Hundreds of fans gather outside a hotel where Chinese-Canadian pop idol Kris Wu was staying in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, in 2017. Photo: VCG

In a new regulation released by Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism on Friday, the culture authority stressed to strengthen supervision of performing arts entities and activities, highlighting the education right to young performers and fans under the age of 18.

The regulation requires performance agencies to guarantee young artists' lawful rights and interests, including access to compulsory education. It forbids distorting young performers' value by recruiting them as trainees and imbuing them with misleading views such as "Be famous as young as possible."

Permission must be obtained from minors' parents or guardians when they get involved in performances. The performance organizers are not allowed to have fans under 18 years old taking part in supporting gatherings. Nor should they entice teenage fans to spend money on supporting activities except the normal performances.

The regulation also stresses moral education on all performers, warning those who break the laws or lack moral discipline of no place in Beijing's performing art industry.

In 2020, two trainees were asked to pay 3 million yuan ($470,000 dollar) to their performance company in Shanghai after they wanted to end their contract to take the National College Entrance Examination, the only way to get into college in China. 

Although a large number of young people sign artist contracts with performance companies and become trainees, less than 10 percent of them have the opportunity to become professional performers. These trainees, usually under 18 years old, have no chance to debut and no money to pay for contract cancellation, the Xinhua News Agency reported in October 2020.

Xinhua said that about 8 percent of Chinese netizens under 18 have participated in fan supporting activities and nearly 15 percent of young fans who were born after 2000 spend over 5,000 yuan ($783 dollar) on supporting their idols every month.

China's cyberspace regulator in late August enhanced rectification over the sick parts of "fan circle" culture in the entertainment industry, tackling the long-controversial moves by teenage fans that blindly idolize celebrities, excessively spend money on their "idols," and exclude others.

Global Times