“You can't look at a glass half full or empty, if it's overflowing.”  - Ye 

It’s difficult to grasp the scale of Ye without acknowledging the long string of titles and accomplishments attached to his name. Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, is not only a rapper and fashion icon, but also a former presidential candidate, America’s first Black billionaire, a figure mired in controversy for his antisemitic remarks, and now an economic force behind the economy of China’s southernmost province, Hainan. On September 15th and 28th, Ye performed to sold-out crowds of 42,000 people at the Wuyuan River Sports Stadium in Hainan (Lu 2024). To much surprise, he performed again at the same venue later that month. These concerts were part of a promotional tour for his duology albums, Vultures 1 and 2. While the first event featured a joint performance with co-creator Ty Dolla $ign, the second was a solo act by Ye. Having moved to China for a year at 10 years old, Ye’s return to Asia seems fitting and clearly an economically promising investment for him and the province alike (Zheng 2018).

Following his fallout with Adidas in October 2022 as a result of anti-semitic comments, Ye experienced a $1.6 billion drop in net worth (Isidore 2022). His recent focus appears to be shifting towards Asia, where his concerts have been commercially successful, especially as interest in his U.S. shows has plateaued (Larisha 2024). Lack of microphones, rumors of an addiction to nitrous oxide, and one to two hour late appearances have left his American shows as blunders of overt use of fog machines, dystopian on-stage outfits, empty seats, and 90-minute performances without him ever touching a microphone. Speculation about his potential relocation to Tokyo seems plausible, particularly after a Chinese official hinted that after Ye’s performance, Hainan aims to "position itself as a hub for world-class music events" (Choi 2024). With demand for Ye at an all-time high, his growing presence in Asia suggests that he is ready to deliver.

The approval of a Ye concert in such a censorship-heavy country shocked notable Western news networks in America. The Guardian’s Helen Davidson expressed this shock, and said, “One of the biggest and most controversial foreign acts in the world had been allowed in by China’s notoriously censorious regime” (Davidson 2024). This would be Ye’s first appearance in China since 2008. Therefore, the location being Hainan instead of booming entertainment sectors like Beijing or Shenzhen was surprising to say the least. For the Chinese government, it was an economic power move for a province whose economy was beginning to slow down. Hainan local Kaycie Xun recounted her surprise at Ye performing in Hainan, of all places: “The only other city in Asia that Ye toured was Seoul, so knowing that he would choose a small city like Haikou, Hainan was unimaginable” (Lu 2024).

The appearance was not without its proponents as a photo circulated before the concert by Netizens displayed Chinese government officials meeting regarding the “‘Kanye West World Tour Audiovisual Concert’ Risk Assessment Meeting” (Wang 2024). Standing before an audience of thousands with a microphone, Ye could say anything, and with previous actions and statements regarding Jewish people, George Bush, and slavery, it seems clear that Haikou was willing to risk these statements. Despite being a unitary communist state with extreme censorship, the immediate benefits that Ye’s appearance provided to the small beach province’s economy outweighed the potential harm he could inflict.

Hainan is commonly referred to by locals as ‘the Hawaii of China’ and has positioned itself as a key international tourist destination for sunshine and beaches. Over the past couple of years, Hainan’s economy has been booming (Dong & Bian 2024). The issue: a reliance on agriculture, specifically coconuts, mangoes and pineapples, which the province is attempting to move away from due to severe disparities between rural and urban areas. This is not to say that Hainan has been struggling financially, but reliance on a sector like seasonal tourism is not without its risks: a beach city is only a beach city for so many months out of the year. In fact, as of 2020, Hainan is known for having one of the highest life expectancies in China and the highest percentage of centenarians (Chen et al. 2020). The rural areas, on the other hand, are still reliant on the agriculture the city is attempting to move away from, revealing some severe economic disparities. The push to become a center of modernization cannot leave rural areas behind. Ye’s concert played a pivotal role in drawing attention to infrastructure improvements, such as road connectivity. Furthermore, some government officials believe Ye’s appearance will increase off-season tourism and reduce reliance on agriculture. Instead, rural areas will either expand with the city or become points of cultural significance for tourists (Junjie 2024). Ye was in no way needed to proceed with the government's plans, but the artist's appearance in China has left the province's economy overflowing with the concerts bringing in more than $53 million in tourism revenue (Wang 2024).

Hainan's economic strategic shift towards modernization is reflected in its rapid growth since 2020 (Interesse 2022), as it starts to transition away from agriculture to a vibrant hub for technology and entertainment. In 2020, Hainan was designated as a free trade port in hopes of attracting foreign investments and bolstering itself as an economic hub. Goodbye coconuts and mangoes, welcome Alibaba and Tencent. Since 2022, “the number of invention patents granted in the Hainan Free Trade Zone increased by 44.3%, while the transaction volume of technology contracts was up 46.3%” (Yeung 2024). In Ye terms, “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man!” (Jay-Z 2005). The promotion of the free trade port in Hainan was not without its detractors, with the overall opinion that the port was just one small step towards supporting the government's plans. Wang Ke, director of Haikou’s tourism bureau, expressed that the port itself did not bring significant improvements to infrastructure or living standards (Lu 2024).

Enter Ye with a resounding soliloquy. With a total of 84,000 attendees combined from both concerts and ticket prices ranging from $100 to $500 USD, the concerts brought in an estimated $7.2 million (Lu 2024). What is more significant is what occurred off-stage. Local hoteliers experienced a 90% occupancy rate, despite hotels raising prices significantly leading up to the concert (Junjie 2024). 96.5% of ticket holders were from outside of the province (Chen 2024). The Chinese government hopes these statistics are not stagnant for the weekends of the concerts, as they believe tourism will continue to spike across the year, leaving broad positive implications for the future of Hainan’s economy. With the initial doubts toward the benefits of the free trade port on the lives of Hainan citizens, Yew Tian of the Straits Times offers a positive response to the appearance of Ye in China. He says, “Against a background of foreign capital leaving China, Ye’s show is a good reminder that there is money to be made in the country” (Tian 2024).

China is struggling economically right now. Chief Chinese economist for Goldman Sachs, Hui Shan, states that the Chinese economy is in a state of “not too good and not too bad, but [that of] a rather stable picture” (Nathan 2024). Ye’s appearance is proof that there are opportunities for growth instead of just stability for the country. Hainan as the hub for this growth is again surprising but somewhat ideal. The Chinese GDP is growing, with an overall expected growth of 4.8% this year (Yao 2024), but this is much less than the government had reported for 2024. The inconsistencies between provinces seem to be at the heart of this issue. The province of Jiangsu, the leading source of income for China, is bringing in 53 times the income compared to Tibet (National Bureau of Statistics). This is evidence of a huge discrepancy in development and urbanization across China. Ye’s appearance in China seems to be the solution. Just a month after Ye’s performance, Charlie Puth announced his Asia tour will have an appearance in the same Wuyuan River Sports Stadium in Hainan this November (Kathlin 2024). The Vultures Chinese Tour is evidence that the censorship-heavy country is more than willing to loosen restrictions to bring in more Western celebrities, which Chinese economists have coined as “walking GDP” (Liang 2024). Time will only tell if entertainment investments will pay off for the entirety of the halting Chinese economy; however, if Hainan serves as a tale of the success of risky entertainment investments, we could see a shift in the government's opinions toward foreign investment and censorship altogether for the sake of continuing its robust economic growth.

“I think what Kanye West is going to mean is something that’s going to be a part of the future.” - Ye

References

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