Cui Jian

In this Chinese name, the family name is Cui.

Cui Jian
Cui in 1993
Born	(1961-08-02) 2 August 1961 Beijing, China
Occupations	Singer-songwriter musician
Years active	1984–present
Height	172 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Children	1
Musical career
Also known as	Old Cui (老崔; Lǎo Cuī)
Origin	China
Genres	Rock folk hip-hop electronic avant-garde experimental
Instruments	Vocals guitar electric guitar trumpet synthesizer DAW
Labels	Dongxi Jingwen Coden UFO EMI TME Sony Music Universal Music
Formerly of	Qi He Ban
Chinese name
Chinese	崔健
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Cuī Jiàn IPA [tsʰwéɪ tɕjɛ̂n]
Chinese Korean name
Chosŏn'gŭl	최건
Transcriptions Revised Romanization Choe Geon McCune–Reischauer Ch'oe Kŏn
Website	www.cuijian.com

Cui Jian or Choi Geon (Chinese: 崔健; Korean: 최건; born 2 August 1961) is a Chinese singer-songwriter and musician. Dubbed the "Godfather of Chinese Rock", Cui is often deemed the most influential rock musician in China. His music draws influences from Chinese traditional music, hip-hop, jazz, electronic, and avant-garde, while his lyrics often delve into political, social, and philosophical themes. Recognized for his countercultural importance, Cui is seen as a cultural icon whose works have significantly shaped rock music both domestically and across Asia.

Born into an ethnic Korean family with parents who were both artists, Cui began his musical career in 1981. In 1986, Cui performed his song "Nothing to My Name" at Beijing's Workers' Gymnasium, which is considered a seminal moment in the history of Chinese rock. Standing out in the Chinese music scene when patriotic ballads and Cantopop were popular, he started to gather a cult following on China's university campuses. This was followed by Rock 'n' Roll on the New Long March (1989), China's first original rock album, which garnered critical reception and commercial success. Despite his popularity among the Chinese youth, he was subject to censorship by both the Chinese and Taiwanese governments. Siding with demonstrating students during the 1989 Tiananmen protests, Cui was banned from playing major venues in Beijing for a decade.

Cui's subsequent albums Solution (1991) and Balls Under the Red Flag (1994) received critical acclaim, the latter of which is regarded by some as his magnum opus. He explored electronic rock music on the albums The Power of the Powerless (1998) and Show You Colour (2005). In 2002, he initiated the Live Vocals Movement against lip-synching at live and televised performances. Following his participation in producing several films, including the musical film Blue Sky Bones (2013), his album Frozen Light (2015) was regarded as his musical comeback. In 2022, the album A Flying Dog (2021) earned him the Golden Melody Award for Best Male Mandarin Singer, the top music award in the Chinese-speaking world.

British think tank Chatham House named him one of the most powerful and influential individuals in China in the 21st century. Cui has sold more than 10 million records in Asia. However, the vast majority of his CDs sold in China were pirated. Including these, the total number of his record sales amounts to approximately 100 million copies. He has held over 1,000 concerts worldwide, and he was the first Asian to receive an MTV Video Music Award.

Early life and education

Cui Jian is a third-generation ethnic Korean whose grandfather migrated to China during the Japanese occupation and established the family. He grew up in a musical family in Beijing. His father, Cui Xiongji, who died in 2006, was a professional trumpet player, and his mother, Zhang Shunhua, who birth in Busan, South Korea, was a member of the China National Ethnic Song and Dance Ensemble. He lived with his parents and younger brother Cui Dong in an old two-bedroom apartment within a apartment building near Yonghe Temple. Cui Xiongji conducted strict nationalist education, but he rebelled against such education from childhood. Cui Jian spent his childhood at an air force boarding kindergarten due to his parents' demanding work schedules. Their limited proficiency in Chinese contributed to his stutter. Cui Xiongji described the young Cui Jian as possessing "an intense intellectual curiosity about incomprehensible subjects, often engaging in solitary observation and contemplation". Cui Dong said that when Cui Jian was young, his essays were particularly strong, his other academic performance was also quite good, and he was a good student.

Cui Jian followed his father to start playing the trumpet at the age of fourteen. He joined the Beijing Symphony Orchestra in 1981, at the age of twenty, became a professional trumpet player of the Beijing Aihe Orchestra. Yang Leqiang, a former member of Qi He Ban, recalled that during symphony orchestra rehearsals at the time, while others wore crisp suits, Cui showed up in slim-fit pants. Cui first heard rock and roll in the early 1980s when professional musician friends smuggled cassette tapes in from Hong Kong and Bangkok. He spent this period listening to Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and the Talking Heads. He learned to play guitar and began writing music, which he played in cafés and dormitories. During that era, playing guitar was deemed "hooligan" and "bourgeois" behavior. In 1983, when Cui Jian went to Handan for a performance with his troupe, he played guitar one evening. He recalled "the audience was instantly stunned, and one girl immediately burst into tears". That same year, he wrote his first song "I Love My Guitar". Zhou Yaping, former timpanist of the orchestra, recalled that Cui could accurately imitate the singing styles of English-language vocalists, or artists like Liu Wen-cheng, which was quite rare at the time.

Career

Early career

In 1984, Cui released his first album Contemporary European and American Popular Jazz Disco. Inspired by Simon & Garfunkel and John Denver, at the same year Cui formed his first band, Qi He Ban (七合板, literally "Seven-Player Board," a double entendre reference to the seven-member band) with six other classically trained musicians, including the saxophonist/suona player Liu Yuan. The seminal band was heavily influenced by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Talking Heads. The band played Western pop music in small restaurants and bars in Beijing and was the first of its kind in China. They performed their own works—mostly soft rock and love songs—in local hotels and bars. With his band, Cui released his first cassette Return of the Prodigal that same year. The album featured commercial, pop-oriented love songs but also showcased songs with progressive and folk-rock influences, which were fresh and innovative in China at the time.

In 1985, the band released another album titled "Cui Jian and Seven-Player Band", which featured a combination of Western pop-rock as well as new original songs. That June, under pressure from the authorities, the Qi He Ban band was forced to disband. Soon afterwards, Cui wrote his first rock song "It's Not That I Don't Understand", regarded as the earliest ancestor of Chinese rap rock. Over the next two years, Cui wrote thirteen songs. In late 1985, the cafeteria of the Beijing Film Academy hosted a music performance where Cui performed his original song "Rock 'n' Roll on the New Long March". Midway through the set, several CBS journalists arrived to film "China's rock 'n' roll". Yang Leqiang, member of Qi He Ban, rushed the stage, hoisted Cui onto his shoulders, and students, including future rock musician He Yong, chanted, "His name is Cui Jian!" He later participated in the "Peacock Cup" vocal competition, with judges including Wang Kun and Li Shuangjiang, but was eliminated in the preliminary round due to his singing style being deemed unacceptable at the time.

1986–1988: The popularity of "Nothing to My Name" and collaboration with ADO

Filling the World with Love and "Nothing to My Name"

In early 1986, coinciding with the International Year of Peace, Chinese musician Guo Feng organized the recording of the charity song "Filling the World with Love" and planed to hold a concert of the same name convening 100 popular singers in Chinese Mainland to change the stereotypes of popular music. Prompted by this recording, cultural authorities made their first exception for popular music by permitting the organization of the concert. At the recommendation of popular singer Wang Di, Cui Jian participated in the concert and applied for a solo segment. With the permission of Wang Kun, Cui was able to sing his song "Nothing to My Name" at the concert. The concert took place at Beijing Workers' Gymnasium on May 9. That evening, the venue was packed to capacity, with "everyone wondering what was going to happen".

