Wham! made history in 1985 when George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley traveled to China to perform two concerts in Beijing and Guangzhou, becoming the first Western pop act to play in the country. The visit, which took place during a period of significant change in Chinese society, has now become the subject of a new documentary film titled Wham! 10 Days in China, which draws on previously unreleased archive footage and interviews with participants in the tour.
According to Ridgeley, the China tour was conceived as a strategic business decision rather than a cultural initiative. The band’s manager Simon Napier-Bell designed the trip to generate international media attention that would elevate Wham! to top-tier status in the United States without requiring an extensive 90-date arena tour that might have strained Michael’s voice. Ridgeley initially opposed the idea but ultimately agreed, and the strategy proved successful, generating coverage on American national news and in major newspapers.
The documentary reveals the pressures and unusual circumstances that characterized the trip. The band dealt with formal diplomatic obligations, including banquets with Chinese officials and a reception at the British embassy that Michael found particularly uncomfortable. Audiences in China, unfamiliar with Western pop music, had been instructed to remain seated during performances, and the atmosphere at the Beijing concert was notably subdued. The film also captures how the tour introduced Chinese audiences to Western music, with local musicians and fans experiencing what some described as a revelatory cultural moment.
A significant subplot involves the troubled collaboration between Wham!’s management and renowned British filmmaker Lindsay Anderson, who was hired to document the tour. Anderson, then 61 years old and facing career difficulties, proved to be an ill-suited match for the project. He injured his knee early in the trip and showed little enthusiasm for the assignment, referring to his role with bewilderment. When Anderson presented his completed film to the band, they rejected it as unsuitable, and he was dismissed six months later. His original cut, titled If You Were There …, remained largely unseen until 2024, when it was screened as part of a British Film Institute retrospective following Michael’s death in 2016.
Wham! 10 Days in China marks the third recent documentary about the band, following Netflix’s Wham! in 2023 and the BBC’s Wham!: Last Christmas Unwrapped in 2024. The new film is scheduled for cinema release later this month and will subsequently air on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer in August. Ridgeley has expressed interest in developing further projects to maintain Wham!’s presence in popular culture and introduce the band’s music to new audiences.
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