A VIP's Analysis of Why Seungri's Guest Performance in Shanghai was Cancelled
Disclaimer: I translated this because it gives a better insight as to what could have happened...and it makes sense. Hopefully all the rumors will stop by now.
BIGBANG-YG Weibo just announced the reason as to why they cancelled Seungri's guest performance in Shanghai. To be honest, I was waiting for them to post this but when I saw they wrote "performance restrictions" and "unexpected procedural problem", I finally took the courage to write the following:
-ONE-
First, let's take a look at this key weibo blog. China staff 了子古古 (weibo.com/lezigg) replied to a VIP in his comments section.
Seungri fans also said that they checked his flight booking to Shanghai on the 11th. Subsequently his activities in Japan scheduled on the 17th were also cancelled. At this point, it was a pretty good assumption that Seungri would be the special guest. TOP was never mentioned by official reports that he would be the guest anyway.
Later, someone argued that 了子古古 was only a staff that helped with stage building but from my understanding, it seems he does more than that.
I pixelated the name for privacy reasons. This user confirmed that 子古 told him the special guest was Seungri on May 9th. Before this however, another weibo user said it was officially announced that TOP was the special guest. This is how the China staff responded to me on May 19th (May 20th was when YG made the official announcement of Seungri):
The staff believed that the "promoter" (venue & Damai ticketing) could not have known about this news. On top of that, 子古 said they never helped TOP with his visa. There were rumors that fans checked TOP's flight bookings on the 12th & 13th, but when it was checked again on 14th and the days thereafter, there was no such booking record. This makes me believe that the "promoter" who kept saying the special guest was TOP was only thinking "too much", and they perhaps were unintentionally or intentionally posting fake news.
But this doesn't explain why there was a change in guest.. How come Seungri couldn't perform? Let's continue.
A lot of people's first reactions were that there were problems with the approval notice which meant that Seungri couldn't perform. Someone made a post to say that the "promoter" said that "due to a sudden change in performers = performance permit wasn't approved in time"
But did anyone think that if there was a problem with the approval notice from the beginning, then someone should have notified Seungri and told him not to come? How could it be possible that Seungri cancelled his hectic schedule in Japan to fly to Shanghai but not sing 1 song and then go back to Korea? YG wouldn't be so cold-blooded right? If they knew the approval couldn't be done in time, they wouldn't let you go there right? Not to mention YG announced on May 20th that the special guest was Seungri. If they filed the performance permit at 11:59pm, they would have the approval within 5 days (I checked the relevant approval time; it usually takes 2-3 days). What's more is that I don't believe YG would announce the special guest just like that if they didn't know about the approval ahead of time. If so, that is very unprofessional for an entertainment company!
Okay let's move back a million steps. If there was really no approval, then why didn't they approve it this time? The rules are exactly the same as Beijing's! Are you saying that the Ministry of Culture in Shanghai deliberately denied this approval even with the 5 days limit? That they were deliberately making it hard for the Koreans? I can't understand why they wouldn't approve Seungri's performance permit. It's impossible to say there was not enough time because 5 days is enough, but the one thing I seriously can't believe is that YG would have the nerve to announce Seungri as special guest if they didn't have the approval documentation. Therefore, this reasoning doesn't stand.
Furthermore, I don't think I can believe what the "promoter" says. Who knows if someone leaked the fake news about TOP going to Shanghai from the very beginning, but YG found out so they changed it to "TOP had a sudden photoshoot". (well, Seungri also had a schedule that day which he cancelled!) In the end when Seungri couldn't perform on stage, they could have leaked another fake news to say "there was a sudden change of guest" and then no one would suspect them - "Look! I didn't lie to you guys!"
Like what the staff said, the "promoter" (venue & Damai ticketing) could not have possibly known about YG's plans. The staff said it was always Seungri from the very beginning. I'd much rather believe the staff than the "promoter", because the venue and ticketing agents have other benefits to consider whereas a staff is only a staff!
Let's get to the core of this analysis - why Seungri couldn't perform.
I researched a lot of regulations and found that there are 2 main reasons why overseas artists can't perform (based on this incident only because of course there are many other reasons):
A) Performance permit was not approved in time
I analysed it just now - YG wouldn't let Seungri travel to Shanghai if the approval was not done in time. There is no reason for Shanghai not to approve him within the 5 day period (counting from YG's official announcement).