Two minutes before taking the stage, Cui felt his suit was "utterly stifling," so he switched to the dagua belonging to the father of Wang Di. Because of Cui's disheveled hair, cold look, and his apparel, which were different from the previous "gorgeously dressed" singers with "graceful singing", the audience became chaotic. However, the moment his "hoarse voice" rang out, the audience fell silent immediately. Then came applause and whistles, followed by continuous cheers. Keyboard player Liang Heping recalled that his hair "stood straight on end". After the concert, the young people sang his verses and played air guitar on the streets. Official personnel present displayed attitudes diametrically opposed to those of the young audience. An "old revolutionary," after watching Cui's performance, exclaimed angrily, "Now even cow demons and snake spirits are allowed to take the stage!" a member of Beijing’s Municipal Party Committee said, "How can a young person sing about having nothing to his name? That’s ridiculous! He has socialism!" Wang Kun recalled:

Some old comrades from Yan'an left in the concert. Why? I think they were afraid to take responsibility. They asked me: how is it possible, how can such ugly things make a public show? They did not dare to judge, since they had seen that the audience was so enthusiastic, (they chose to leave) without signing me. Another old comrade, who died now, said to me: Wang Kun! Why did you allow that? What do these songs look like?

The sampling inspiration for "Nothing to My Name" draws from Northwestern China's "Xintianyou" folk music. Cui Jian incorporated traditional instruments like the suona, guzheng, dizi, and xiao, while blending elements and rhythms from punk, jazz, Afro-pop, and rap. The song is about a failed love affair, but widely read as a metaphor for the growing estrangement of Chinese youth from the political climate of China. Compared with the first-person plural pronoun "we" in revolutionary songs, the word "I" appears in 28 times out of the song's 42 lines and becomes a liberating call for self-expression. BBC correspondent Henry Knight described the song as "individualism, experimentation and non-conformity". Hong Kong news website HK01 stated that this love song accurately and profoundly depicts the confusion experienced by China's younger generation amid the collapse of social values at the time, as well as their reflections on self-identity amidst dual material and spiritual hardships.

His performance has been seen as the moment heralding the birth of Chinese rock 'n' roll, marking a new era in Cui Jian's music career, as he uses this unique rock method to summon a new generation of young people. Parangalan, known as the Father of Taiwanese Folk Songs, thought "the younger generation in mainland China can now write their own songs" after hearing the song.

Follow-up development

Two months after the concert, "Nothing to My Name" CDs and cassettes hit the market. Cui became China's rock icon. In China at that time, "Nothing to My Name" represented a departure in vocal style and alternative musical approach for most young listeners, while prompting profound self-reflection and ideological renewal among the older generation. Following the fashion style of Cui - long hair, jeans and boots - Chinese young fans cheered wildly and danced in the aisles when he performed this song. Peking University established the "Peking University Cui Jian Backup Group", the first fan club in mainland China. Under the strong endorsement of writer-musician Liu Sola and scholar Li Tuo, Cui and his song "Nothing to My Name" quickly captured the attention of China's cultural circles, with the "Cui Jian phenomenon" becoming a fiercely debated topic in academia. From this time on, Chinese rock music transitioned from its initially controversial and less recognized "underground era" to a "mainstream era" with substantial youth support. Outside of China, Cui enjoyed international acclaim after a television appearance at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

Ask any young person: "What's your favorite pop song?""Wouldn't it be Cui Jian's "Nothing to My Name"?" he replies sheepishly. But why? "Because he voices what's in our hearts. Aren't we all just, nothing to our names?"

— Ch'iao An, Global Views Monthly (June 15, 1988)

Liu Yuan, a Chinese jazz musician and former member of the bands Qi He Ban and ADO, served as the wind instrumentalist in Cui's band until his death in 2024.

Cui participated in a series of benefit concerts for the restoration of Beijing's Marco Polo Bridge after the 100-Singer Concert of Year of International Peace. In 1987, the Party launched an ideological campaign against "bourgeois liberalization". Cui was banned from performing for a year after a Beijing performance on 14 January enraged one Party official, forcing him to perform underground during this period. It is generally agreed that this was because he covered "Nanniwan" in a rock style on that day. American journalist James Mann reported that Cui was resisted by old officials. Some musicians with government background, such as Chen Zhiang, criticized Cui, even insinuating that he was an "instigator of riots". Thus, Cui was forced to withdraw from the Beijing Symphony Orchestra. He began playing regularly with a band, ADO. With ADO, Cui managed to support himself by playing at private parties for foreigners, in restaurants, bars, small hotels and the after-hours club at Beijing Maxim's restaurant. Cui made a guest appearance in the 1987 TV series Football Revelation, which depicts the 19 May Incident. In January 1988, Cui successfully staged his debut solo concert with ADO at Beijing's Zhongshan Music Hall.

Kai Tang, a researcher at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, wrote that the Chinese authorities attempted to utilize Cui's rock music to meet the state's propaganda needs in the 1980s through state-owned print media claiming Cui was banned by the "conservative" officials while presenting him multiple awards such as the "Top Ten Golden Song Award of the Reform Age", the Outstanding Singer Award, and the All-China Teen Choice Award.

1989–1990: Rock 'N' Roll on the New Long March, Tiananmen Square Incident and banned from performing

In February 1989, Cui and the ADO band released China's first original rock album Rock 'N' Roll on the New Long March, which was also China's first album recorded using electric instruments like electric bass, guitars, and drums. Taiwanese music critic Ma Shih-fang described the album as "a knife that sliced Chinese music history into 'before Cui Jian' and 'after Cui Jian'". Cui himself characterized the album's style as "rock with a touch of world music" and pop-rock. The album broke sales records and became the biggest selling album in China’s history at the time. It was also certified double platinum in Taiwan and platinum in Hong Kong, and listed in The 200 Best Taiwanese Popular Music Albums, a compilation jointly published by China Times Publishing and the China Musicians Exchange Association. This album is considered to have sparked the golden age of Chinese rock.

In early 1989, Cui performed at the "Printemps de Bourges" International Rock Festival in Paris, France, and was received by former French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac. He also represented mainland China respectively in London at the Salem Music Awards Show in March. In the same month, Cui held the Rock 'N' Roll on the New Long March Concert at the Beijing Exhibition Hall, attracting an audience of two thousand. During intermission, upon overhearing someone remark, "Isn't this just a bunch of hoodlums?" Cui took the microphone and addressed the crowd: "Someone just called us a bunch of hoodlums. If that person doesn't feel ashamed, then we take this as a great honor!" The venue erupted with cheers and thunderous applause. EMI wanted to release a live video album of this concert, but Cui was dissatisfied with the filming and editing approach, feeling that "this is packaging me as a pop star". The collaboration, worth a million Hong Kong dollars, ultimately fell apart.

Cui reached the apex of his popularity during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, when "Nothing to My Name" became an anthem to pro-democracy demonstrators. Wu Wenjian, a witness to the 1989 Tiananmen protest, recalled that on the square at that time, the most commonly sung song by college students was "Nothing to My Name". Cui was affirmed by Wu'er Kaixi, one of the prominent leaders of the movement, as highly influential among young Chinese of the time. On May 20, Cui walked onto the makeshift stage at Tiananmen Square to give a performance for students on hunger strike. The crowds at Tiananmen were thrilled to receive him, and Cui later described it "felt like a big party". Although he was "really clear about standing on the students' side", he heard someone asking him to "get out of the square" because the students were very weak. He impromptu performanced songs including "Start Over" and "Piece of Red Cloth" and received a warm welcome. Despite the students' lack of energy, Cui "made them pretty crazy". The following government crackdown forced many rock musicians, Cui included, into hiding in the other provinces. Sanctions proved relatively temporary, and Cui was able to return to Beijing shortly afterward. There has been no further sanctions targeting him. Chinese rock music faced criticism by the authorities due to the movement. At an official music symposium convened in 1990, it was asserted that Rock 'N' Roll on the New Long March bore "practically no difference" from "Western Beatles-style 'protest songs or political songs'". The Minister of Culture, Wang Meng, who had praised Cui's qualities and encouraged independent creation, resigned after the massacre.

