Some of Dylan's lyrics creep past China's censors

To appease censors, Bob Dylan's agreed to skip many of his political songs while playing his first concert in China Wednesday night, but the country's older generation says that his lyrics were a sly wink and a nod that flew under the radar.

"He tried to appeal to people who are interested in him who were actually subscribers of the several youth-oriented movements here in China. He had something sly like he knew the audience," said Teng Jimeng, a professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University, who teaches a course about Bob Dylan and American History.

The line-up of songs at his concert here in Beijing included "Like A Rolling Stone," "Ballad of a Thin Man," and "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall."

Teng points to Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" as a key example.

"It's all about this kind of disillusionment or alienation that Dylan is singing about. He's singing about a certain segment in Chinese society. It is an open secret right now and the Chinese cultural authorities never questioned him about this song," Teng said.

Teng, 47, said that the artist's lyrics may have left younger generations born in the 1980s and 1990s a bit mystified with his raspy sandpaper twang, but for those who understand the American icon, his lyrics were subversive enough to fly past censors.

Teng said that the lyrics from Ballad for A Thin Man, "But something is happening here /But you don't know what it is/Do you, Mister Jones?" speaks to the Chinese and to the times.

"The middle-age audience, they were very much inspired by Dylan's counterculture background. This is the group that responded most enthusiastically. Younger audience members who were probably born in the 1980s sat beside me and they knew nothing about him," Teng said.

Although certain songs may have crept past government censors, some Dylan converts were disappointed that one of his most famous songs - "Blowin' in the Wind" - did not make the playlist.

"I'm interested in his biography, his music and I wanted to see him. People say that he's really a legend in the United States," said 32 year-old Jimmy Saxon Lee who started listening to Bob Dylan just seven days before the concert.

"We don't really know Bob Dylan too well," said 21 year-old Amber Wei, a university student in Beijing who stood outside the venue trying to buy scalped tickets.

China's younger generation may have been disappointed by an older Bob Dylan, but his iconic image remains etched in the hearts of his most loyal, and older fans, according to Teng.

"It's all about nostalgia people coming back to be reminded of a moment when they were young," he said.

Connie Young is an associate producer in CBS News' Beijing bureau.