Kanye West performs in China as fans surprised he passed country’s strict censors

Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, performed in China for the first time in 16 years on Sunday, to the great surprise of his fans worldwide.

The musician, who was accompanied by wife Bianca Censori and ex-wife Kim Kardashian, brought on stage his children North, Saint, Chicago, and Psalm to perform with him his track  “Everybody” from his album Vultures.

The show, or listening party as Ye prefers to call them, was held at the Wuyuan River Sports Stadium in Hainan’s capital city, Haikou, and sold out all 42,000 tickets. Ye also announced plans for his next album, debuting a new song titled  “Preacher Man.”

Rumours are swirling on Chinese social media about Ye putting on a second show in Haikou on 21 September.

A hashtag about his show saw over 1.7 million interactions on Chinese social media site Weibo, with most asking the simple question, “How?” according to The Guardian.

However, several aspects of his show have left fans both shocked and confused; the fact that the concert was held in a small province like Hainan as opposed to bigger cities such as Beijing or Shanghai, and that he was able to hold the concert in China at all.

China is known for its inflexible restrictions on foreign performers, controlling tightly what they can and cannot say. Authorities require performers to submit set lists as well as song lyrics to receive approval for tours, which most often they are unable to secure.

Justin Bieber was barred from performing in China in 2017 because of past instances of “bad behaviour” in the country and elsewhere, and Katy Perry was allegedly refused a visa because she wore a sunflower gown during a 2015 concert in Taipei, which looked like she supported Taiwanese anti-China protesters, who use a sunflower as their emblem.

In 2016, Lady Gaga’s entire repertoire was banned after she met the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and Maroon 5’s shows were cancelled in 2015 after the group’s keyboard player sent birthday wishes to the Dalai Lama.

Fans’ surprise at Ye’s concert being allowed to take place is clearly justified, especially considering the crackdown on the hip hop music scene in 2018, which the government felt was “immoral and vulgar content” and should be kept off air.

Ye has a history of controversial behaviour – his vocal support for Donald Trump, a series of antisemitic tirades, as well as the suggestion that slavery was a choice made by Black people in America, all of which led to major brands severing ties with him and widespread backlash.

However, Ye has spoken favourably about China in the past, telling Forbes magazine in 2021 that he “loves” China and that his mother taught English in the country when he was younger.

“I love China. It changed my life. It changed my perspective, it gave me such a wide perspective. My mom as an English professor taught English in China when I was in fifth grade,” he said.

Experts believe China’s struggling economy might be the cause. Since China reopened its borders in 2023 after the Covid-19 lockdowns, the government has been trying to galvanise spending and promote tourism, especially in Hainan.

The Haikou government in fact posted about Ye’s show on their website, describing how performances by international singers are the way to “the high-quality development of the tourism industry”.

“According to relevant officials from the Haikou Municipal Tourism, Culture, Radio, Film and Television and Sports Bureau, vigorously introducing new performances sought after by young people and concerts of international singers with super traffic is a long-term layout for the high-quality development of the tourism industry in the future,” it read.

“It can effectively attract international tourists and promote the diversified development of the tourism industry.”

Hainan, which is also widely referred to as the “Hawaii of China,” was one of the most popular tourist destinations for Chinese residents. However, numbers for domestic tourists have reduced, and international tourists have not been making up for it. While China saw 49.1 m tourists in 2019, it has only seen around 17.25 million foreign tourists till July of this year, according to CNBC.

These numbers don’t seem likely to meet Hainan’s tourism development targets; the region aimed to see a total tourism revenue of 207bn yuan (£22.06 bn) and receive over one million inbound tourists.

“The meeting made it clear that in 2024, Hainan’s tourism economic development goals are: to receive 99 million tourists throughout the year, a year-on-year increase of 10 per cent; total tourism revenue of 207 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14 per cent; and to receive more than 1 million inbound tourists,” reads a release on the culture and tourism ministry’s website.

Reports also said that the retail spending on Haikou decreased – shoppers decreased by 11 per cent across the island while duty free sales fell by 30 per cent in the first seven months of 2024.

With reports of Taylor Swift’s record breaking Eras tour bringing in $1.04bn in 2023 alone, it’s likely China saw the benefits.

In an official release in May, Hainan’s government several financial incentives and rewards to organisers who were able to bring in “large-scale concerts and musicfestivals” to the island and laid out a list of measures it was taking to promote Hainan as a stop for foreign artists.

A week before Ye’s Hainan show was announced, organisers for a similar listening party in Taiwan cancelled it, citing “unforeseen circumstances”. It was unclear whether this cancellation was related to Ye’s China show, as China claims sovereignty over Taiwan.

The statement read: “The Taiwan stop of the Asia stadium tour of the Vultures Listening Experience has been canceled due to unforeseen circumstances that prevent us from continuing to fulfill our contractual obligations. We sincerely apologize to the fans.”