Nearly a decade after China imposed an unofficial ban on K-pop performances in the mainland, Beijing appears to be lowering one of the non-trade barriers that kept South Korea’s cultural phenomenon out of the country.
South Korean boy band Epex is now gearing for a concert in China next month, their agent C9 Entertainment said Tuesday, raising expectations that Beijing may ease restrictions on K-pop culture in the mainland.
The concert, scheduled for May 31 in Fuzhou, Fujian province, marks the first performance in nine years in mainland China by a K-pop group comprised entirely of Korean nationals, says Lee Jae-young, chief executive of C9 Entertainment. K-pop stars with foreign nationalities have occasionally appeared on Chinese television shows, according to Yonhap News, which first reported the news. Lee says the Fuzhou concert venue has a capacity of about 1,000.
