Katy Perry to perform first shows in mainland China since Taiwan controversy

American pop star Katy Perry is expected to perform in mainland China in November, years after she was denied a visa for wearing a controversial sunflower dress in Taiwan.

Perry, 40, who made headlines earlier this month when she took a brief trip to space, is set to hold two concerts in an 18,000-seat stadium in the eastern city of Hangzhou on Nov 21 and 22, according to a notice from Zhejiang province’s culture and tourism bureau.

The news comes eight years after Perry was reportedly denied entry for a Victoria’s Secret fashion show in Shanghai in 2017.

Beijing has never confirmed the visa rejection, but US celebrity news site Page Six reported at the time that Perry had been banned from performing in mainland China because of controversy over her 2015 concert in Taiwan.

During her performance in Taipei, the pop singer wore a bright dress featuring a sunflower – seen as a symbol of a student movement that opposed a trade pact between the self-ruled island and mainland China.

Perry, known as “fruit sister” among Chinese fans because of her penchant for fruit-themed outfits, will join a limited list of Western pop singers and bands permitted to perform in China as local policymakers scramble to encourage domestic consumption to offset tariff pressure from the US.

Earlier, officials in Hangzhou suggested that the city was looking to invite Taylor Swift. Government advisers in Shanghai described the megastar as “walking GDP” and called for relaxed restrictions on international performances to spur young people to spend money.

Days after the last known phone call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump in January, American band OneRepublic made a rare appearance on China’s Lunar New Year gala – the country’s most-watched television event.

Ed Sheeran, the British singer and songwriter, held six highly anticipated concerts in Hangzhou in February, while American band Imagine Dragons performed in Hangzhou and the southern city of Shenzhen earlier this month.

Perry’s first performance in mainland China was in Beijing in 2014. She returned the next year and held three concerts – two in Shanghai and one in the southern city of Guangzhou.

Ties between China and the US have been deeply strained as Trump has ratcheted up tariffs on Chinese imports by 145 per cent since his return to the White House in January – a move aimed at forcing Beijing into trade negotiations.

China, meanwhile, has struck back by imposing its own tariffs on US products with a restriction on imports of American films in response to what it called the “wrong action of the US government to abuse tariffs on China”.

Beijing also warned its citizens against travelling to the US, adding to speculation about whether it might target American services – including tourism and entertainment – a sector in which the US runs a trade surplus.

This article was first published on SCMP.