The first recorded version of a song, and its distribution to the public will be considered unauthorized and illegal in China unless the consent of the copyright owner is requested and received.
Initial licenses are completely negotiable.
The owner of a composition may indeed refuse to allow a composition to be recorded at all. However this is only applicable on the first recording. Nonetheless, a new recording in China may not change the basic melody or fundamental character of the composition. A compulsory license in China is valid for 50 years after the initial issue of a composition as long as the recording company pays the license fees. Royalties in China are either received by the publisher directly from the recording company or through the collection services of an agency designed by the State Copyright Agency in China.