Has China done Bob Dylan a favour?

Bob Dylan's Asian tour, planned for later this month, has been called off after Chinese officials refused him permission to play in Beijing and Shanghai. The Chinese seem to be worried that he might say or sing something politically sensitive, as Björk did in 2008. As if Dylan would. Don't the Chinese know that these days the 68-year-old former protest singer is a respectable golfer who released a Christmas album last year and has even allowed Blowin' in the Wind to be used as the soundtrack of a TV commercial ? But maybe the Chinese ban will do him some good. Could it help to restore his credibility as the prophet from Desolation Row ?