In early 1990, Cui started his first rock tour entitled the "New Long March", to raise money for the 1990 Asian Games. Because of his admiration for Cui Jian, Zhang Baifa, Vice Mayor of Beijing, approved the tour. This was the largest-scale rock tour in mainland China at the time. In Chengdu, Cui performed his song "Last Shot". The song was written in 1987, when Cui was inspired by the Sino-Vietnamese War. After the performance concluded, he said, "We hope the gunfire heard last year was the last shot." The audience erupted in cheers. Midway through the tour, the government terminated the performance and cancelled the remainder of the tour. Chinese photographer Xiao Quan stated that Cui's performance was reported as excessively incendiary, "clearly an attempt to incite revolution". David R. Schweisberg from UPI observed that Cui's performances routinely incite young Chinese to flash the V-for-victory sign, the emblem of Tiananmen Square Incident. Other possible causes include the crowds were getting too large and unruly. As a result, for much of the 1990s, he was unofficially banned from performing in Beijing and carefully monitored when he gave concerts elsewhere. Chinese music-lovers at that time considered seeing one of Cui's underground shows at venues around Beijing as a "badge of honor".

After recording Rock 'N' Roll on the New Long March, Cui ceased working with Ado. He formed his own band featuring Japanese guitarist Masaaki Amari, bassist Liu Junli, drummer Ma He, and keyboardist Wang Yong.

1991–1993: Solution and charity performances

In February 1991, Cui released his album Solution in mainland China, sparking intense public resonance. Almost all of the lyrics of "Last Shot" in the album were removed because of the censorship. Cui called the album featuring punk rock. Chinese music critic Ding Taisheng thought that Cui had already consciously articulated the work concept of "liberating rhythm while abolishing melody" in Solution.

Due to the underdeveloped professionalism in China's rock scene at the time, tensions over Cui's employment-based management led to his band's breakup shortly after releasing Solution. Cui subsequently formed a new lineup consisting mostly of Ado members alongside keyboardist Zang Tianshuo. In 1992, Australian sinologist Geremie Barmé wrote that over the previous two years, as Cui was approaching middle-age, younger rockers had come to think it was time for him to "roll over" and make room, even calling to "exterminate Cui Jian". As reported by UPI, Cui has also been attacked by more traditional musicians and people, and state-run media.

The authorities rejected Cui's application to organize a charity performance for the 1991 Huadong floods. An official allegedly remarked: "The flood can pass through, but the beast can not come." Afterwards, In July, Cui traveled to Hong Kong to participate in the benefit concert, which aimed to raise money for the flood relief efforts. Since July 1992, authorities have let Cui stage several small shows in Beijing, and also permitted him to undertake a Japanese tour. Hankook Ilbo reported that during his Tokyo performances in 1992 and 1993, over 50,000 fans gathered and enthused wildly. In late 1992, Cui was granted permission to hold a three-day large-scale concert at the Beijing Exhibition Center. The government permitted it due to his charity gesture, and all proceeds went to the China Cancer Foundation. After this, Cui could no longer obtain approval for large-scale performances in Beijing and was barred from appearing on television.

Cui Jian performing in Germany on February 2, 1993

Cui scored and was cast in the 1993 film Beijing Bastards. That same year, he performed in Germany and Switzerland with Chinese rock bands such as Tang Dynasty and Cobra. Chinese media dubbed this year the "Year of Rock".

1994–1996: Balls Under the Red Flag and international tour

Balls Under the Red Flag was released in August 1994 but it was soon banned by the authorities, due to its explicit reference to various social issues. Both Solution and Balls Under the Red Flag were re-released in 2005. New York Times journalist Seth Faison estimated the album sold one million copies before removing from the shelves of music stores. Cui characterized the album as jazz punk. Critics have noted that starting with this album, he has incorporated elements of hard rock and hardcore rap. Hong Kong Inmedia noted that the album continues the approach from Solution that emphasizing rhythm and arrangements, and experiments with Chinese-style rapping, while infusing heavy doses of traditional folk instrumentation, dubbing this fusion the "Western Learning as Substance, Chinese Learning for Application". Chinese scholar Kang Ning believed that starting with the album, Cui began rejecting audience expectations, prioritizing the music's own expressive power and embracing rock's "inherent sociological significance" that "conveying social culture and the realities of marginalized communities".

Upon its release, the album was received negative reviews from audience. This is because Cui directly attacked mainstream political ideology in the album. However, at that time, the rise of China's commodity economy had hit political ideology and intellectual culture, leading the audience to political apathy. In response, Cui said the album is not about politics but "more about the society we live in". Over time, the album gained acclaim. In 2000, Shopping Guide listed the album and Solution among "China's Top 10 Classic Rock Albums". Matthew Corbin Clark of PBS said in 2003 that Balls Under the Red Flag is many considered Cui's best record up to that time and a masterwork of the genre he created. Ma Shih-fang described the album as "flawless on every level, from lyrics, composition, arrangement, performance, vocals, recording, to echo with that particular era". Hashizume Daizaburo, one of the most renowned Japanese scholars in contemporary Chinese cultural studies, wrote that "the attitude of young Chinese audiences towards this informative album will be an excellent indicator of China's future". The Aju Daily wrote:

When rock music finally entered the era of grand fusion, when samplers and groove rhythms finally obtained the same right to speak as guitars, people finally discovered the colossal significance of the foresight and exploration displayed by this trailblazer as early as 1996 [sic]. As for the dismissiveness toward Balls Under the Red Flag, it had long since shattered like soap bubbles, vanishing without a trace.

To promote the release of his album, Cui toured four cities in Japan, generating significant responses from local media and audiences. The same year, he performed at Bumbershoot in Seattle, U.S. He also founded Dongxi Art Production Co., Ltd., and served as its chairman. In August 1995, Cui launched his first U.S. tour, performing six solo concerts in Boston, San Francisco, and New York. This marked the first time a mainland Chinese singer had staged a personal concert tour in the United States. In 1996, Cui released a greatest hits compilation album, Best of Cui Jian:1986-1996.

He was still being suppressed by the Chinese government. China's first Hard Rock Cafe rejected his performance to avoid angering the government. He criticized them for "kissing the government's butt". When he performed in Shenzhen in 1995, local officials reportedly were particularly wary of him and forbade him from singing his song "Balls Under the Red Flag", but he performed it anyway. Chinese music critic Zhang Xiaozhou wrote that in the early 1990s, the leadership of a radio station explicitly instructed staff to "avoid playing certain Cui Jian songs", while a radio station in an autonomous region had refrained from airing any of his works prior to 2009. According to Reuters, the Chinese government passed a law in September 1997 that forbids private establishments to make money from music performances that do not have official approval to strike a blow at "subversives" such as Cui Jian.

In 1996, Cui feuded with poet Yi Sha and rock musician Zhang Chu after accusing Yi of ghostwriting lyrics for Zhang and penning excessively flattering reviews of Zhang's music. Eventually, in 1998, Yi publicly severed ties with Zhang due to dissatisfaction over his attitude during the conflict, triggering an uproar in China's cultural and rock scenes.

