in march 1985, wham! took a break from recording to embark on a lengthy world tour, including a ground-breaking 10-day visit to china, the first by a western pop group. the china excursion was a publicity scheme devised by simon napier-bell (one of their two managers—jazz summers being the other). it began with a concert at the peoples' gymnasium in beijing in front of 12,000 people. they also played a concert in front of 5,000 in canton. the two concerts were played without compensation. wham!'s visit to china attracted huge media attention across the world. napier-bell later admitted that he used cunning tactics to sabotage the efforts of rock band queen to be the first to play in china: he made two brochures for the chinese authorities – one featuring wham! fans as pleasant middle-class youngsters, and one portraying queen lead singer freddie mercury in typically flamboyant poses. the chinese opted for wham!.