Third time lucky for Rolling Stones in China?

SHANGHAI - The Rolling Stones will be hoping it's third time lucky in their bid to perform in China this weekend, but it remains to be seen if the censor pulls the plug on some of their racier lyrics.

The band is due to arrive in Shanghai on Thursday afternoon in preparation for a gig on Saturday, their third attempt to play in China.

The first attempt a quarter of a century ago, shortly after China began to open to the West, never got off the ground after a meeting between front man Mick Jagger and Chinese officials in Washington reportedly went poorly.

A second attempt in 2003, with stops set for both Shanghai and Beijing, had to be scrapped because of an outbreak of the SARS disease.

The Stones will find the China they visit even more capitalist than the one they would have seen just three years ago, with more skyscrapers and luxury goods shops, and consumers willing to shell out hundreds of dollars for a ticket.

Tickets range from 300 yuan ($37) for the cheapest seats all the way up to 10 times that amount, in a country where the annual per capita income is $1,700.

A call to the ticketing hotline revealed that all but the most expensive tickets had been sold for the concert at the 8,500-seat Shanghai Grand Stage on Saturday.

Shanghai is trying hard to reclaim its reputation as Paris of the East and is rising fast as Asia's newest financial center. Separated from stodgier Beijing by nearly 1,500 km (900 miles), it also sees itself at the cutting edge of Chinese music, boasting a slew of racy clubs and edgy bands in a land where syrupy love ballads still rule the airwaves.

The Stones could well get to test the limits of what the censors will tolerate this time around.

They were banned last time from playing four songs, "Honky Tonk Woman," "Brown Sugar," "Beast of Burden" and "Let's Spend the Night Together," due to lyrics that were deemed too racy for the mild mannered Chinese.

The group's "Forty Licks" album was also cut to just 36 for the Chinese rendition to excise the four offending songs.

Promoters have yet to say if similar limits will be placed on Saturday when the band will perform the latest stop on its "A Bigger Bang" world tour.

Despite a general easing of restrictions of late, China has shown that it's still careful about media that push the envelope.

Last week, news emerged that Rolling Stone magazine had to stop publishing in China after printing its first local edition.

Authorities said the magazine lacked the proper licenses, but at least one report speculated authorities may have been irked by a slate of articles with themes on both politically and socially sensitive topics.

The nation's broadcasting watchdog also clamped down on foreign-funded TV joint ventures last year, just months after opening up the sector to outside investment. Even online games have come under recent scrutiny for content deemed unhealthy to youth.