1997–2001: "Get Over That Day" and The Power of the Powerless

Cui performing "Get Over That Day" in 2022

In 1997, Cui released hit single "Get Over That Day". The song is about someone hearing he is getting a new sister who is smart, sexy and wealthy, and wondering if he will fall in love with her, indicating the handover of Hong Kong. The song is also believed to foresaw the Hong Kong–Mainland China conflict. In the same year, Cui served as the producer for Zi Yue Band's debut album The First Volume. Once, Cui played a summer concert on the grounds of the French Embassy School. Chinese fans climbed the walls to get in. He was awarded the title of "Supreme Male Singer" at the 1997 YMC Supreme Chart Grand Election's China Recommendation Chart.

In May 1998, Cui released the album The Power of the Powerless and held a large-scale performance in Shijiazhuang. The album's style was considered avant-garde at the time in China, featuring digital rock with incorporated elements of electronic rock. Cui utilized the expressive semantics and aesthetics of rap music to depict the changing society in China during the late 20th century. Chinese scholar Wang Zhenyu stated that in this album, rhythm takes priority, with the melody pared down to a few simple, sustained notes forming a string-based backdrop, electronic elements are heightened, containing strong experimental qualities. Its sales surpassed 200,000 copies in a month.

Starting July 31, 1999, Cui Jian embarked on his second U. S.-wide tour, with "igniting a wave of Chinese rock fervor at every stop". On 8 September 2000, Cui and his band performed at the Ministry of Culture-sponsored "Oppose Piracy, Support Copyright" concert held at Workers' Stadium in Beijing. He was also invited to attend the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. On December 12, the Netherlands honoured him with the Prince Claus Award, making him the first Chinese musician to win the award. Later, he announced a European tour in the following January.

Cui was cast in the 2001 film Roots and Branches. and scored Jiang Wen's film Devils on the Doorstep. In February 2001, He collaborated with Cao Chengyuan, artistic director of the Hong Kong City Contemporary Dance Company and Beijing Modern Dance Company, on the experimental stage play Show You Colour, which premiered in Hong Kong. The play depicts China's different generations of revolution, pragmatism and the Digital Age. He was also invited to attend the Grammy Awards ceremony of the year. In October, the book Free Style, co-authored by Cui and philosopher Zhou Guoping, was released. He was awarded the 2001 Intel Creative Special Achievement Award.

2002–2005: Live Vocals Movement

The "Live Vocals Movement" has transcended the scope of protecting citizens' economic rights; it implicitly carries the awakening of citizens' awareness of personal rights. We call for ultimately establishing in the form of legislation to grant more fairness and opportunities to conscientious and capable artists.

— "Live Vocals Movement Proclamation"

Cui has long criticized Chinese musicians for the common practice of lip-synching at live shows. As early as March 1999, Cui Jian teamed up with Tian Zhen, Han Lei, and others in Beijing to launch a signature campaign opposing lip-syncing. He called it the music industry's third greatest enemy in China alongside the system and piracy, describing it as "falling", "a malignant tumour", "a nest of crime", "the Emperor's New Clothes", and "an aggression against music and art". He also criticized the performances at the 2001 Summer Universiade's opening and closing ceremonies as a disgrace for Chinese musicians, because "their performances were entirely lip-synced, and even the lip-syncing production was extremely poor". On August 1, 2002, he revealed to the Beijing Youth Daily that he would launch the "Live Vocals Movement" to combat the widespread practice of lip-syncing. On August 7 at 4:00 PM, Cui held the "Live Vocals Signature Campaign" at CD Bar. After reading aloud the "Live Vocals Movement Proclamation" co-drafted by him and others, over 200 people signed their names on a red cloth pledging to perform live. Among them, Taiwanese musician Lo Ta-yu raised his hand in salute to Cui to show support. Afterwards, he began promoting the movement through a nationwide tour.

I felt obliged to call people's attention to the poor working environment of Chinese musicians. In China, genuine singing is hardly heard in concerts, gala spectaculars and TV shows.

The "Live Vocals Movement" has sparked controversy within the music industry, as exemplified by Chinese singer Na Ying's famous remark that the movement "is damaging to the entire pop music industry". On January 13, 2003, the Ministry of Culture declared its opposition to lip-syncing. Cui stated the "Live Vocals Movement" had "achieved a phased victory". On August 1, 2005, Cui Jian announced that the "Live Vocals Movement" had "victoriously concluded", as the newly enacted national "Regulations on Administration of Commercial Performances" explicitly prohibited lip-syncing. At the 2010 Top Chinese Music Awards 10th Anniversary Ceremony, the Live Vocals Movement was listed among the "Top Ten Music Events of the Decade", and Cui was included in the "Most Influential Music Figures".

In August 2002, Cui participated in organizing the Lijiang Snow Mountain Music Festival, known as the "Chinese Woodstock", attracting at least 10,000 fans. Zhang Hongping, vice commissioner of the Lijiang regional government, expressed thanks to Cui. In early 2003, Cui was authorized to open for the Rolling Stones' concert in Beijing. Due to the SARS outbreak, however, the concert was cancelled. In February and March 2004, Cui was invited to be the guest singer in Udo Lindenberg's touring musical Atlantic Affairs in Shanghai and Beijing. In March, when Cui opened for Deep Purple on their mainland tour, it was his first official performance in Beijing in more than a decade. On August 24, 2005, he was allowed to headline a concert entitled "Dream in the Sunshine" at Beijing's Capital Indoor Stadium, which was his first concert in Beijing for 12 years.

He was honored with the "Rock Music Contribution Award" at the 1st China Light Music Association ceremony in 2003. On September 26, 2004, he received the World Peace Music Award in San Francisco, from the United Nations. On October 10 of the same year, at the inaugural "The Sound of Asia – The Cultural Festival of Science and Technology in Sound Recording" organized by Guangzhou Municipal Government, his work "Little Town Story" earned him the Grand Jury Prize titled "Best Rock Music Recording Award".

2005–2014: Show You Colour and other fields of activities

On March 23, 2005, Cui released the album Show You Colour. He stated that this album is "more diverse, more independent, more cohesive... containing pop, rock, electronic, and hip-hop music", attempting the "maximalism" of music. China Daily described it as distinguished from "all of Cui's previous albums, and probably from any other rock album in China". Chinese scholar Ma Shang wrote that the album continues the musical style of The Power of the Powerless, incorporating genres including folk, hip-hop, funk, big beat, drum and bass, and digital hardcore, and is described as a "concept album". The album was well-received by media and critics. The Beijing Star Daily gave this album a score of 95/100, stating that the album signifies Cui's "official transition from a great rock singer to a great musician". Cui won Best Rock Singer at the 6th Top Chinese Music Awards for the alubm.

You You, Cui Jian's manager, said that the problems of his performance permits sometimes being refused by local authorities had "gradually gone with time". Cui did finally play with the Rolling Stones at the Shanghai Grand Stage on 8 April 2006, singing and playing "Wild Horses". He performed his first English song "Outside Girl" and played with Public Enemy at the 2007 Beijing Pop Festival. Cui performed at the Hohaiyan Rock Festival in Taiwan on July 8, 2007, after numerous previous attempts to perform there were derailed by the Chinese government. The head Zhang 43 called Cui "the most important rock star in Asia". After the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, Cui donated 51,200 RMB and organized a charity concert titled "Get Over That Day" with China's rock music community on May 22, raising over 400,000 yuan in disaster relief funds. At the December 2009 Beijing Exhibition Center concert, "Rock 'N' Roll on the New Long March V21", Cui tied a red ribbon to call for attention to AIDS awareness. On June 5, 2010, Cui performed at an outdoor concert, Green Now, to celebrate the World Environment Day and encourage a low-carbon lifestyle at the Shanghai World Expo.

