"China Girl" is a song which was co-written by Iggy Pop and David Bowie during their years in Berlin, first appearing Pop's album The Idiot. However, it was not popularized until it was released by Bowie on his album Let's Dance. Bowie decided to put the song on his album when Pop, his old friend and musical collaborator, was in financial straits and was close to facing bankruptcy. Bowie decided to release the song on Let's Dance so that Pop could collect half the royalties (as co-writer of the track) and get back on his feet financially.
An edit of David Bowie's 1983 version was also released as a single.
Under the auspices of Nile Rodgers, the song was given a much more commercial sheen than the sinister Iggy Pop version.
It continues the theme established in the video for "Let’s Dance". The song was again edited for single release, but attracted more attention for its striking video. David Mallet’s clip, shot in Australia, featured Geeling Ng lying naked in the surf with Bowie (a visual reference to the film From Here to Eternity). The latter’s bared buttocks saw the video generate some lurid tabloid headlines, though the clip as it is went on to win an MTV award. Versions of the clip included on subsequent video and DVD compilations are slightly censored.
The UK single release reached #2 in the charts, and the US release reached #10.
The song was a regular for Bowie’s live shows for the rest of the 1980s, and resurfaced again from 1999.
