 The album 's release coincided with Jarre 's first foreign tour . In 1981 the British Embassy gave Radio Beijing copies of Oxygène and Équinoxe , which became the first pieces of foreign music to be played on Chinese national radio in decades . The republic invited Jarre to become the first western musician to play there , with The Concerts in China . The performances were scheduled to run from 18 October to 5 November 1981 . The first , in Beijing , was initially attended mostly by officials , but before the concert began technicians realised that not enough power was available to supply the stage and auditorium . Chinese officials solved the problem by temporarily cutting power to the surrounding districts . The stadium was almost full when the concert began , but as Beijing 's buses stopped running at about 10 o 'clock , about half the audience left before it finished . To boost the audience attendance for the second night , Jarre and his production team purchased some of the concert tickets and gave them to children on the streets ( Jarre originally wanted the concerts to be free , but the Chinese authorities decided to charge between £ 0 @.@ 20 and £ 0 @.@ 50 per ticket ) . The event was notable for its lack of audience involvement ; the Chinese were apparently unmoved by both the music and the light show , and applause was muted . The second venue , in Shanghai , was a different matter . Jarre actively encouraged audience participation by stepping into the crowd , which became much more exuberant than that in Beijing . Recordings of the concerts , which featured one of Jarre 's signature electronic instruments , the laser harp , were released as a double @-@ disc LP in 1982 . 
