China, which has never officially acknowledged the ban, has more confidence in its own entertainment now and is looking to boost consumer spending, experts say.

The concert was set to be small but significant: the first by an all-Korean K-pop band in mainland China after an unofficial ban on such shows for almost a decade.

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That was exciting news for fans like Haerin Ouyang, a university student in the coastal Chinese city of Fuzhou, where the South Korean boy band Epex had been scheduled to perform on Saturday.

But the show was canceled earlier this month, less than two weeks after it was announced, leaving Ouyang “heartbroken.”

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