New | Smooth jazz superstar Kenny G visits Hong Kong protest site
One of mainland China’s favourite foreign music stars, Kenny G, caused a mild splash on social media after he dropped in at a pro-democracy protest camp in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
Smooth jazz saxophonist Kenny G – real name Kenneth Bruce Gorelick – visited the main protest site in Admiralty, where he posed for photos with a number of star-struck demonstrators.
Some joked that his presence was a harbinger of the rally’s end, as one of his hits, Going Home, is widely used in mainland China as an effective method for shooing away crowds at closing time.
The song is played in shopping malls, train stations and fitness centres across the country as a signal to the public that it’s time to leave.
This sparked numerous jokes on social media on Wednesday that the musician had been sent by Beijing to finally get the protesters to leave the streets.
Kenny G’s music is hugely popular in China: on the video-sharing site Youku, four of the top 10 most-viewed saxophone videos are of his hit Going Home, with hundreds of thousands of views.
It remains to be seen how the Chinese public will react to Gorelick’s apparent support for Hong Kong democracy. Hong Kong and Taiwanese musicians and actors who have voiced approval for the protests have been widely criticised on Chinese social media, and some have called for them to be blacklisted from ever working on the mainland again.
The mainland government wasn't impressed. At a regular press conference foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters: "Kenny G's musical works are widely popular in China, but China's position on the illegal Occupy Central activities in Hong Kong is very clear."
"We hope that foreign governments and individuals speak and act cautiously and not support the Occupy Central and other illegal activities in any form," she added.