Apart from being horrified to learn that all records of Zhou had been "lost" he also found the city transformed from the drab uniformity of its communist past to a thriving capitalist metropolis.
"I have never seen such a transformation, anywhere," he said.
Openly gay, Napier-Bell's books -- including an examination of drugs in rock called Black Vinyl, White Powder -- pull no punches when it comes to outing the music industry's foibles.
His latest, an account of the events leading up to Wham's China concert, I'm Coming to Take You to Lunch, is just as candid, but this time about the rigid authoritarianism of the Chinese officials.
With politburo members still wearing Mao suits and riding cycles in the 1980s, the inner circle of the Chinese ministries were like Masonic lodges, he says.
"Everything had to be done sensitively so as not to upset anyone," he says. "A lot of attention had to be paid to etiquette and manner. It took me a long time to work it out."
He believes all that has changed since then is the suits.
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