China is a studio album by the Greek electronic composer Vangelis, released in April 1979. Although he had never been to China, he employed Chinese instruments and compositional styles on this concept album. It was thematically ahead of its time as the eastern cultural concepts were mostly unknown to the western audiences. The album received some critical praise. It was certified silver (1985) for sales of over 60,000 copies by BPI.
China (Vangelis album)
Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou, known professionally as Vangelis, was a Greek keyboardist, composer, and producer of electronic, progressive, ambient, and classical orchestral music. He composed the Academy Award-winning score to Chariots of Fire (1981), as well as for the films Blade Runner (1982), Missing (1982), Antarctica (1983), The Bounty (1984), 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), and Alexander (2004), and the 1980 PBS documentary series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage by Carl Sagan.
Vangelis at the premiere of El Greco in 2007
Vangelis in 2012 with stars of the stage adaptation of Chariots of Fire
Vangelis receiving his honorary doctorate at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in 2008