Cui Jian

Early life

Cui Jian is a third-generation ethnic Korean whose grandfather migrated to China during the Japanese occupation and established the family. Cui's parents moved to Beijing from the industrial northeast in the 1950s. His father, Cui Xiongji, who died in 2006, was a professional trumpet player, and his mother, Zhang Shunhua, who was born 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 an apartment building near Yonghe Temple. Cui Xiongji conducted strict nationalist education, but Cui Jian rebelled against such education from childhood. Cui Jian said that he was a little red guard. He 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 became jobless after graduating from middle school and lived in a 14-square-meter room with his family. Cui Xiongji told Cui Jian that "either up to the mountains and down to the countryside or play musical instruments". 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 Seven-Player Band, 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. He bought his first guitar for 20 yuan and learned to play it from a Mongolian worker, surpassing him within a couple of weeks. 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 (Chinese: 当代欧美流行爵士Disco). Inspired by Simon & Garfunkel and John Denver, at the same year Cui formed his first band, Seven-Player Band (also known as "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, for which Cui played guitar and was also the lead singer. 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 Returning Wanderer 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 "With 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 Seven-Player 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. The song shares elements with Western hip hop through its use of drum set and foreign percussion instruments like bongos, congas, and timbales, while incorporating a dizi solo, marking one of the earliest moments when hip hop merged with Chinese traditional sounds. 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 Seven-Player Band, 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

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 planned 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 9 May. 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. Some "old comrades" from Yan'an left in the concert because they were afraid to take responsibility. Music writer Andrew Jones describes this event with the words:

At first the crowd – accustomed to sitting woodenly through the well-manicured recitals of politically correct pop songs – was reduced to stunned silence. Cui Jian was hopping around the stage in tattered People's Liberation Army (PLA) khakis [sic], fixing the audience with intense glare, singing things that everyone had always wanted to say but thought they couldn't. Within minutes, people were cheering wildly and defying the security guards to dance on their seats.

"Nothing to My Name" is considered by some to be the first indie song in China. The sampling inspiration for the song 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. Professor of East Asian Studies Nimrod Baranovitch wrote that the song features a hybrid of folklore with strong, fast and modern disco and rock beats. Stefan Simons wrote for Der Spiegel that Cui's loud, aggressive tones blasted against "oily party" arias and "schmaltzy" pop music from Hong Kong and Taiwan, making the song the anthem of the alternative music and youth scene. 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 identity amidst dual material and spiritual hardships.

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. His records were broadcast over

loud speakers and sung repeatedly by protestors throughout the vigil. Iowa Central Community College professor David Drissel compared it to the American peace movement's relationship with rock and folk music in the 1960s. He was frequently seen with the students. Cui was affirmed by Wu'er Kaixi, one of the prominent leaders of the movement, as highly influential among young Chinese of the time. He claimed that Cui had an even greater influence on the protests than did such prominent dissidents as Fang Lizhi and Wei Jingsheng.

1991–1993: Solution and charity performances

In February 1991, Cui released his album Solution in mainland China, sparking intense public resonance. Nicholas D. Kristof of The New York Times that year called the album was perhaps Cui's most daring.。The recording achieves a rougher, faster sound using a more distorted guitar timbre and quicker tempos, while the vocal deliver is rougher, less melodic, and more rhythmic. Cui called the album featuring punk rock. Kevin Platt of The Christian Science Monitor thought Cui began producing pop-punk songs after the Tiananmen Square massacre. Author Wu Quntao wrote that Solution reflects Cui's state of extreme mental anguish during this period and his active pursuit of self-redemption, while also bringing punk into public consciousness.

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. During the 1990s of his career, Cui stirred up controversy among the public and media due to his conflicts with other musicians, such as Lo Ta-yu, Hou Te-chien, and Zhang Chu; he remarked that the "conflict" between him and Hou had been greatly exaggerated by the media, and publicly reconciled with Zhang in 1996. 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". Zhang Ju of Tang Dynasty stated, "If we are going to overthrow something, it will be Cui Jian's monopoly on the word "Superstar'". As reported by UPI, Cui has also been attacked by more traditional musicians and people, and state-run media. Chinese authorities' promotion of what they deemed "harmless" Gangtai pop to replace rock music led to a situation in the early 1990s where "it was easier for young Chinese to listen to the Hong Kong rock band Beyond through pirated CDs and tapes than to find Cui Jian's albums".

