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Leung notes that the Korean Restriction Order in Chi- says.
na was the reason why Chinese fans came to Hong Kong to Leung, who is also a fan of ‘Hallyu’, or the wave of Kore-
meet their idols before the pandemic. an pop culture, believes Koreans still value the Hong Kong
The order was China’s response to Korea’s deployment market. She thinks they have a special emotional affiliation
of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense in 2016. Many to Hong Kong, probably stemmed from the city’s golden
Korean entertainment events have been banned in the age of entertainment.
Mainland since then. “The popularity of K-pop in Hong Kong is greatly re-
“2017 was the year in which a record number of K-pop lated to its popularity worldwide. If it still thrives globally,
concerts were held in Hong Kong because these shows I don’t think the Hong Kong market will respond differ-
could not be hosted in China. Investors in China decided ently,” the fan-turned event organiser says.
to host shows in Hong Kong instead,” Leung says.
Leng points out that the trend of hosting shows in
Hong Kong continued until the Anti-Extradition Bill Law
Movement in 2019 and dropped to zero after the pandemic
broke out.

The Future of K-pop in Hong Kong Edited by Kassandra Lai
Edited by Kassandra Lai
Steve Chung Lok-wai, assistant lecturer of the global
Sub-edited by Sarah Ryou
studies programme at the Chinese University of Hong Sub-edited by Sarah Ryou
Kong, says Hong Kong is no longer the most favoured
market in the eyes of Korean entertainment companies.
“Korean entertainment companies are shifting their fo-
cus to Southeast Asian markets like Vietnam, Indonesia,
Thailand, as well as European countries and the U.S.,” he
says.
Chung believes the reason behind such change is that
the Hong Kong market is small and already stable, so com-
panies choose to direct promotional efforts to other mar-
kets instead.
“But since fans here have high purchasing power, it is
most likely that Korean entertainment companies would
still arrange events and concerts in Hong Kong,” Chung

Korean entertainment companies are shifting their fo-

cus to Southeast Asian markets like Vietnam, Indonesia,
Thailand, as well as European countries and the U.S..