Michael Jackson, the American pop icon and a household name in China who died Friday, had no substantial influence on Chinese pop music, a Chinese music critic said.

"In the early 1980s, Western pop music was far away from China, and there was no way for singers or music fans to become familiar with it," said Wang Xiaofeng, a music critic and writer with the Lifeweek Magazine.

Wang also sports one of the most visited blogs in China.

"And when rock and roll showed up in China in the late 1980s, Chinese rock singers learned from the Beatles, the Rolling Stones or John Lennon, but not from Michael Jackson, because Jackson's style was too hard for beginners," Wang said.

Several huge fans of Jackson interviewed by Xinhua also said they loved his incredible singing and dancing, but imitating him was just a mission impossible.

"His voice is a gift, and his passion is a thing that no one else can have," said Han Xiaopeng, a manager in the music industry and a Jackson fan.

The death of Jackson became top news on Chinese websites, and China's Sina.com devoted a web page to "the most remarkable singer ever".

Most Chinese people knew more about his multiple plastic surgeries and skin disease than his music, despite that Jackson's perfection and excitement on the stage was almost incomparable, said Wang.

Negative reports on Jackson have always been a hotspot on the entertainment page of Chinese media, and Jackson's image crumbled in China especially after the news came out that he was accused of sexually molesting two boys.

"No offence, but some people do think he is both a genius and a freak," Wang said.

Wang Xiaofeng said he got to know Jackson in the year 1986, and he also admitted that Jackson and his music "was a window for him to the outside world.

"Now he is dead, and the era of super singer stars in the world has gone," Wang said.

(Xinhua News Agency June 26, 2009)