In July 1991, Cui traveled to Hong Kong to participate in the benefit concert, which aimed to raise money for the 1991 Huadong floods relief efforts. The authorities rejected Cui's application to organize a charity performance in September. 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 March 1992, over 50,000 fans gathered and enthused wildly. The same year, he announced legal action against record companies that have flooded the market with pirated tapes of his songs, and accused journalist Zhao Jianwei and the Beijing Normal University Press of character defamation. 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. He has not had the chance to perform at large-scale public occasions in Beijing since 1993.

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. 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. Music journalist Cynthia Wong wrote that Cui's three albums have been progressively more sophisticated and

experimental in terms of musical form, arrangement, and the realization of

musical ideas.

The album sank as both a commercial and a critical failure upon its release, selling 3,000 to one million copies before removing from the shelves of music stores. 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". Peter Micic and David Stokes wrote in A selected annotated discography of Pop and Rock albums in the people's republic of China (1989–1995) that:

This aggressive and uncompromising album further alienated Cui Jian from mainstream audiences and the popular media, whilst being hailed by a loyal minority (and some Western conunentators) as his greatest work to date. Frantic saxophone and suona (double-reed shawm) lines twist around jagged guitar rhythms while Cui Jian spits out acerbic, often cryptic lyrics, ranging from the deeply personal to the blatantly political. Elements of punk, funk, rap, jazz and both traditional/folk and revolutionary Chinese music are brought together with astonishing coherence. … This album is probably the most challenging, mature and accomplished rock album yet to emerge from China.

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

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. 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 April 1998, Cui released the album The Power of the Powerless, which recorded in his home studio. The album draws influence from techno, 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. In June, Mandopop!, the Internet Chinese entertainment news sheet, reported that this "modern classic" combining Cui's trademark buzz-saw guitars and intense lyrics with leading-edge jungle loops had fueled a Beijing-wide increase inrecord sales, with 200,000 units being moved in the first few days of its debut, "earning him rare praise from music industry suits".

Starting 31 July 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. Cui was featured in a live music special on Hunan TV that year, which was the first time in 10 years he had received nationwide television coverage. He was also invited to attend the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. On 12 December, 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, billed as "China's first rock 'n' roll dance concert". 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. The revised and expanded edition of this book, released in October 2012, had all its royalties donated to the Heping Life Foundation to fund the treatment and recovery of the musician Liang Heping.

2002–2005: Live Vocals Movement

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 1 August 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 7 August 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, 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 remark that the movement "is damaging to the entire pop music industry". On 13 January 2003, the Ministry of Culture declared its opposition to lip-syncing. Cui stated the "Live Vocals Movement" had "achieved a phased victory". On 1 August 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 Artists".

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. On 26 February 2004, Cui sued several audio-visual companies from Beijing, Tianjin, and Henan for piracy and copyright violations. In February and March, 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. He received the World Peace Music Award in San Francisco, from the United Nations on 26 September. On 24 August 2005, Cui 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.

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

On 23 March 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". Reviewers described the album as a "concept album", and pointed out 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. 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 album.

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". Since 2005, all bans on Cui were lifted with the exception of the song "Last Shot". Danielle Fosler-Lussier, Professor of Music at the Ohio State University, wrote that the government blunted Cui's revolutionary reputation by allowing him access to media and inviting him to official state events. In July 2005 Cui appeared at the "Great Concert on the 60th Anniversary of the Victory of World Anti-fascist War", a state-sponsored event in Beijing. He 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 22 May, 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. An ambassador for the annual Earth Hour campaign, 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 on 5 June 2010. From 31 December 2010 to 1 January 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.

2015–present

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. Hong Kong writer Lit Foo thought Cui's remarks were distorted by Hong Kong columnist Chip Tsao out of a pan-political bias stemming from Hong Kong separatism, ignoring Cui's admiration for Hong Kong singers like Tat Ming Pair. On 4 December, the China Star program team issued a statement demanding that Chip Tsao and Apple Daily publicly apologize for the false reporting about Cui.

On 25 December 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 24 December. Pre-orders for the album's digital version surpassed one million copies. It received mixed reviews from critics.

On 26 September 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 30 September, 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. In October, he made a donation to support a Trip.com Group-sponsored initiative for the music education of left-behind children. Cui served as the ambassador for the 2017 Croisements Festival, a cross-cultural event between China and France. On 23 August 2017, Cui released Rock Symphony Live Concert, containing the full recordings of the Rock Symphony Live Concert. On 4 November 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.

On 27 August 2021, Cui released the album A Flying Dog. The public interpreted 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.