From December 31, 2010 to January 1, 2011, Cui Jian collaborated with the Beijing Symphony Orchestra to stage the "Rock Symphony Live Concert" at Beijing Workers' Gymnasium, marking Asia's first integration of rock music with a symphonic orchestra performance. At the concert, he unexpectedly performed the banned anti-war song "Last Shot". October: The Rite of Spring, the first dance drama under Cui's full directorship, premiered in Tianjin in 2014.

Cui (left) at the 2009 Busan International Film Festival

In 2006, Cui directed the short film The Age of Repairing Virginity, which was selected for the feature and short film competition categories at that year’s Vladivostok International Film Festival. He made a cameo appearance in Jiang Wen's film The Sun Also Rises. He also directed the "future" segment of the 2009 film Chengdu, I Love You. In October, he attended the Busan International Film Festival to promote the film. Following his attendance at the premiere of Chengdu, I Love You in Venice, Cui proceeded to Madrid to hold his debut solo concert in Spain. Bai Qiang produced a 3D concert film and documentary titled Transcendence about Cui Jian, which was screened in Beijing in May 2012 for an enthusiastic fan audience, though its prospects for mainstream release in China remain doubtful. The film ultimately grossed 370,000 yuan at the box office.

On October 17, 2014, Cui's feature film Blue Sky Bones was released. Xie Fei stated that the film was submitted to Chinese Film Bureau for review as early as August 20, 2012. However, due to its content touching on "Lin Liguo selecting concubines" and homosexual themes, the project has yet to receive approval. The film, a nonlinear tale with a musical theme, tells the story of a young rocker who moonlights as a hacker. It won the Special Mention at the 8th Rome Film Festival and the Special Jury Prize at the 10th Jecheon International Music & Film Festival, earning Cui Best New Director at the 2015 Chinese Film Media Awards. Receiving mixed reviews, the film grossed 4.14 million yuan at the box office.

On May 18, 2006, Cui issued a statement addressing the Dou Wei incident, calling for sound legislation on news reporting and strong protection of artists' privacy. He submitted a bid proposal to design the 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony to the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, but was eliminated after the first round of presentations. In November 2012, Cui announced plans to open a security guard company, citing dissatisfaction with the behavior of security guards at rock concerts in China. On April 16, 2013, Cui released his compilation album The 3rd Sound of China via global digital music platforms for the first time. On April 17, Cui unveiled a custom "Blue Bone" smartphone to interact better with his fans. He is first artist to launch his own custom smartphone in China. Cui was invited to perform on the 2014 CMG New Year's Gala. It has been seen as the final stage of Cui’s political rehabilitation. However, he eventually withdrew the show after organisers tried to censor his performance. In September, Cui and fellow songwriters co-founded "Huale Chengmeng", China’s first musician-initiated copyright agency, which reportedly brought together "the nation’s best intellectual property lawyers".

On July 18, 2006, Cui was awarded the "Hall of Fame Musician" accolade at the Chinese Music Media Awards. He was invited to present himself at the 20th anniversary of the Goethe-Institut on November 1, 2008, where he was awarded the title of "Goethe Cultural Ambassador". Southern Weekly named him the "2012 Chinese Dream Torchbearer". In 2013, Cui was honored with the Tenco Cultural Operator Award at the Premio Tenco ceremony in Italy, and collaborated with Francesco Baccini in a joint performance.

2015–present

Cui on the set of the micro-film Outside Girl

In 2015, Cui was asked to act as one of the three judges on China Star, a singing talent show broadcast on Dragon Television. On the show, Cui criticized Hong Kong singer Andy Hui for performing a Cantonese oldie, and expressed dissatisfaction that "no more modern or younger Hong Kong artists had appeared on mainland stages to showcase their voices". Initium Media commentator Zhang Miao stated that several Hong Kong media outlets had published false reporting and defamed Cui in their coverage of the incident. On December 4, the China Star program team issued a statement demanding that Hong Kong columnist Chip Tsao and Apple Daily publicly apologize for the false reporting about Cui.

On December 25 of the same year, Cui collaborated with Sony Music to release the album Frozen Light, regarded as his musical comeback. The single "Outside Girl" featured in the album, along with its same-titled music micro-film, premiered on YouTube on December 24. Pre-orders for the album's digital version surpassed one million copies. It received mixed reviews from critics. For the album, Cui received Best Arranger, Best Rock Artist, Best Mandarin Album, Best Recording, and Top 10 Mandarin Albums at the 2016 Chinese Music Awards; Annual Mandarin Album, Best Mandarin Male Artist, and Best Rock Artist at the 17th Chinese Music Media Awards; Outstanding Contribution Singer and Best Mandarin Album (Mainland China) at the 2016 QQ Music Awards; and Best Vocal Recording Album at the 27th Golden Melody Awards.

On September 26, 2016, Cui led a 953-person rock band from the Beijing Contemporary Music Academy to perform at a venue in Tianjin, earning certification from Guinness World Records as the largest performing rock band. On September 30, Cui held the "Rolling 30" concert at Beijing Workers' Gymnasium to mark the 30th anniversary of his career. Chinese avant-garde architect Ma Yansong designed the stage. During the performance, Cui performed a Mandarin cover of Message in a Bottle, while Stewart Copeland, drummer of The Police, joined the show as a guest performer. Concurrently, he commenced the "Rolling 30" tour. Cui served as the ambassador for the 2017 Croisements Festival, a cross-cultural event between China and France. On August 23, 2017, Cui released Rock Symphony Live Concert , containing the full recordings of the Rock Symphony Live Concert. On November 4 of the same year, Cui performed an electronic music concert as a DJ for the first time at the Chishui Valley Music Festival. He stated that this performance was a tribute to Igor Stravinsky, the original composer of The Rite of Spring.

Cui performing in 2022, Changsha

On August 27, 2021, Cui released the album A Flying Dog. The public interpretd the album as the resurgence of his critical feature, although Cui noted he has never ceased being critical. Cui was nominated for Best Producer at the 2021 Asian Pop Music Awards for the album. It was also listed among the Top 20 Albums of the Year by the jury. The single "The B-Side of Time" became the highest-scoring rock song of the year on the 2021 TME Chart. Critic Li Wan believed the album represents a return to form for Chinese rock.

At the 33rd Golden Melody Awards, A Flying Dog received four nominations — Best Mandarin Male Singer, Best Vocal Recording Album, Best Mandarin Album, and Album of the Year. Ultimately, Cui won the Best Mandarin Male Singer award, making him the first mainland Chinese musician to receive this honor. Taiwanese audiences were generally surprised by this result. Chinese-language news magazine WHYNOT praised this decision reflects the confidence and courage of the jury.

An online "Keep Going Wild" concert held by Cui on April 15, 2022 drew 46 million views and 120 million likes, breaking the viewership record for online concerts. In August 2022, Cui published Poetry Collection of Cui Jian: 1986-2021, compiling 56 lyrics written over 35 years. On the 2023 world music collaborative album Police Beyond Borders by Stewart Copeland and Ricky Kej, Cui covered The Police's single "Tea in the Sahara". Cui staged the "Rolling Power" Snow Mountain Zhijiao Concert on December 22, 2023, drawing 36 million online viewers. Subsequently, the documentary Snow Mountain Music Revelation, which chronicles the 2002 Snow Mountain Music Festival, was released. On December 21, 2024, Cui kicked off the "Keep Going Wild" tour in Chengdu.

