Wham! Was The First Western Act to Play Communist China

China has at times been wary of Western influence, so it’s rather stunning that Wham! was allowed to play there in 1985, making them the first Western popular music act to play in the communist country. George Michael, one-half of the British hit-making duo, would later call the Chinese shows the “hardest performance I’ve ever given in my life.”

The notorious concerts, which took place three days apart in Beijing and Canton, were the result of 18 months of wining and dining Chinese officials, as well as some sabotage. 

“It was two years of lunches — I fed the whole government, 143 people three times each,” the duo’s then-manager Simon Napier-Bell recalled in a 2005 chat with BBC, as retold in PEOPLE’s Special Edition Celebrating the ‘80s: 1985 Edition.

While Wham! was hoping to break cultural barriers in China and be the first Western act to play there, so too was Queen. As Chinese officials spoke with both groups, Napier-Bell decided to tip the scales in his favor by producing brochures of Wham! and Queen. The first showed Michael and bandmate Andrew Ridgeley looking rather wholesome. The other showed Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in flamboyant poses. The plan worked, as Wham! got the blessing, although it was determined that they would not be compensated for either show.

On April 7, 1985, the “Careless Whisper” singers took the stage in front of 12,000 who paid $1.75 each, which was three days’ wages for some fans. Some audience members got tickets for free through government ministries.

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Following a warmup act, a breakdancer, an announcement came over the speakers, informing audience members that dancing wasn’t allowed. Soon after, Wham! took the stage and bounced around in reserved style. Michael, who died on Christmas Day in 2016 at the age of 53, even attempted to have fans clap along to several songs, but they responded with “polite applause,” Biography stated. 

At the time, there was almost no pop music in China. 

“There are certain times when you know that shaking certain parts in certain ways is basically going to be seen as affrontery as opposed to entertainment,” Michael told CBS News the following day. “We did tone things down quite a bit.”

In speaking to the Chicago Tribune in 1985, he added, “It was the hardest performance I’ve ever given in my life. I couldn’t believe how quiet the crowd was at first … I didn’t realize that they weren’t clapping because they thought we were begging for applause. And I didn’t realize that they weren’t good at clapping in time to Western music because their sense of rhythm is so different to ours.”

Adding to the atypical show, the tour was being chronicled for the documentary Wham! in China: Foreign Skies. However, many fans near the stage were distrustful and confused by the cameras and lights.

“There were 7,500 people downstairs intimidated by the lights and the police standing around the outside, and upstairs you had 7,500 people getting more and more wild and crazy,” Napier-Bell recalled. “So it was a very strange atmosphere.”

The second show, before a crowd of 5,000 in Canton, went off a little smoother.

For more ‘80s flashback, check out PEOPLE’s Special Edition Celebrating the ‘80s: 1985 Edition, available now.