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There’s something about Wham!’s 1985 tour of China. George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley looked like strange strangers on the streets of Beijing, their beautiful hair and colorful clothes distinguishing them from the Mao jackets and uniforms of the Chinese people they met.
Now all the wonders of the duo’s brief journey, which made them the first western act to play in the country, are being explored in the fascinating film, Wham! 10 days in China. Using never-before-seen footage and new interviews with many of the tour’s participants, it shows the incredible impact that the two Wham! he had an impact on the Chinese people, as well as providing a glimpse into a world that is changing dramatically.
But for Michael and Ridgeley, the tour was not about developing culture and more about strong business ideas: as their manager, Simon Napier-Bell, was designed to create international attention so that they would be taken to the top in the US without facing the claims of 90 years that would have put Michael’s tours in jeopardy.
“And it worked,” says Ridgeley, now 63 and white-haired, looking dashing in a top and long shorts – the Club Tropicana version of common sense – when we meet on a hot summer’s day in central London.
“When the idea was presented to George and myself, I thought it didn’t stand a chance of a cat in hell. I was not a fan, but George was adamant not to go to the United States as we should have done. It was a Hobson’s choice – China or the explosion. Reluctantly, I agreed to make this possible. But we achieved our goal in the governments. magazine.”
The film features Wham! holding their own demonstrations in Beijing and Guangzhou, as well as dealing with many other demands placed on them – speaking politely at banquets with Chinese officials, for example. Michael found it difficult to cope with the reception at the British embassy – “it was not something he cared about at all: the routine, the small talk, the creative nature of the meeting”, Ridgeley says – and then he disappeared after a difficult conversation with fans at the store. For his part, Ridgeley took care of the demands of the press, who were there to show the group that needed it: we see him refusing to remove his glasses from the pictures on the Great Wall and he could not challenge the press at the press conference.
“There was a bit of pressure, which wouldn’t have been there all the time – it was very different from a normal tour,” Ridgeley recalls. “We went there to serve a purpose, it was designed to serve a purpose, so it was a completely different story.” He remembers having supporters and feeling “a little restricted” in Beijing.
There was indeed a strange atmosphere at the Beijing concert: the audience, who didn’t know what to expect or how to react, were told to stay in their seats, and the band came out to be quiet; when some people got up to dance, a man was taken away by the police for being too happy. Even playing their song Ufulu could be interpreted as politics.
But for some Chinese fans, the tour provided an opportunity to showcase Western music. The video shows the joy and confusion felt by the Chinese people and also interviews the musicians who were directly affected. “I think it’s considered a big event,” says Cheng Fangyuan, a singer who performed Chinese-language versions of Wham! on tapes issued to ticket holders. “It was like opening a window.”
The reason there are so many original photos of the tour is because the executives at Wham! One of the most famous people in the history of the film, the person who chose to direct the film was Lindsay Andersonthe head of the high opinion of This Sporting Life and O Lucky Man!, who at the time was 61 years old and at the end of his career.
The partnership turned out to be an unpleasant one: Anderson and Wham! they didn’t like each other, and the director was fired six months later, when the group rejected the film they were shown.
The story of this sinister alliance is an important thread in the new film. Anderson’s name was first mentioned by producer Martin Lewis, while fellow Wham! manager Jazz Summers (who died in 2015), is thought to have been instrumental in the hiring.
Ridgeley said: “I thought it was insulting. “Someone like him, who had his background and his movie roots in the genre he was working with, he didn’t deserve Wham!
To make matters worse, Anderson sprained his ankle at the Great Wall, on only the second day of the trip, limiting his participation in the shooting, which was largely left to his five filmmakers.
Anderson himself appears on camera in scenes used in the new film. When asked what he does, he replied, “Well, I’ve been wondering that for the past few weeks.
There is a shockingly revealing moment later when Anderson, walking with a cane, approaches Michael from behind and taps him on the shoulder, while the star holds court; Michael is very reluctant to turn around to accept her.
Ridgeley remembers being shocked when he saw Anderson’s cut. He said: “It was as cold as dishwater and it wasn’t what we wanted as a tour record, so it wasn’t the right thing to do. In China, it was easier and easier to record a Wham!
He also tried watching Anderson’s amputation last year: “I couldn’t go on – it was too dry.”
Wow! The movie director hired Andy Morahan to remake Anderson’s film, which was titled Wham! in China: Outer Clouds was shown to 72,000 fans at the band’s last concert at Wembley Stadium in June 1986.
The photos that Anderson’s team shot were kept for years. No one reopened the 100-plus cans that contained the original Super 16 film reels until director Mike Christie began work in September 2024. He and his team found more than 20 hours of footage, although the reels had been heavily cut to assemble Anderson’s film Foreign Skies.
Unable to find a copy of Anderson’s original documentary, he used a lot of different material to create the new film (some of the concert footage was borrowed from Foreign Skies).
Anderson kept a cut copy of the rejection, entitled If You Were There…, which is held in his archives at the University of Stirling. Michael prevented the film from being shown publicly, although it could be viewed by researchers at designated times. After Michael’s death in 2016, it was finally shown to audiences as part of the BFI’s 2024 Anderson season, with the blessing of Ridgeley and Michael’s estate.
But Anderson admirers will be disappointed to hear that the film’s release is unlikely. “It’s never going to happen because George was too critical to see the light of day,” says Ridgeley. “If it would have upset me, I don’t think I would have any problem.” At one point he also criticized the idea of the three movies now being made about the China tour being collected as a box set.
Wow! 10 Days in China is the group’s third documentary in recent years, following Netflix’s Wham! (2023) and BBC Wham!: Last Christmas Unveiled (2024). The decision to look back at the group’s legacy was a result of Michael’s untimely death, Ridgeley says. Before that, George couldn’t have created Wham’s legacy while he was doing his own thing – which was clear to all.”
Ridgeley hopes there may be other projects to bring Wham’s music to life. “It’s about growing a new audience and I’m trying to keep Wham alive or not. Luckily we have a great track record that helps us do that. All good music transcends generations and Wham!
