Recession hits HK economy
▶ Netizens urge ban from streaming services
Mainland netizens launched on Tuesday a boycott against Hong Kong entertainers branded as secessionists, calling for a total ban of them to the mainland market.
The online movement has created a heatedly discussed topic, #zhuibuhuangshiyiren, roughly translated as “hunting down Hong Kong secessionist entertainers,” on China’s Twitter-like platform Sina Weibo, which has attracted over 200 million views and more than 33,000 comments as of press time.
Sina Weibo user Shangdizhiying_5zn, who has more than 1.58 million followers on the platform, revealed on Tuesday a concert will be held on December 28 in Maoming, South China’s Guangdong Province, and one of the invited performers was Shirley Kwan Suk Yee, whom many netizens label as one of the “huangshiyiren,” or Hong Kong secessionist entertainers.
Shirley Kwan’s previous Instagram repost of a music video featuring an image tarnishing the Hong Kong police, and a message online in which she asked Hong Kong police to “Stop n think twice,” and “conscience” will bring you [officers] back, were cited by netizens as evidence of her anti-government stance.
The concert is hosted by Maoming company Fortune Properties, according to a poster attached to the post.
An employee with the Fortune Properties, surnamed Li, confirmed with the Global Times on Tuesday that the performer was invited to the concert.
Li also claimed that “such an arrangement was approved by the Maoming city cultural business regulator, as well as by the Guangdong Provincial cultural regulator.”
When asked if public opinion would affect the concert’s line-up, Li declined to comment.
“I do not have the clearance to do so,” she said.
“She is not welcome here” and “She should be denied entrance,” some netizens said.
Some netizens vowed to report the concert organizer to the local authorities.
The Maoming Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports Bureau has not issued any statement on the planned event as of press time.
Besides Kwan, many other names were also mentioned under the topic, including Sammy On The Go, a Hong Kong band exposed by the only verified Sina Weibo account run by families of Hong Kong police.
Not only entry to the mainland market, all secessionist entertainers’ work should be removed from streaming service platforms, one Weibo user said.
Zhang Yiwu, a Peking University professor, told the Global Times on Tuesday that netizens’ spontaneous crackdown of secessionist entertainers reflects their grave concerns for the city, which has been suffering from more than six months of unrest.
Zhang believes that netizens would effectively pressure the relevant organizers to prevent these entertainers from making money from the mainland market while promoting and supporting anti-government riots in Hong Kong.