SHANGHAI: The Rolling Stones have been told not to perform five of their songs at their debut concert in China, but Mick Jagger said the censorship was no surprise. “We kind of expected that. We didn’t expect to come to China and not be censored,” he said.

Authorities objected to four songs from the band’s 2002 greatest hits collection, 40 Licks, and Jagger said officials asked them not to play those, plus one new one, at the concert in Shanghai. “Fortunately, we have 400 more songs that we can play so it’s not really an issue.” He then added, with trademark sarcasm: “I’m pleased the Ministry of Culture is protecting the morals of expat bankers and their girlfriends that are going to be coming” — a reference to the largely foreign, upper-class audience.

Censorship is nothing new to the Stones, dating back to their 1967 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, when the host demanded the band change the lyrics to Let’s Spend the Night Together. More recently, the American National Football League silenced Jagger’s microphone during sexually suggestive passages at the Super Bowl halftime in February. “I don’t have to tell you censorship exists in China, as in other places,” Jagger said.