Bon Jovi appears to be the latest act to run afoul of Chinese sensitivities over the Dalai Lama, after the band’s dates in Shanghai and Beijing this month were abruptly canceled.
AEG China, the promoter of the concerts, announced on Tuesday that the shows in Shanghai and Beijing next week “have been canceled for some reason.”
AEG China did not explain why.
Photo: Reuters
The Financial Times reported that the Chinese Ministry of Culture canceled the performances after discovering that a video backdrop for the band’s concert in Taiwan in 2010 featured an image of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.
The Chinese Communist Party has long been critical of the Dalai Lama, whom it accuses of trying to separate Tibet from China.
The cancelation of the Bon Jovi shows coincides with the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Tibetan Autonomous Region and events in China to honor that anniversary have featured vocal criticism of the Dalai Lama.
The New Jersey band had made a special effort to appeal to fans in China ahead of the show, with lead singer, Jon Bon Jovi, recording a Mandarin cover of The Moon Represents My Heart, a popular song by Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng (鄧麗君).
Taiwanese promoter Live Nation initially said on the Tuesday evening that the scheduling the group’s concerts in Taiwan and China were not tied and that additional concerts were unlikely to be added to the Taipei dates.
However, Live Nation yesterday said it has been informed that Bon Jovi would transfer its canceled dates in China to their trip to Taiwan. It said it is scrambling to schedule additional venues for Bon Jovi, adding they will make an announcement in two days about the additional concerts.
Bon Jovi was scheduled to perform in Shanghai on Monday and Beijing on Thursday, followed by shows in Macau on Sept. 25 and Sept. 26 and Taipei on Sept. 28. The Macau shows have apparently not been canceled, as they are still listed on the group’s Web site.
Several artists have angered Chinese sensitivities over the subject of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan rights in general.
During a 2008 concert in Shanghai, Icelandic singer Bjork ended her performance of the song Declare Independence, which was written about Danish-ruled Greenland and the Faroe Islands, with the words: “Tibet! Tibet!”
The ministry said the “political show has not only broken Chinese laws and regulations, and hurt the feeling of Chinese people, but also went against the professional code of an artist,” Xinhua news agency reported.
In 2009, English band Oasis was barred from performing in Beijing and Shanghai, reportedly after it emerged that lead guitarist Noel Gallagher had participated in a 1997 Tibetan Freedom concert in New York.
American band Maroon 5 had its concert this month in Shanghai canceled two months ago.
CNN reported that the group’s fans speculated that it was because Jesse Carmichael, one of its members, had attended an 80th birthday celebration for the Dalai Lama, which he documented on Twitter and Instagram.
Additional reporting by Yu Hui and Diane Baker
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