Katy Perry showed up to her performance in Taipei in a sequined sunflower dress that caused much uproar in China.
The pop star has performed in this outfit before, and what looks like just another fashion statement of Perry’s could possibly have an underlying message behind it. The Sunflower Student Movement in Taiwan was a 23-day student protest against the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement, that Taiwanese feared would give China too much control over their state economics.
Last month marked the movement’s anniversary. During a peaceful protest thousands formed outside a building with students inside, all holding a sunflower as a symbol of hope.
So was Katy Perry showing her support to the movement?
During her performance, Perry wore Taiwan’s official flag as a cape while singing “Unconditionally.” At another point in the concert Katy asked her audience, “I don’t even know how to speak Mandarin. That’s what you speak, right?”
Many of her Taiwanese fans posted her outfit on social media with praise, yet her Chinese fans expressed the exact opposite.
One fan wrote on a microblogging site called Sina Weibo: “I’m speechless over Fruit Sister. I suppose she has no chance to come to the mainland anymore, though she might not care. These performers who intervene in other countries’ politics are the most annoying.”
On a Taiwanese website PTT a user name robtocl wrote, “It’s impossible for China to ban an American superstar.”
Some believe there was no message at all behind Perry’s outfit.
Arthur Chu wrote on twitter, “I am laugh-crying at Taiwan anti-China dissidents ‘moved to tears’ because Katy Perry’s stylist accidentally committed her to their cause.”
He tweeted another tweet saying, “‘I don’t even speak Mandarin. That’s what you speak, right?’ Katy Perry while unknowingly decked out as a member of Taiwan’s Occupy.”
I am laugh-crying at Taiwan anti-China dissidents “moved to tears” because Katy Perry’s stylist accidentally committed her to their cause
— Arthur Chu (@arthur_affect) April 29, 2015
Whether Perry’s stirring outfit was intentional or not her Prism World Tour continues. May 1 she will be in Macau and her next destinations will be the Philippines and Indonesia.