Artistry

Musical styles

A multi-instrumentalist who resists the mainstream music industry's tendency towards a division of labor, Cui writes his own music, lyrics, and arrangements, as well as handles production, recording, and mixing himself. Some consider him to be the first indie musician in China. Cui incorporates elements of pop, reggae, blues, funk, ska, soul, disco, hip-hop, jazz, folk, country, Qinqiang, Northwest Wind, new wave, hard rock, punk, post-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. Cui also incorporated traditional Chinese instruments into his music compositions, and borrowed much from the Chinese folk music in music forms. He 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. His music has been compared to that of David Byrne and Prince. 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", while Chrissy Hey from Cashbox described his performance as a Springsteen/Marc Bolan hybrid.

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. 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. Jeroen de Kloet wrote for UNESCO Courier that Cui carries on with the rapper's staccato precision. 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". His style in the album has been described as similar to abstract hip hop, instrumental hip hop or The Philadelphia Experiment. He also uses delay in some of his hip-hop works to make these tracks listen "less hip-hop". Maria Cheng from SFGate described him as a Beastie Boys-style rapper laden with Peking Opera-style recitation.

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. Cui always samples various quyi, as well as Chinese folk songs like Hua'er. Social environment soundscapes are often included. He also incorporates techno beats and breakbeats into his songs, and draws influence from electronica and post-rock. To add Chinese timbres into his work, he connected guqin and pipa to effects units, transforming them into electronic versions. Some songs from the album Show You Colour features noise music, sound collages and electronic jazz. 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'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, longing for a "utopian" beautiful future, and questions to the nationalism and materialist Zeitgeist of post-1989 China. 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". Jonathan Matusitz described Cui's music as "insurgent and anarchic", music whose lyrics denounce China's corruption, hypocrisy, outlandish "self-righteousness", and the rejection of idealism.

Cui said that the ratio of time he spends composing music versus writing lyrics is 20:1. His lyrics are nearly grammatically incoherent and are considered to be postmodernism, expressing the pursuit of idealism and identity, alienation, disillusionment, 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. Italian rock musician Francesco Baccini believed that Cui's lyrics largely focus on marginalized communities and touch on politically sensitive topics. Besides, he was the earliest artist to use Chinese swear words like "qù nǐ māde" (fuck off) in song lyrics. He also frequently employed sexually suggestive. According to Jilin University music professor Pang Zhonghai, Cui's creative work featured many elements of irony, black humor, and absurdity, possessing a certain avant-garde and pioneering paradigm.

Cui's lyrics draw on the expressive techniques of modern Chinese poetry and influenced by the Misty Poetry movement. Some of his works feature frequent use of short sentence and simple sentence structures, while others employ a more colloquial style. He also used poetic devices such as repetition, rhyme, alliteration, and assonance. 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 "contemporary China's greatest troubadour". Xie Mian stated that Cui's lyrics constitute important component parts of modern Chinese poetry history, possessing high value as poetry. Jianying Zha wrote that Cui's lyrics were "the best Chinese poetry of our time".

Vocal style

Cui sings in a pinched, hoarse voice with "guttural yet passionate" vocals, blending the folk singing techniques represented by Li Guyi with bel canto and breathy singing. He used mostly his modal voice from lower middle to high notes, with his delivery almost entirely in forte, and employed many short portamentos, vibratos and sighings. He can also sings in ascending falsettos. Agreeing 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. Believing that the four tones of the Putonghua impose an undue restriction on the rhythmization of the language, he has long experimented with rhythmizing Chinese language, using it as an instrument to make compound rhythms. 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". British sinologist Gregory B. Lee called it a raucous, guttural Beijing proletarian street accent. According to Jinan University professor Shuwen Qu, Cui's signature voice, constraining the vocal cords to make a husky and boorish sound, resembles that of the "cock rock" voice tradition. Of The Power of the Powerless, Larry Katz of Boston Herald compared his vocal to Kurt Cobain, and wrote that Cui snarls, spits and barks out his lyrics in a gruff voice seething with resentment. Taiwanese musician Li Pai-kang praised Cui for his "highly individualistic vocals and articulation" and his reinvention of vocal expression within Chinese rock music.

Videography and stage

Chinese Sixth Generation filmmaker Zhang Yuan directed the music videos for "Piece of Red Cloth", "Wild on the Snow", "Last Shot", and "Flying". 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". Cui held a negative view toward music videos in his later career. 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 is described as frequently engaging in "intricate and dazzling experiments in musical craftsmanship" during his live performances. He said that the most wishful way of death for him is to die on the stage, not on the bed or sofa at home. At his 2008 Chengdu concert, Cui invited Chinese gymnast Li Donghua as a special guest, who appearing on stage with a pommel horse. In 2010, Cui became the first mainland Chinese musician to tour across China and stage over 1,000 live performances. 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.

