First K-Pop Concert In China Since 2015 Gets Abruptly Called Off

In the past few months, hopes were rising about China’s long-standing restrictions on Hallyu or the Korean pop culture finally loosening its grip.

China To Reportedly Lift The Ban On Korean Content

This anticipation was positively reinforced when a K-Pop boy group announced their China concert, the first Korean group concert in mainland China in nine years.

The fourth-gen boy group, EPEX, was set to hold a concert on May 31 in Fuzhou, China. This event was considered a symbolic milestone after the years of cultural ban as a direct result of worsening geopolitical relationships. So, when the show was abruptly postponed recently, it ignited fears that the hopes of cultural free flow might have been premature.

EPEX | Daum

According to industry sources, EPEX’s concert had received official approval, signalling the possible ushering of a new era in the Korea-China relationship. But after the show was announced, it was marred by several scams and impersonation attempts. Fake organizers and ticketing vendors emerged rapidly in China, forcing Chinese authorities to intervene.

The concert had to be abruptly postponed to avoid potential harm to fans and stakeholders. No new date has been confirmed as of yet. EPEX’s agency, C9 Entertainment is reportedly engaged in discussions with local event companies to reschedule the show.

The ban on K-wave in China was imposed in 2017 in retaliation after Korea deployed the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense), a US missile defense system. Though the government never officially acknowledged this ban, the distribution of Korean content within the country has been effectively restricted for the past eight years. Any export of Korean cultural products to China currently requires approval from Chinese authorities, and it has been said that requests often get denied without clear reasons.

The last major K-Pop group to tour China was BIGBANG in 2015, and since then, EPEX has been the first group to be able to break through the cultural ban. The group’s China concert was even more significant due to its all-Korean lineup. It hints at a crucial progress in the state of K-Pop export to China, given that all previous minor performances in the country typically involved mixed-nationality groups or fanmeet-style events.

So far, the postponement has been attributed to local logistics issues, but industry insiders are said to be keenly following the progress of EPEX’s concert to determine China’s suitability for future concerts.