Hong Kong pop star Jacky Cheung has had to postpone three tour dates in southern China following complaints that it was due to clash with the country’s annual national college entrance examinations.

The shows, originally scheduled for June 6, 7, and 8 in Dongguan City, in the southern Guangdong province, would have coincided with the exams, or gaokao, which this year take place on June 7 and 8.

After initially considering public feedback, the Dongguan Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports responded on May 22, stating that the concert and the exams did not overlap, as the exams run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., while the concert is scheduled for the evenings.

They added that the venue, the Dongguan Basketball Center, is a closed indoor arena, and that the nearest exam site, Dongguan No. 6 Senior High School, is 1.6 kilometers away. Based on on-site testing and experience from previous large-scale events, authorities concluded that external noise from the venue would be minimal.

Nevertheless, five days later, on May 27, the organizer of Cheung’s “60+ Concert Tour” issued an apology on microblogging site Weibo, stating that the shows had been postponed to Aug. 29-31. They added that up to 1,000 yuan ($139) in compensation would be provided per person for domestic air or train ticket cancellations, up to 3,000 yuan for international flights, as well as up to 400 yuan for hotel fees.

Jacky Cheung is considered one of Hong Kong’s “Four Heavenly Kings” of pop music — alongside Andy Lau, Leon Lai, and Aaron Kwok — who together dominated the industry in the 1990s. 

In the lead up to the concert, more than a dozen netizens had voiced their hopes that the concert would be rescheduled on an affiliated government website. One user wrote, “Even if the government promises thorough mitigation measures, as parents of students taking the exam, we still have concerns.”

“Even if there’s only a one-in-ten-thousand chance of interference, why risk it — especially when the exam dates are fixed and the rest of the year offers ample time for rescheduling?” they added.

Another netizen described how the gaokao is regarded by many Chinese people as the “most important exam in the world,” adding, “For parents, it’s a major milestone in their child’s life. Ensuring the best possible conditions — minimizing uncertainties and creating a calm environment — becomes a top priority.”
 
Others voiced criticism, questioning why the concert dates weren’t planned more carefully from the outset. “It’s unfair to concertgoers, who had arranged plans in advance. Why wasn’t it organized to avoid a clash from the beginning? Why did they (local authorities and organizers) have to wait until they received complaints before postponing it?” read one such comment.
 
Cheung is not the only musician this year to have had to reschedule dates to avoid disturbing students.
 
On April 6, Hong Kong singer Alan Tam had to postpone his June 1 concert in Huizhou, also in Guangdong, to mid-July. The change was made in response to feedback from parents of gaokao candidates at nearby schools, who expressed concerns about potential disruptions. After multiple rounds of negotiations, organizers agreed to reschedule the show.
 
Similarly, on April 30, it was announced that singer Gloria Tang Tze-kei, known as G.E.M., would postpone her concert in Changzhou, in the eastern Jiangsu province, originally scheduled for June 21. Organizers cited the need to maintain a peaceful setting for middle school students preparing for their high school entrance exams.

Around 13.35 million students have registered for this year’s gaokao — a slight decrease of 70,000 from last year — which is widely seen as the best chance for students to secure a coveted university place.

In recent years, Guangdong, China’s most populous province, has made efforts to expand its education system — founding on average two new higher institutions a year between 2014 and 2023 — as part of its plan to drive regional industry development, according to local media. A record 721,000 students from the province sat the gaokao last year.

Editor: Tom Arnstein.

(Header image: Visuals from VCG, reedited by Sixth Tone)