Feature | Jackson Wang: From Hong Kong Fencing Teen to the World Stage, as His Mainland Tour Expands to 12 Cities
Beijing — Singer Jackson Wang opened the mainland China leg of his MAGICMAN 2 World Tour on the evening of October 17 at Beijing's Bloomage Biotech Biohyalux ECM Arena. On October 15, Marriott Bonvoy announced it had become the tour's official hotel partner in mainland China, with first-wave stops in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Chongqing and Ningbo; on October 18, Wang and his label TEAM WANG added six more cities — Chengdu, Hefei, Guangzhou, Suzhou, Xiamen and Shenzhen — expanding the mainland map to 12 cities, with Shanghai set for October 24 at the Mercedes-Benz Arena. As the tour rolls forward, the key chapters of the Hong Kong-born singer's career are back in view.
Wang was born on March 28, 1994, in Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, into a sporting family: his father was a fencer and his mother a gymnast. He took up the sabre at ten, represented Hong Kong in fencing, placed 11th at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics and won gold at the 2011 Asian Junior and Cadet Fencing Championships — a path that could have led to the London 2012 Olympics. Instead, after being spotted by a JYP Entertainment scout in 2010, he moved alone to Seoul in July 2011 to train. After nearly three years, he debuted in January 2014 as a member of the boy group GOT7.
The turning point came in 2017, when he founded his own label, TEAM WANG, and released his first solo single, "Papillon," that August. His debut solo album, Mirrors (2019), reached No. 32 on the Billboard 200; MAGIC MAN (2022) climbed to No. 15; and MAGIC MAN 2, released on July 18, 2025, debuted at No. 13 — his best showing on the chart. On stage, he first played Coachella in 2022 with 88rising, then in 2023 became the first Chinese solo artist to perform his own set at the festival, returning for multiple editions.
Beyond music, he has picked his old sword back up: in July 2026 the International Fencing Federation (FIE) named him its first global ambassador, and in September 2026 he signed a management deal with Roc Nation and released the single "Thank You." Announcing the tour, Wang said it is "not just a concert" but an experience meant to bring audiences into his world — MAGIC MAN 2 itself is structured in four chapters of chaos, illusion, self-reflection and healing, tracing the highs and lows of his twelve years since debut.
For young Chinese-speaking fans around the world, Wang's path is a rare template: born in Hong Kong, debuted in South Korea, charted in the United States with English-language albums, and built his own label to keep creative and commercial control. With the mainland leg now under way in Beijing and stops in Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Chongqing and Ningbo to follow, dates and ticketing for the six newly added cities are still to be announced through TEAM WANG's official channels. (By The Star)
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Jackson Wang Adds Six Cities to MAGICMAN 2 Tour, Expanding Mainland Run to 12 After Beijing Opener
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：王嘉尔（资料图）。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons，CC BY 3.0。Photo: Jackson Wang (file photo). Source: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.
