Inspired by an affair Pop had with a Vietnamese woman, the lyrics tell a story of unrequited love for the protagonist's Asian girlfriend, realizing by the end that his Western influences are corrupting her.
Bowie re-recorded a more well-known version during the sessions for his 1983 album Let's Dance, reportedly to assist Pop with his poor finances at the time.
The remaining lineup featured Phil Palmer on lead guitar, Laurent Thibault on bass, and Michel Santangeli on drums.
[4] It's about a very blundering, blustering rock 'n' roll hero who has big plans and Western habits [and] who becomes enchanted and subdued by a Chinese girl.
[2] The author James E. Perone argues that the use of swastikas could reference both the symbol of Hinduism and the fascism of Nazi Germany, "intriguing images and questions" for listeners.
[10] According to author Chris O'Leary, the song's title represents a double entendre, indicating "China" as "pure heroin" and "the girl's fragility".
[7] The Idiot was released through RCA Records on March 18, 1977;[11] "China Girl" was sequenced as the final track on side one of the original LP.
[18] According to Iggy Pop biographer Joe Ambrose, The Idiot songs "China Girl", "Nightclubbing", and "Sister Midnight" "became part of the soundtrack of the age, the synthesized post-punk Eighties".
[19] According to Chris O'Leary and Thomas Jerome Seabrook:[2][7] Technical Bowie recorded his own version of "China Girl" during the sessions for his 1983 album Let's Dance, reportedly to assist Pop with his poor finances at the time.
[20] Transforming it into a pop and new wave number,[21][22] the producer used Rufus's "Sweet Thing" as a basis for the opening riff to add a Chinese feel.
[23] According to the biographer Nicholas Pegg, the song's placement on Let's Dance provides a basis for the album's primary themes of "cultural identity and desperate love".
[26][27] According to the biographer Chris O'Leary, Vaughan initially played longer than his allotted measures during his first solo, resulting in him ending on an unintended note.
"[44] The video depicts clashing cultural perspectives with an interracial romance and, according to Ruth Tam of The Washington Post, parodies Asian female stereotypes as a way to condemn racism and denounce the West's disparaging view of the East; Ng is transformed into a Westerner's vision of a Chinese goddess and shots of barbed wire offer totalitarian undertones.
[3][42] In a negative assessment published in 1993, Columbia University professor Ellie M. Hisama condemned the video's portrayal of the "China Girl" as lacking in "identity or self-determination", rather simply "reduced to a sex and a race".
[10][50][51][52] Reviewing the single on release, Cash Box said that it provided "a nice balance to the controlled frenzy" of "Let's Dance" with its "softer vocals and minimal instrumentation" and also said that the song is "neatly [framed]" by "an oriental-style riff.
[50] AllMusic's Ned Raggett referred to it as "a prime example of early eighties mainstream music done right", praising the production, arrangement, and Vaughan's guitar solo as "add[ing] just enough bite without sending the tune off track".
[2] Reviewing Let's Dance on release, NME's Charles Shaar Murray summarized: "Iggy's version was full of rage and pain, concentrating on the torment which only his lover could ease.
[55] Far Out writers Jack Whatley and Tom Taylor said that Bowie's version had "all the same sex appeal" as Pop's original, "with the benefit of a shower".
The song made return appearances on the 1999 Hours, 2000 summer shows, 2002 Heathen and 2003–2004 A Reality tours, often featuring a cabaret-style opening by Mike Garson that led into a bass-heavy rendition more akin to Pop's original.