China in Your Hand


"China in Your Hand" is a song by English pop group T'Pau from their debut studio album, Bridge of Spies. A re-recorded version was released as a single in October 1987, spending five weeks at number one on the UK Singles Chart. "China in Your Hand" was the 600th single to top the UK chart. The song also reached number one in Belgium, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland. In 2015, the song was voted by the British public as the nation's 11th favourite List of [UK Singles Chart number ones of the 1980s|1980s number one] in a poll for ITV, and in 2017 was chosen by The Daily Telegraph as one of the 21 best power ballads.

Background

The song's lyrics refer to the novel Frankenstein and its author Mary Shelley. This is more readily heard on the longer album version of the song, as the re-recorded single edit omits most of the more obvious references to the book. The song's title was more unclear however and when quizzed, co-writer Ron Rogers was unsure of its source material. Lyric writer Carol Decker explained that it is the effect that if you hold a china cup to a light, you can see your hand through it – therefore "china in your hand" means something that is transparent. In a segment on the BBC1's The One Show on 6 March 2014, Carol Decker explained that she had been holding a china tea cup belonging to Ronnie Rogers' mother in her hand while washing up and had felt a lump in the bottom. She held the cup to the light and saw an image of a young woman in the base of the cup. Decker had the cup with her and showed the viewers the image.
The song is in the key of B-Flat major on the original album version, but the radio edit version is slightly sped up to reduce its length, resulting in the tuning being midway between B-Flat and B Major.

Other versions

In 2011, contestant Amelia Lily performed the song on series 8 of UK's The [X Factor (UK series 8)|The X Factor]. Judge Gary Barlow said it was "nice to hear the song being sung in tune for once", in mockery of Decker, who reacted to the comment via Twitter. Barlow later apologised.
British synthwave band Gunship released a cover for the song on December 2024, featuring Tim Cappello.

Track listings

  • 7-inch single
  • '''12-inch single'''

    Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Chart Position
Belgium 21
Europe 65
Netherlands 44
Netherlands 44
New Zealand 47
Switzerland 11
West Germany 36

Certifications