B) Those who engage in commercial performances in China MUST HOLD A VALID COMMERCIAL PERFORMANCE VISA. It cannot be a travel, business or other kinds of visas.
So I want to make a daring assumption: could it be that the staff made a huge mistake and applied for the wrong visa? No one found out because the passport was always with Seungri & he wouldn't check to see if his visa was accurate, right?
Alright! Are you ready for the 3rd point??
This involves professional knowledge of a commercial performance and the visas required.
(omitted government detail)
This is a summary of what I found out:
"Those overseas who come to China to do a commercial performance must hold a valid commercial performance visa (visas that start with the letter Z). In order to apply for such type of visa, a relevant approval notice must accompany it. The commercial visa only allows 1 visit to the country, unlike the rest which can allow you to enter the country twice."
This means that GD & members must apply for the commercial visa twice to enter the country: once to Beijing, once to Shanghai.
Let's also take a look at the concert approval document:
In this document dated April 13th, special guest Seungri was not in the approval notice, so this means that his performance permit and commercial performance visa were done separately. Everyone else's license were fixed so there wouldn't be any problems, but a single one would!
I'm sure someone will ask this: If they knew they were going to Beijing and Shanghai, why not directly apply for a visa that allows 1-2 times entry into the country...or even the 1 year ones where they can enter multiple times?
Like I said before, a commercial performance visa can only be applied and used once, because overseas artists who perform for profit must pay taxes once they enter the country. This is why a commercial performance visa is in the same category as a working visa. It forces you to pay taxes 30 days after you enter the country, otherwise you will be arrested when you try to leave.
So why did I believe something was wrong with the visa? I received this private message from the staff:
Okay I'm not that bored to make 2 accounts so it seems like I'm talking to myself. I pixelated the staff's name for privacy reasons, just like how he can't tell me why the mistake was caused because he doesn't want to get fired by YG. All I want to say is that sometimes the real news don't get leaked whereas the fake ones always do.
Chinese side said it was due to negligence by Korean side but I don't think things are that simple. I think it's because there were some coordination issues from both sides, hence Korean side blamed Chinese side and vice versa.
Chinese side needs to provide the documentation to the Korean side such as the approval document from Ministry of Culture, so that they can take it and apply visas for the artists. What's different is that the Korean side had to apply Seungri's visa and approval documentation separately from the other 96 people. They did it correctly for Beijing but there might have been a mistake for Shanghai's.
You can argue how come last time everything was okay yet not this time? Maybe there was a change of staff to apply for the relevant documentations, or they made a mistake for what types of visa was needed. There is a higher possibility for mistakes to appear for 1 person vs 96 people. Or perhaps the Korean side took the wrong document to apply for the visa. This procedure is what I assumed went wrong because no one is bored enough to flip through their passport and see if their visa is accurate. Besides, Seungri is a busy man. I don't think he would check since the staff helped him do it and he probably didn't think there would be any errors.
Finally....one last question: How come one can't perform if the applied visa was wrong? Can't they perform with only the approval notice issued by the Ministry of Culture? How come that visa is so important? As mentioned before, only this type of visa makes you pay taxes after you enter China. When you leave, they will check! It is a crime to perform without having the proper documentation. If you perform with a different visa, they will say you did that to avoid taxes which is illegal! Understand?
A) Due to some mistake, the Korean staff applied a wrong visa for Seungri.
B) Perhaps the "promoter" (venue + ticketing agent, NOT the staff in charge of GD's concert) released wrong or fake news (but don't know whether intentionally or unintentionally).
C) Fans are the victims because we've all been played.
D) GD is the victim; it's tiring for him to perform the whole concert without a special guest.
E) TOP is the victim; the poor guy is just sleeping at home yet he has to go through all this drama.
F) Seungri is the true victim in all of this. I'm sure no words are needed since ALL his fansites showed up at the airport that day to see if he was okay.
Source: http://ww3.sinaimg.cn/mw690/be904d30gw1e535u6ex4lj20c863k7wh.jpg
Translation: jwalkervip.tumblr.com
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