Once banned Taiwan pop star re-emerges in China
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's top pop singer Chang Hui-mei, once banned from performing in China, is leveraging off a new album to build her reputation in Asia's biggest market, while Beijing officials use her name to improve political ties.
Right after her album A-Mei Star came out in August, Chang appeared on Chinese state TV, performed for 80,000 people at Shanghai's largest music hall and met with Chinese fans.
More China concerts are set for November as Chang, better known as A-Mei, brushes off her one-time ban and vies with an exploding number of other musicians for Chinese fan attention.
Chang stands out because of her strong voice on light rock tracks covering matters such as love and race relations.
"I felt great, because I was very welcomed," Chang said in an interview with Reuters.
"In China, people's music sophistication has made a lot of progress. They've become pretty sharp."
In 2000, after Chang sang the Taiwan anthem for anti-China President Chen Shui-bian's inauguration, China stopped her from performing in China until summer 2001.
China views self-ruled, democratic Taiwan as part of its territory. The island split from Mao Zedong's Communist-ruled mainland after the defeated Nationalists fled there in 1949. Continued...
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