Media reports are of an unusual spate of sudden cancellations or shutdowns in the past week. The events cancelled range across across arts, business and equality:
- a convention for female tech entrepreneurs in Shanghai
- a concert by a Japanese band in Guangzhou
- a “Folkstival” outdoor concert
- Beijing LGBT Center announced it was shutting down
Add Bloomberg:
- Organizers of the scrapped events issued apologies that are thin on detail, citing a variation of “unforeseen circumstances,” when writing in English, or “force majeure,” a legal term to waive liability in the event of circumstances outside a supplier’s control. In the Chinese context, it’s considered a euphemism for higher powers — police or other government bodies that enforce rules or apply pressure to stop activities deemed harmful to the state or society.
and:
- One explanation is a scandal in which authorities fined production company Xiaoguo about $2 million and suspended its performances in two major cities “indefinitely” after comedian Li Haoshi joked about a Xi Jinping military slogan last weekend.
Given the iron fist of the Chinese COmmunist PArty I reckon that final bullet point is on the money.
For markets, at least it doesn’t seem to be a resurgence of infection.