All performances that have been approved by the government after normal application procedures are still going on in Beijing and all the banned performance are those without government approval," she said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 23, 2008)