It was strangely muted when George Michael, as part of the British pop duo Wham!, took the stage at the Workers Gymnasium in Beijing in April 1985, recalled one of those who attended that now legendary first Western pop act in Communist China.
Around 15,000 people watched Michael and band mate Andrew Ridgeley sing hits such as "Careless Whisper" and "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" — as police grimly stared at them.
"I'd never seen so many police in my life," Mao Danqing, a now well-known Chinese writer who attended the concert, said on Monday.