Background of Chinese Democracy

Prior to the song being released as a single, "Chinese Democracy" had been played live by Guns N' Roses on their Chinese Democracy Tour in 2001, 2002, 2006 and 2007.

Axl Rose introduced the band's first live performance of the song in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 1, 2001 with the following:

“ The movie Kundun was on [television] about the Dalai Lama. I was getting ready to leave...and it was the end of the movie. And the Dalai Lama is about to cross over the border, to you know, be in exile for the rest of his life from his own country. And he looks back at the men who helped him, and you know he's escaped the Chinese government. And he looks back at them and he waves and they wave at him. And then they show a scene where he looks back at them again and he sees every one of them dead. Because he knew they would be killed, and they knew that in helping him they would be killed. And you know the emotion in this next song, that's all that's about. It's not like an intelligent song. It doesn't have the answer to anything. And it's not necessarily pro or con about China. It's just that right now China symbolizes one of the strongest, yet most oppressive countries and governments in the world. And we [Americans] are fortunate to live in a free country. And so in thinking about that it just kinda upset me, and we wrote this little song called "Chinese Democracy." ”

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Democracy_%28song%29