China Girl

13 November 2025

“China Girl” by Iggy Pop, 1977
Source: Wikipedia Commons

China Girl

David Bowie & Iggy Pop re-released “China Girl” in 1983. There are different theories about the song’s meaning . . . using racism to fight racism, describing a love affair between Iggy Pop and a Vietnamese woman, Kuelan Nguyen, or a commentary on drug addiction. I’m a big Bowie fan and as a teenager, (back when you couldn’t look up song lyrics so easily) I didn’t even catch that there was a mention of a swastika in the song.

When I read the lyrics now, as a history teacher, I thought the song was about the Vietnam War and white supremacy. According to the trusty Internet, I am wrong about the Vietnam War, but no white supremacy. It’s true that the song works on many levels; I wish racism wasn’t with us in 2025 like it was in 1977 and 1983.

My version is NOT about racism, drugs or an interracial love affair . . .

“China Girl,” 2025
by Dillon Grenham

Oh-oh, I want to be a China Girl

I ask my students to please

Teach me some more Chinese

Oh-oh, I want to be a China Girl

I hear the typhoon wind

rattle the doors, and then

no one seems at all concerned

“We’re here to learn.

Don’t worry so much.”

I want to be a China Girl

When the earthquake comes,

and the chairs move some

under their desks they sit

until the shaking quits.

I want to be a China girl.

I thought I was here to teach

But I’m in the student’s seat

I want to be a China girl

I have eyes of blue

And still no clue

Of how to know this world

Can I be a China girl?