Apparel and accessory

Cui's costume has been characterised as "bricolage" and a bodily embodiment of postmodernism. He used to wear a green People's Liberation Army uniform jacket at live performances and in music videos. It has been interpreted as a "subversive sartorial recontexutalization" or an expression of nostalgia. His uneven pant legs are considered a mockery of symmetry and propriety. Cui also wore grunge clothing in his 1990s' stages. 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. In 2005, Beijing fashion designer Feng Ling designed a new stage jacket for him that featured green linen with red silk lining in 1960s style.

Cui often appears wearing a white baseball cap with a bright red star. 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. He usually blindfolded himself with a piece of red cloth when performing his song "Piece of Red Cloth".

Legacy

Cui is credited with popularizing rock throughout China, and with being a trailblazer in Chinese progressive music. 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". As Cui became a national phenomenon, his rock music gained widespread, fervent popularity among youth and led him to be referenced as the voice of his generation, while simultaneously facing fierce opposition from socially conservative forces that dubbed him a "freak of this era". In Western countries, Cui is often compared as the Chinese equivalent of John Lennon, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Kurt Cobain, Bruce Springsteen, Prince, and Johnny Hallyday, and is recognized for his anti-establishment persona. British journalist Jasper Becker wrote in 1995 that Cui is usually known as China's greatest rock star. Billboard called him "the lone voice of originality in Chinese music". 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". Die Tageszeitung named him the most successful Chinese rock musician of all time. Jo Ling Kent from CNN wrote that Cui led a "musical counterculture that is redefining what it means to be 'Made in China'". In Newsweek, Melinda Liu described him as the godfather of China's new music.

Public image

Cui is recognized as a cultural icon, a pop icon, a teen idol, a fashion icon, an icon of the punk subculture, and one of the most famous iconic figures in contemporary Chinese art. 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". During the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, his music evolved into anthems of self-determination. In 1990, The Washington Post said Cui is an "unauthorized hero" or "antihero" for many youths in China. Since 1991, South Korean media have consistently emphasized Cui's ethnic identity in reporting news. In response, Cui stated that he had never seriously considered his own ethnic identity, stressing that individuality matters more and that he is Chinese.

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.

Since the early 1990s Cui has been portrayed in numerous Western media as China's indomitable political conscience. Although "from any end of the left-wing or

right-wing spectrum, Cui's presence is so striking that no power can ignore or incorporate him", he often pleads with reporters that he is not a rock star or a political dissident, but a composer.

Since the 2000s, 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, according to Japanese journalist Akio Yaita, 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:

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 hairstyle became popular across China, empowering young men to grow long hair. With the release of Rock 'n' Roll on the New Long March, mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan experienced a "Cui Jian Fever" (Chinese: 崔健热). His music "profoundly shook" the cultural and social conduct across these regions in the 1980s and 1990s, and changed the status of Chinese indie music. 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.

According to OhmyNews, Cui is revered as a top musician who exerted profound influence on Chinese popular culture. 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.

Jian is not one of those postmodern pretty boys produced by so-called Canto-Pop from Hong Kong, Taiwan, or even Shanghai, schmaltzy singers like Andy Lau or Anthony Wong. He is a true expressionist of his inner self. Perhaps that's why his positions come across so decisively – when they do come.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, the production model which led to the successors of Chinese rock music retreating into increasingly marginalized subcultural circles. Music critic Yan Jun wrote: "Ever since Cui Jian, Chinese rock has been seen as an alternative, outsider's and Underground sound."

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. The Chinese edition of L'Officiel Hommes listed him as one of the fashion legends since the founding of the People's Republic of China. In September, he ranked fifth in the 1990s category of Sohu's idol vote across decades. 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 affinity to him. Arts Council Korea described Cui as "the best rock singer in China". A booklet of the Arezzo Wave calls him "protagonist of the Chinese pop-rock scene". 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

Returning Wanderer (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

2012 – Transcendence 3-D concert, directed by Bai Qiang

2013 – Promise, directed and written by himself

2013 – Blue Sky Bones

Books

Cui Jian; Zhou Guoping (October 2001). 自由风格 [Free Style]. Guangxi Normal University Press. ISBN 9787563331079.

Cui Jian (15 November 2017). Never Turning Back. International Poetry Nights in Hong Kong Series. Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong Press. ISBN 9789882370357.

Cui Jian (1 July 2022). 崔健诗歌集: 1986-2021 [Poetry Collection of Cui Jian: 1986-2021]. Contemporary World Press. ISBN 9787509016565.

Tours

Rock 'N' Roll on the New Long March Tour (1990; 1991-1992)

1995 US tour (1995)

1999 US tour (1999)

2001 European tour (2001)

Live Vocals Movement Tour (2002–2005)

2004 North American tour (2004)

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)