Wham! 10 Days in China

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2026

Documentary
Music

Summary

In 1985, Wham! were the first Western pop group to perform in communist China, with George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley's two concerts in Beijing and Guangzhou introducing the genre to Chinese audiences and marked a turning point for the band. Drawing on meticulously restored, newly digitised and never-before-seen archive footage, alongside interviews with those who experienced the tour first-hand, this documentary revisits this historic moment through the eyes of the band, their team and Chinese audiences encountering Western pop culture for the first time

Review

David Butcher

In 1985, Wham! became the first western pop act to play in Communist China. Try to digest for a moment what a day-glo shock to the system it must have been for young Chinese people – something that this cracking documentary drives home.

Punters were given a free Wham! cassette with their tickets. We see one Peking couple take theirs to a basic electronics shop and play it on a boombox. The opening bars of Wake Me Up before You Go-Go blast out and feel like a spark of pure pop joy in the drab surroundings, “a two-man cultural revolution” as a US TV host puts it.

The film is full of similar scenes, mostly from a shelved documentary directed by, of all people, the late Lindsay Anderson (of This Sporting Life and O Lucky Man! fame). It’s also full of the edgy tension that dogged the tour and tart asides from Andrew Ridgeley and George Michael as they tried to cope. The duo knew it was all a giant stunt to help them break America, but it turned out that wasn’t the only door they opened. A repeat of the compilation Wham! at the BBC follows at 10.25pm.

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rolenameDirectorMike ChristieExecutive producerKrista WegenerExecutive producerIan SharpeExecutive producerTanya Shaw

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Colour

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