China: Sports,pop & politics.

Sa Dingding, the Asian Bjork
Sa Dingding carries a torch for Chinese pop – and politics. Is the Asian Björk compromised by her views on the Tibet issue?

China’s most in-demand musical property lets slip a quiet summation of her experiences to date: “I didn’t expect all this. I like the life I have now. But if I was back living with the sheep and cows in the grasslands, I would still be happy.” It has been a long journey from the steppes for Sa Dingding, who was raised in Inner Mongolia.

She was an unknown who had recorded Alive, an album that mixes traditional Chinese melodies and Buddhist mantras with electronic instruments, and was trying to drum up enough interest in the West to convince her label to release it here.

She arrived in London the same weekend as the Olympic torch; In a quote that appeared in a British newspaper and was reprinted around the planet, the singer said: “I am Chinese, so I definitely support our government policy on this issue.” As she comes from a country that has claimed sovereignty over Tibet for centuries, it is fair to say Dingding’s perspective differs from that of the Dalai Lama.