WESTERN POP MUSIC IN CHINA: WHAM, BJORK, THE STONES, BOB DYLAN AND ARTISTS WHO WERE BANNED
Wham in China The Carpenters was one of the first groups to be officially sanctioned to play in China. Some say it was the "beginning of the opening of China." For a long time, muzak, Simon and Garfunkle and Richard Clayderman were among the most popular Western imports.
The first Western rock group to perform in China was Wham! (See Above). People who got up to dance during their April 1985 concert were taken away by the police. Yanni was granted permission to perform in the Forbidden City in Beijing but the Rolling Stones weren't. The Rolling Stones did their first gig in China in Shanghai in April 2006. Before the concert the group had to submit their set list to the Ministry of Culture and was told not to sing some of sexually-suggestive hits.. Five song were rejected: “Beast of Burden,” “Brown Sugar,” “Honky Tonk Woman,” “Let’s Spend the Night Together” and “Rough Justice.” "Godfather of Chinese rock" — Cui Jian — joined the Stones on stage and sang "Wild Horses" with Mick Jagger.
Jan and Dean are very popular in China and the Little Old Lady from Pasadena sells well as a pirated cassette. At a Jan and Dean concert in 1986 in Shanghai, the aging performers invited some students on stage to dance. The students had a good time at the show but afterwards they were taken away by police and beaten for "being disruptive."
