George Michael and Wham! Changed China Forever With Their Groundbreaking 1985 Tour

A restored documentary exploring Wham!'s historic 1985 visit to China arrives in theaters, revealing how George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley became the first Western pop act to perform there—and how the carefully orchestrated trip transformed their American career. The film, titled "Wham! 10 Days in China," features previously unseen footage alongside interviews with Ridgeley and Chinese fans whose lives were shaped by the concerts.

The Strategic Gambit

The tour was not spontaneous. Band manager Simon Napier-Bell conceived the China visit as a deliberate marketing strategy to break Wham! in the United States, a goal George Michael prioritized over a conventional American arena tour. Ridgeley initially thought the concept was "utterly mad," but the calculation proved successful. Following their return, the duo began performing stadiums across America—a dramatic shift from their previous touring scale.

The backdrop for their rise included two prior chart-topping achievements: "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" had reached number one on the singles chart, while their album "Make It Big" dominated the albums list. A third hit, "Careless Whisper," cemented their momentum. The China tour, captured in music video footage for "Freedom," accelerated their penetration into American households in ways a standard tour could not.

Behind the Cameras

Director Mike Christie's new film contrasts sharply with the 1986 tour documentary "Foreign Skies." While that earlier production captured the surface—energetic soccer games, performances before polite Beijing and Guangzhou crowds—the restored version exposes tension beneath the spectacle. Fresh interviews reveal growing discomfort as the young stars navigated an unexpected diplomatic role as quasi-ambassadors for Western pop culture.

A contentious press conference with British media included questions about their communist hosts and accusations of inflated egos. Ridgeley's relationship with journalists was particularly antagonistic, a dynamic he acknowledges in the film. George Michael, in particular, displayed visible unhappiness during portions of the trip, adding emotional complexity to what appeared publicly as a triumphant cultural exchange.

Lasting Impact

The documentary's most affecting interviews feature Chinese fans who attended the concerts and later built careers in the music industry. Ridgeley returned to China for the first time since 1985 to revisit the Great Wall and speak with those whose futures were shaped by the performances. He describes the discovery of this legacy—lives fundamentally altered by a single concert experience—as "truly quite humbling."