Chinese rock festival organisers say they are being ‘smeared’ with ‘exaggerated’ complaints about thefts at Henan event headlined by Cui Jian
- Organisers of the four-day event in Nanyang city in Henan admit thieves targeted some festival goers, but downplay the scale of the problem
- Cities across China are competing to attract visitors during the current holiday period, with officials alert to the risks from bad publicity
The organisers of a rock festival in central China have complained they are being “smeared” over a number of reported thefts at the site.
Numerous festival goers at the Central China Midi Festival, which took place from Friday to Monday in Nanyang, a city in Henan province, took to social media to report that many of their belongings – including tents, mobile phones, bank cards, cash, clothes, shoes, notebooks and even wristbands – had been stolen from the venue and camping area.
A statement from the event’s organising committee confirmed that some concertgoers had items stolen, but complained that the problem was being exaggerated.
Hashtags relating to the complaints on Weibo had attracted more than 210 million views and over 24,000 comments by Thursday evening, becoming the hottest trending topic on the social media platform at one point.
The four-day festival, which organisers said had attracted more than 150,000 visitors, took place during a major holiday period that includes both the Mid-Autumn Festival and China’s national day – a period when cities across the country are competing to attract visitors.