Hong Kong - A Chinese music festival featuring Hong Kong singers Denise Ho and Anthony Wong Yiu Ming has been shelved, amid talk of stars being blacklisted for joining the pro-democracy protests.

The Chinese authorities have quietly banned Ho, Wong and actor Chapman To, telling entertainment companies to exclude the stars from performances, said Apple Daily today, citing unnamed sources.

The Chinese censors are sparing actors including Chow Yun Fat, Andy Lau and Tony Leung Chiu Wai, who condemned police violence against the protesters, said the report. But Ho, Wong and To have been banned in the mainland for publicly supporting the protests and visiting the site of the Occupy Central movement in Admiralty, said Apple Daily.

As for actor Anthony Wong Chau Sang, who is shooting a television show in China but has been supporting the protesters online, the censors have put his name on their watch list, said the report.

NetEase website quoted one Chinese TV employee as confirming the ban and another as denying knowledge of it.

The manager of singers Ho and Wong confirmed that the Strawberry Music Festival originally scheduled for Sept 13 and 14 in Guangzhou had been put off twice, but said he had not been told of any ban.

He told Apple Daily: "Recently the organisers informed me that they couldn't get approval for the time being and won't be holding it within this year. The last time it was delayed in September, it was due to a problem with the Guangzhou venue. This time they said it was the same reason."

Still, he said he thought the stars were "well aware of what they were doing" the day they decided to be in the front line of the protests and would not regret their decision.

To said he had read about the rumoured ban, but no one had confirmed it.