CHINA: Elvis in China

British architect and ex-pat living in China donned a full Elvis jumpsuit and spend days strutting around this Chinese city to see what the iconic image of Elvis looks like in a country that never knew him and still does not.

During the title intro for the movie “Elvis Has Left The Building”, it is stated, as a fact, that if the current rate of people becoming Elvis impersonators continues, then by 2012 a quarter of the world's population will mimic the King professionally. The realism behind this projection can easily be questioned, but the fact that such a quote exists is a simple testament to Elvis's popularity globally. So how did one quarter of the world miss out on a cultural phenomenon?

Elvis Presley died on the 16 August 1977, at the age of 42. Whilst the rest of the world mourned, China, closed to the outside world, was in turmoil with the recent death of Chairman Mao and years of failed policies. China never experienced the Elvis phenomenon and while his image is iconic to the west it could not seem anymore foreign to China.