Artistry

Musical styles

Cui resists the mainstream music industry's tendency towards a division of labor thatseparates performers, composers, lyricists, and producers. The vast majority of his music was arranged by himself alone. As a result, his arrangements are infused with many of his personal ideas. He incorporates elements of pop, reggae, blues, funk, ska, hip-hop, jazz, folk, country, Qinqiang, Northwest Wind, new wave, hard rock, punk, hardcore, electronic music and EDM into his works. Chicago Tribune called it an "almost anarchic eclecticism". He is considered to have drawn inspiration from jazz fusion in his creative approach. He also incorporated traditional Chinese instruments into his music compositions, which led Chinese mainland rock music to break away from its earlier phase of pure imitation and develop an original style. Cui explained that it isn't because he wants to broadcast or promote Chinese traditional art, but rather because when he uses those instruments, they help him express his true emotions. The Independent described his music as "a sometimes bewildering mix of styles that reflects his two biggest influences, Miles Davis and The Clash, and his classical background." Xu Ning of Shanghai Morning Post wrote in 2021 that Cui's rock music which sounded avant-garde in the past remains pioneering today.

Cui pioneered the use of rap in the Chinese music scene, which sharply contrasted with the mainstream Hong Kong-Taiwan pop and campus folk songs of the time, striking listeners as fresh and shake. He combined rap and hip-hop with northern folk music, free jazz, and reggae. In the late 90s Cui began to experiment on digital avant-rock with elements of rap music. In the album Show You Colour, Cui employed dialect rapping to address Mandarin's rhythmic limitations, with its "top speed capped at shulaibao and kuaibanshu". He also uses delay in some of his hip-hop works to make these tracks listen "less hip-hop".

Cui considers electronic music "connected to the times, creative, belongs to the young". Influenced by The Chemical Brothers, starting with the album The Power of the Powerless, Cui incorporated electronic and MIDI elements into his music, independently producing the work at home using digital music technology. He frequently uses electronic techniques such as programming, sampling and looping, and distortion effects. He also incorporates techno beats into his songs. To add Chinese timbres into his work, he connected guqin and pipa to effects units, transforming them into electronic versions. Taipei Times dubbed him "China's godfather of electric rock". In 2007, Cui collaborated with DJ Hyper, Hybrid and Sugar Daddy to remix some of his classic tracks from the '80s.

Themes and lyrics

Cui Jian at the Hohaiyan Rock Festival in Taiwan, 2007

Cui's music idea mainly revolves around rebellious and resistance, making introspection and irony to the tradition while exploring people's living condition. His works convey his reflections on the history of the motherland, introspection of the state of life,and longing for a "utopian" beautiful future. His songs were also the earliest in Chinese music to tackle the subject of sex, sometimes touching on topics of masturbation that "not many rock songs ever deal with, even in the U.S.". According to CNN correspondent Jaime FlorCruz, Cui's songs are "sometimes amusing, sometimes plaintive but often overtly political" and challenge "conventional Chinese ideas and attitudes". The albums Rock 'n' Roll on the New Long March and Solution were centered on the themes of "freedom, authenticity, and sexuality". Balls Under the Red Flag documented "the chaotic sounds of that era". The Power of the Powerless depicts the changing social and economic conditions in China at the end of the 20th century. Show You Colour explores the subtle relationship between humans and electronic devices. Frozen Light and A Flying Dog revolve around the theme of "inheritance and continuity".

Cui said that the ratio of time he spends composing music versus writing lyrics is 20:1. His lyrics embody postmodernism characteristics, which represent as uncleamness, negativity, uncertainty and metaphor, reflecting the pursuit of idealism and identity, alienation, and the craving for personal freedom and sexual desire. Conceptual metaphors are widely present in the lyrics of Cui's albums. According to Junru Huang of The Times, largely by writing ambiguous lyrics, Cui has skilfully become a symbol of freedom to many without becoming an Ai Weiwei-esque martyr of the arts. His lyrics are often "interpreted as politically oppositional" by the audience, while Cui himself dismissed political uses of his music by audiences as "their own business". Italian rock musician Francesco Baccini believed that Cui's lyrics largely focus on marginalized communities and touch on politically sensitive topics. Critics also point out that Cui's lyrics are filled with "seeing and being seen", "authentically" narrating what he observes.

Cui's lyrics draw on the expressive techniques of modern Chinese poetry, giving them a poetic quality. Some of his works feature frequent use of short sentence and simple sentence structures, while others employ a more colloquial style to depict the "laughable and helplessness" of reality. Chen Sihe, a Fudan University professor, described Cui as "contemporary chief rock poet". Taiwanese poet Yu Kwang-chung called him China's "great poet like Lennon". Chinese writer Wang Shuo called Cui "China's greatest bard". Xie Mian stated that Cui's lyrics constitute important component parts of modern Chinese poetry history, possessing high value as poetry.

Cui performing in Beijing, 2009. His parody of political symbols in his works is regarded as deconstructive and subversive.

Cui's works saturate political symbols like red flags, color red, (political) movements, the Long March, revolution, which he deconstructively parodies and ridicules from a personalized perspective. Such subversive "political parody" was often seen as disrespectful at the time. Scholar Xin Da observed that Cui uses these political symbols to express a lighthearted attitude, thereby dissolving their serious nature. Dai Jinhua said that through parody, Cui accomplished both a burial of an era and a reconfiguration of the memory of the times, constituting an "astonishingly destructive rearticulation or replication". Author Xiao Yi wrote that Cui's irony and imitation of red symbols stem from the molding of red aesthetics on his musical thinking. Cui's music is sometimes described as "Red Rock", and he called himself a little red guard.

The term "guniang" (girl) is frequently used in Cui's texts, signifying varied personas. This imagery has often been interpreted as an eroticization of political themes. Taiwanese lyric scholar Hu Yu-tien thought that Cui's lyrics carry on the tradition originating from Chu Ci of using "beauty" as a metaphor for the ruler, while interweaving romantic love with patriotic sentiment. Rachel DeWoskin of Words Without Borders also noted that Cui's songs inherit the "tried and true manner" of court poets and essayists from China's imperial past, appering to be about love but actually about history and contemporary China. Malaysian columnist Tan Wei Guang described Cui as "writing about the nation like a lover and transforming political awakening into love songs". Music journalist Zhou Jian called it a "Spring and Autumn brushwork".

Vocal style

Cui performing in 2025, Nandan

Cui sings in a hoarse voice, with "guttural yet passionate" vocals. His raw, shouting vocal style blended the folk singing techniques represented by Li Guyi with bel canto, carrying an aspect of asserting masculinity. Believing that language should not overshadow music, Cui deliberately obscures the accuracy of pronunciation in lyrics by omitting vowels, forcefully articulating labiodental affricates, and employing rapid, consecutive same-pitch note patterns in melodies, making the lyrics difficult to recognize. Besides, he often uses non-lexical vocables such as ooh. His blurred enunciation marks a deliberate departure from 1990s pop music, which emphasized "precise articulation and polished vocals". Daniel Southerland from The Washington Post described Cui's voice "sounds like a cross between Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Joe Strummer of the Clash". Chinese music critic Li Wan described it as "strained, high-pitched, piercing, unpleasant, yet compelling". Scholar Yin Lixin claimed that Cui is the only pop singer in contemporary China who has "mastered the unique rhythmic and tonal patterns of the Chinese language". Chinese record producer Zhang Yadong stated that Cui's enunciation style and vocal placement create a "unique feeling". Taiwanese musician Li Pai-kang praised Cui for his "highly individualistic vocals and articulation" and his reinvention of vocal expression within Chinese rock music.

Cui Jian's hoarse voice that is roared out, in stark contrast to the "erosive quality" of Teresa Teng's sweet and tender vocal timbre, manifests immense resistance and destructive power... His shouts articulate the voice of the underclass, granting the right to public expression to the loneliness, anguish, repression, tedium and even despair experienced by countless individuals in social reality. Through this public articulation, such emotional experiences attain a certain kind of significance.

