CHINA I strongly doubt whether there was ever any ska recorded in China in the 1960's. But it is a well-known fact that some very important producers of Chinese descent were active in Jamaica: Vincent 'Randy' Chin, Leslie Kong, Justin 'Philip' Yap and Byron Lee. Vincent Chin was a record shop owner whose father had left mainland China in the 1920's to settle in Jamaica after a brief stay in Cuba. In the first half of the 1960's, Chin was doing recordings with the Maytals, the Skatalites, Lord Creator, John Holt, Alton Ellis, Stranger Cole and Ken Boothe. His Randy's four track studio, opened in 1968, was the most significant recording facility on Jamaica, outside of Studio One. Leslie Kong was one of the first producers to make inroads into the international market. He produced the first recordings by Jimmy Cliff and Bob Marley and worked with nearly all of the top names in Jamaican music. In a well-known song, Prince Buster accused Derrick Morgan of being a 'Black Head Chinaman' after Morgan began recording for Kong. In the late 1960's Kong crossed into the UK charts with hits by the Pioneers, the Melodians and the Maytals and achieved big international hits with Desmond Dekker. Kong's Beverley's label came to an end on his untimely death from heart failure in 1971. Unarguably, the cream of the Skatalites work was for Justin Yapp, not least because this Chinese-Jamaican producer was willing to spend more time and money on his sessions. Famous killer instrumentals like 'Confucius', 'Chinatown', 'Ringo', 'China Clipper' (Skatalites) en 'South China Sea' (Johnny Moore) were released on his Top Deck label. Apart from that, Skatalites musicians also recorderd instumentals for other producers, with 'Chinese' titles like 'Shank I Shek' (Baba Brooks) and 'Red China' (Upcoming Willows) for King Edwards. In Jamaica Byron Lee is partly resented because he is of Chinese descent in a mostly black land and because he grew rich from a music he did nothing to help create while the true originators ended up poor. Most literature is not always friendly toward the half Chinese producer, musician and entrepreneur. And ska purists seldom agree with me when I state that the ska of Byron Lee is fantastic. Bass player Lee put together the Dragonaires in the 1950's and worked as a support act and backing band for touring famous American singers. They also toured extensively in the West Indies and North America and did much to popularize ska and soca, although many say their success was largely due to Lee's business and political connections. They were, for example, cast as the hotel band in the first James Bond movie, Dr No. In 1969 Lee established Dynamic Sounds as the best equipped and most popular studio in the Caribbean. (see also: United States) Ska Boo- Da-Ba on Top Deck, with signatures of Lloyd Knibbs, Ronald Alphonso, Lloyd Brevett and Tommy McCook