K-pop has been banned in China for almost a decade. Until now, maybe.

K-pop, which has been unofficially banned in China for almost a decade, may be on the verge of being allowed back in.

HONG KONG — The concert was set to be small but significant: the first by an all-Korean K-pop band in mainland China after an unofficial ban on such shows for almost a decade.

That was exciting news for fans like Haerin Ouyang, a university student in the coastal Chinese city of Fuzhou, where the South Korean boy band Epex had been scheduled to perform on Saturday.

But the show was canceled earlier this month, less than two weeks after it was announced, leaving Ouyang “heartbroken.”

“The venue is only a 10-minute ride from my school, and it would have been fun to go with friends,” she said.

C9 Entertainment, which manages Epex, cited “local circumstances” in announcing the cancellation on May 9, dashing hopes that China was opening its doors to K-pop shows for the first time since 2016.