THE ROLLING STONES have been ordered by the Chinese Government to drop four of their most popular songs when they tour the country next month.
Head of Beijing Time New Century Entertainment, Chen Jixin, said that the band have been told they cannot perform ‘Brown Sugar’, ‘Honky Tonk Women’, ‘Beast Of Burden’ and ‘Let’s Spend The Night Together’.
The four songs were also cut by the Chinese Ministry of Culture from the Chinese release of the hits album ‘Forty Licks’ –the band’s first record to be released in the country. Jixin told bbc.co.uk that she did not know why the government had banned the songs.
The Chinese Ministry of Culture have not issued a comment.
The Stones will play two concerts in the country -on April 1 in Shanghai and April 4 in Beijing at the 7,000-seater Workers Gymnasium. The band first applied to perform in China in the 1970s but were refused permission to play.
Speaking about the forthcoming performances, Keith Richards said, “It’s about time they let us in.”