Taiwan Pop Star to Perform in Beijing
2001-07-14

Category News Nations China Metropolitan Chongqing People A-Mei Cheung Event A-Mei Incident 2008 Olympics Host Bidding

CHONGQING, China - Fans roared approval when Taiwanese pop star Chang Hui-mei returned to the stage in China on Friday after a yearlong ban.

``Long time, no see. I've missed you very much,'' the singer, known to fans as A-Mei, told more than 10,000 spectators in a stadium outside this industrial city in southwestern China, AP reported.

Chang was one of the most popular singers on the mainland when Beijing banned her last year after she sang at the inauguration of President Chen Shui-bian of rival Taiwan. China has viewed Taiwan as a renegade province since the sides split in the 1949 civil war.

On Friday, the teen-age audience screamed, waved glow-in-the-dark fluorescent sticks and danced as Chang sang a short, four-song set. She topped a bill that included five other Taiwanese singers.

It wasn't clear why Chang was allowed to resume performing on the mainland, but China's leaders have been trying to appear conciliatory in their bid to hold the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. The show was halted briefly Friday night while the mayor of Chongqing took the stage to announce that the Olympic bid had succeeded.

The crowd cheered and threw water bottles in the air, but their biggest applause came when Chang took to the stage moments later.

The singer has said she wanted to sing at the Olympics if they were awarded to China, but said nothing about Beijing's victory at her performance Friday.