— Zhejiang Gongshang University professor Guo Jianmin

Music videos and live performances

Chinese Sixth Generation filmmaker Zhang Yuan directed the music videos for "Piece of Red Cloth", "Wild on the Snow", "Last Shot", and "Fly Away". Zhang stated that he always filmed Cui as a hero, because in his perception, Cui was "a hero imbued with power". The video for "Piece of Red Cloth" won special mention at the Golden Gate Viewers awards ceremonies at the 1992 San Francisco Film Festival. The "Wild on the Snow" video won the International Viewer's Choice Award for MTV Asia in 1991. In 2005, Cui teamed up with Flash artist Lao Jiang to release the animated video for his song "Mr. Red".

In his later career, Cui held a negative view toward music videos. He stated that MVs were "not a medium for musicians to express themselves, but more like something for directors and dancers", referred to them as "lip-syncing performances", criticized them for "digging a grave for musicians", declared "If we keep selling music through the MV model, music will inevitably die", and openly called for the shutdown of MTV. For his 2021 songs "A Flying Dog" and "The B-Side of Time", he filmed live-performance music videos blending genuine onstage performances with visual elements, aiming to "defend the inherent qualities of live music".

Cui Jian at Workers' Gymnasium during his concert in 2008. He himself served as the artistic director.

Cui Jian is described as frequently engaging in "intricate and dazzling experiments in musical craftsmanship" during his live performances. Kaiser Kuo, a former member of Tang Dynasty, believed that "there is nobody in Chinese rock music as concerned with innovation as Cui Jian", and he thought Cui's stage shows were "certainly going to be a new experiene for the audience. Cui repeatedly invited Nakhi folk singer Xiao Rulian to perform as a guest at his solo concerts. He also often invites various rappers to share the stage with him. At his 2008 Chengdu concert, Cui invited Chinese gymnast Li Donghua as a special guest, who appearing on stage with a pommel horse. In 2017, Cui made his debut as a DJ for a solo electronic live performance at the Chishui Valley Music Festival, without singing throughout the entire performance. For the Chengdu concert of the "Keep Going Wild" tour (2024), Cui collaborated with local choir groups and experimented with "de-staging" for the first time.

Cui regards live performance as the singing method he endorses, considering it "the purest and most moving". He emphasizes that he "will never leave live performances", expressing his wish to "sing until his last breath or die on stage". Cui stated clearly in 2024 that he will not retire. In 2010, Cui became the first mainland Chinese musician to tour across China and stage over 1000 live performances.

Apparel and accessory

Cui uses the red star as his symbol and wears a white baseball cap with that symbol.

Cui often appears wearing a white baseball cap with a bright red star. He chose the red star because he once wore it as a child and it is a clear reference to the revolution. Cui said he initially wore the hat because he wanted to control his exposure, and he can lower his head and no one can tell who him is. He intentionally distressed the hat to look worn-out because that's "interesting". German journalist Christof Siemes believed Cui reverses the colors of the Chinese flag, where the big yellow star on a red background stands for the Communist Party, appropriating and deconstructing the state symbol.

Cui usually blindfolded himself with a piece of red cloth when performing his song "Piece of Red Cloth". Near the end of his performances, Cui would forcefully tear off the red cloth and hurl it violently to the ground. This imagery also appears on the cover of "Nothing to My Name", reflecting the populace's pervasive sense of disorientation about the future during that era. Communication scholar Wang Na pointed out that Cui's "red cloth" creates a visual darkness through its ironic act of blinding the eyes, manifesting dual blindness in both identity and soul, carrying distinct symbolic significance.

He used to wear a green People's Liberation Army uniform jacket at live performances and in music videos. Some scholars like Jonathan Matusitz and Andrew F. Jones interpreted it as "a subversive sartorial recontexutalization", while others saw it as an expression of nostalgia. In his 21st-century live performances, he has sometimes worn retro and introspective stage costumes, such as floral shirts and traditional Nakhi ethnic clothing, to create stark contrasts with the trendy electronic music he performed.

Cultural status

During Cui Jian's 1993 performance in Germany, the audience held up a banner reading "Long Live Cui Jian" (崔健万岁).

Some security guards giving the sign of the horns to Cui during his performance, Qinhuangdao, 2014.

Cui is credited with popularizing rock throughout China. He's been called the "Father of Chinese Rock", "Grandfather of Chinese Rock", "Godfather of Chinese Rock", "Emperor of Chinese Rock", "Chinese King of Rock", and "China's God of Rock". He is sometimes hailed as the "coordinates of Asian rock music". According to Southern Weekly, Cui was China's first rock artist to gain worldwide reputation. In China, his name is the synonym for rock music. In Western countries, Cui is often compared as the Chinese equivalent of John Lennon, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Kurt Cobain, Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Hallyday, and Rolling Stone. British journalist Jasper Becker wrote in 1995 that Cui is usually known as China's greatest rock star. Matthew Corbin Clark of PBS described Cui as "a bizarre concoction of post-Communist celebrity, cross-cultural artistic transfer, David & Goliath political dynamics, and inspired musicianship".

Public image

Cui is widely regarded as a cultural icon, a pop icon, a teen idol, and one of the most famous iconic figures in contemporary Chinese art by Chinese public. He is seen as one of the most popular critical voices in the nation. Unlike Teresa Teng who occupied a liberated position after the Reform and opening up, Cui took on the role of a "rebel" in the 1980s. He and his music were regarded as symbols of rebellious youth and an oppositional educated class. Xue Manzi stated that Cui brought "the most sincere and rebellious voice". In 1990, The Washington Post said Cui is an "unauthorized hero" or "antihero" for many youths in China. Chinese cultural critic Han Songluo described the public image of Cui as "a pioneer, an antenna and volcanic vent of the era... a heretic, an undercurrent, another force beyond the jubilant mainstream world... He also embodies armor and holy garment symbolizing masculinity". Shishang Xiansheng categorized Cui as a classic example of what sociologist Max Weber termed "charismatic authority". Jeon Hyeon-il of Segye Ilbo cited him as a counterexample to the Clash of Civilizations theory, noting that "over ten million East Asians are cheering him, who sings based on the spirit of freedom".

For many people, this undisputed pioneer of Chinese rock remains their sole hero. Meanwhile, as the embodiment of an era's cultural revolution, Cui Jian demonstrates a distinct self-awareness of his own and that of his generation's historical position... Regardless, for more than one generation of Chinese people, Cui Jian himself constitutes an action sketch map for cultural rebellion.

— Li Dawei of Caixin Weekly

Due to his opposition to cult of personality and idolization, Cui limited his interactions with the public. Chinese news website Yicai reported that Cui is actively trying to shed his symbolization while exploring new opportunities. Initium Media commentator Liu Waitong also believed that Cui has attempted to resist his own heroic image Music critic Zhang Xiaozhou stated that many people's attitudes towards Cui stem from first placing him on a pedestal to worship, then seeking to knock him off that pedestal. In a 2015 interview with Shanghai Observer, Cui remarked that "some enshrine me on a pedestal; others claim I’m stepping down from it. But in reality, I’m stepping onto the ground".

Since 2000, Cui has been perceived more as a nostalgic symbol and spiritual icon representing "marginalization, rebellion, and critical consciousness", rather than a commercial star with mainstream influence. In 2015, Cui said people view him more as "an old man" than a rebel, a familiar face on television but no longer influential. However, The Wall Street Journal said Cui "continues to be an inspiration for China's disenchanted youth". The Washington Post stated that his anthems are "both remembered and forgotten, too significant to ignore but increasingly repressed by a government eager to move on and youth who have other, more present concerns". Japanese scholar Akio Yaita believed that since the Xi Jinping era began, most singers and musicians have abandoned the pursuit of individuality and freedom to maintain their presence in the Chinese market, while Cui Jian, known for his "free-spirited" style, has regained prominence. A New York Times editorial pointed:

But to his fans - and detractors - he remains the same unrepentant rebel and cynical idealist that he was at 25, tirelessly battling myopic censors, greedy promoters, lip-synching pop stars and anyone else who stands in the way of an artist's right to make good music and an audience's right to enjoy it.

