Synopsis

Carol Decker appears caught in a tense relationship, moving through a small apartment while emotional conflict unfolds around her. The intimate domestic scenes are intercut with performance footage of T'Pau, placing Decker's dramatic vocal delivery at the center of the video. Rather than illustrating the Frankenstein references directly, the promo uses moody interiors, close-ups and a restrained, melancholic atmosphere to echo the song's themes of ambition, fragile dreams and the consequences of pushing too far.

Factoids & Trivia

• The song was inspired by Mary Shelley and the story of Frankenstein. Carol Decker was particularly interested in Shelley as a young writer whose creation eventually overshadowed her own life.

• The title came from a china teacup associated with Ronnie Rogers' mother. Decker said that, when held up to the light, the thin porcelain revealed a woman's face in its base. She connected the image with the idea of something fragile and transparent held in the hand.

• The album version was recorded as an intense, largely live performance, but its fluctuating tempo made it difficult to edit for a single. T'Pau therefore re-recorded a shorter version for the 1987 release.

• The single version omits much of the more explicit Frankenstein-related imagery found in the longer album lyric, making the song's literary inspiration less obvious.

• "China In Your Hand" became T'Pau's second major UK hit and spent five weeks at No. 1 in late 1987. It was also the 600th single to top the UK chart.

• The song's success helped establish Carol Decker's striking visual identity: flame-red hair, powerful vocal delivery and an emotionally heightened performance style that became closely associated with T'Pau's late-1980s image.

• The video is notable for avoiding a literal monster or laboratory narrative. Its relationship drama and enclosed domestic setting translate the song's warnings about desire and emotional consequences into a more contemporary pop-video story.