Song Joong-ki & Lee Kwang Soo Bromance 1 (Photo : Facebook/Song Joong KiTH)
“Descendants of the Sun” actor Song Joong-ki had his last fan meet in Shanghai on July 16. It could be the last fan meet for the 31-year-old actor in China because Beijing just banned all Korean celebrities from holding fan meets in the country.
Wall Street Journal reported that the root of the ban has nothing to do with the entertainment world but South Korea’s deployment of a U.S. missile-defense system over Beijing’s objection. As a result, some of the up-and-coming actors and singers from South Korea have been blocked by China from attending promotional events in the Asian giant.
The ban comes at a time when a growing number of Hallyu stars are becoming more popular in China. The best example is Song Joong-ki whose “Descendants of the Sun” TV series broke records in China when it was shown over video platform iQiyi simultaneous when the 16-episode aired over KBS 2TV in South Korea.
Following the extreme popularity of the military-medical drama, Blossom Entertainment, the agency which handles Song Joong-ki, organized several fan meets in China in key cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Shenzhen which were all fully packed.
Because of the ban, share prices of talent agencies in South Korea have plunged, while Chinese fans are lamenting they could no longer see their idols live in their country.
Song Joong-ki’s China fan meets earned the actor 3.4 billion won. He still has a lot of endorsement offers from Chinese companies, but the ban is unclear if it would cover commercials shot in China. While China is a major market for Song Joong-ki and other Korean celebrities, the ban could dent a bit his income, but with so many other Asian cities waiting for Song Joong-ki to hold a fan meet, Beijing’s prohibition would likely not affect the actor’s popularity or income.
But it would not be surprising if China would also block him from accepting more product endorsements because Song Joong-ki was in the radar of China’s censor when “Descendants of the Sun” aired in late February. However, China’s move could affect the reported Season 2 of “Descendants of the Sun” and a movie version.