Enlightening function

Main article: New Enlightenment (China)

A young Korean Chinese named Cui Jian was the flower of the Beijing democracy movement that emerged like a legend at the time. He opened the way for Chinese youth who were helplessly wandering between socialist ideals and capitalist reality with his songs. He taught that true openness and reform meant gaining not only political freedom but also inner freedom. He sang about complete freedom, not limited openness or limited freedom. His songs awakened the dormant self-consciousness of individuals who had been accustomed to control such as the state and norms.

The Chosun Ilbo, May 16, 1999

With regard to the anti-tradition, anti-dominance, and anti-consumerism, Cui's songs have certain enlightenment significance among the public. Influenced by the Misty Poetry movement, His works often addressed Enlightenment ideals, including the pursuit of freedom, resistance to hypocrisy, assumption of responsibility, and doubt and rejection of established values. Aesthetician Gao Ertai stated in 1990 that Cui and his rock music were "the only art form in China capable of undertaking the Enlightenment". Wang Shuo wrote that for those who growing up during the Cultural Revolution like him, Cui "shattered illusions, exposed some truths, and most crucially, made me hear a person's soul". Author Jie Ziping described him as "a philosophical enlightener, a literary enlightener, and also a musical enlightener" of "a specific era".

Feminist scholar Liu Chang pointed out that the male characters in Cui's "Nothing to My Name" occupy the dominant position and transform women into objects and targets of male sexual desire, facilitating the resurgence of traditional femininity and women's liberation from sexual repression against the backdrop of the post-revolutionary era.

Cultural impact

Cui's success marked the rise of subculture in China, leading to a social landscape where mainstream culture coexisted with subcultures, and orthodox culture paralleled popular culture. His music "profoundly shook" the cultural and social conduct across the mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan in the 1980s and 1990s. In Taiwan, although his album was censored by the Government Information Office shortly after its release for "being incompatible with current politics", he still exerted a profound influence on Taiwanese underground rock scene. According to a 1994 report from The Chosun Ilbo, Cui's "powerful rock sound and melody, uniquely hoarse voice, and rich vocal abilities" combine to fuel his rising popularity in Japan.

Music critic Huang Liaoyuan wrote that Cui was "the first person in contemporary China to modernize the subject matter of popular music". Chinese singer Cheng Lin stated that Cui is "a banner in the history of music". Gong Linna remarked that Cui pioneered a form of "Chinese rock" that "dug into the roots of Chinese culture". Mongolian singer Daichin Tana called him the "backbone and gall of this land", and described his music as the "hope and despair of this country". Music critic Jin Zhaojun believed that the immense cultural impact generated by Cui stemmed from his "fundamental questioning" of the Chinese people's way of existence. A scholar of Chinese pop music, Jonathan Campbell, explained of Cui:

He's Woody Guthrie or Bruce Springsteen, whose songs made people suddenly realize that there are things going on about which we don't know and ought to, and singing with the voice of the people not often represented in popular culture.

Cui exerted a lasting influence on the creative production of rock music in mainland China. Since Northwest Wind and Cui's rock, the experimental use of traditional musical components in the creation of popular music has formed a striking trend. The Beijing News and Sixth Tone have noted that in the 1980s, Cui represented elite culture's resistance against mainstream culture. However, beginning in the 1990s, when the Chinese government intensified regulatory control over the arts and Mandopop music became commercialized, this elite cultural production model led to the successors of Chinese rock music retreating into increasingly marginalized subcultural circles.

Artists such as Chang Chen-yue and Pu Shu have cited Cui as a musical influence

Until 1994, Cui was the biggest Chinese rock act. Many musicians were influenced by him, such as Chang Chen-yue, Xu Wei, Liang Long, Pu Shu, Wowkie Zhang, Tang Dynasty, Black Panther, Wang Feng, Wang Leehom, Tan Weiwei, Liang Bo, Gao Xiaosong, Deserts Chang, Lin Sheng Xiang, Khalil Fong, Yaksa, Li Zhi, Tengger, Qiu Ye, Mao Amin, and Gao Qi. Chinese newspaper National Business Daily reported that in numerous variety talent shows, contestants paying tribute by performing Cui Jian's songs has become a common occurrence. His song "The Lost Season" inspired Ning Hao's film Guns and Roses.

A tribute album Who Is Cui Jian!? was released in 2005 by Scream Records, featuring 11 bands covering Cui's songs. Jon Campbell from South China Morning Post reviewed that the album "leaving much mediocrity", although he thought Reflector's pop-punk take on "Rock 'N' Roll on the New Long March" and Pao Pao Tang's reinvention of "Piece of Red Cloth" are highlights.

Archives and recognition

Cui ranked 51rd on Forbes China Celebrity 100 list in 2004. He graced the cover of the first Chinese edition of Rolling Stone in March 2006. In 2007, Cui was included in the China Power List by openDemocracy and Chatham House. In 2009, in an online poll by China Internet Information Center, Cui ranked as the 6th most influential singer in China since 1949 and the 12th most influential celebrity overall, with 160,000 votes. In a 2010 survey of Chinese university students, Cui ranked second among the symbolic figures in the Chinese entertainment world. A wax figure of Cui has been unveiled at Madame Tussauds Beijing in May 2013. In the same year, according to a market survey by Xi'an Concert Hall, 60-70% of middle-class and above males had varying degrees of complex to him. He has been recognized by the media outlet Cultural Tourism China under China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism as "a musical genius born for Chinese rock and roll, the founder of Chinese rock, and a pioneer and thinker of China's new music".

Discography

• Return of the Prodigal (1984)
• Rock 'N' Roll on the New Long March (1989)
• Solution (1991)
• Balls Under the Red Flag (1994)
• The Power of the Powerless (1998)
• Show You Colour (2005)
• Frozen Light (2015)
• A Flying Dog (2021)

Filmography

• 1993 – Beijing Bastards (北京杂种; Beijing Zazhong), directed by Zhang Yuan, as himself
• 2003 – Roots and Branches (我的兄弟姐妹; Wo de xiongdi jiemei), directed by Yu Chung, as the father/music teacher
• 2007 – The Sun Also Rises (太阳照常升起; Taiyang zhaochang shengqi), directed by Jiang Wen, as Tang's friend in Beijing
• 2010 – Dooman River (두만강), directed by Zhang Lu, as Chang-ho
• 2012 – Transcendence 3-D concert, directed by Bai Qiang
• 2013 – Promise, directed and written by himself
• 2013 – Blue Sky Bones

Tours

• Rock 'N' Roll on the New Long March Tour (1990)
• 1995 US tour (1995)
• 1999 US tour (1999)
• 2001 European tour (2001)
• Live Vocals Movement Tour (2002–2005)
• 2009 Concert Tour (2009)
• The Blue Bones Tour (2012–2015)
• Rolling 30 Tour (2016–2018)
• 2019 Australian tour (2019)
• A Flying Dog Tour (2021–2023)
• Keep Going Wild Tour (2024–2025)

External links

• Official website
• Cui Jian on Douyin
• Cui Jian's agent You You on Sina Weibo
• Cui Jian at IMDb
• Cui Jian on AllMusic
• Cui Jian on Chinese Rock Database (in Japanese)
• Cui Jian Sings for the Students on June 4 Memory & Human Rights Museum
• Milene Larsson (29 February 2008). "Fuck Confucius". Vice.
• Wei, S. Louisa (2006). "Cui Jian: Rocking China" (DV). Music documentary.