(b Beijing, 2 Aug 1961). Chinese Yaogun (rock and roll) musician. Born of parents of Korean descent, Cui received music lessons at an early age from his father. In 1981 he joined the Beijing SO as a classical trumpeter. At the same time he began composing in the popular and rock idioms, after listening to music by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Sting and Talking Heads. Cui is guitarist, vocalist and trumpeter of his own band . He became an icon of Beijing's youth culture in 1988, after a series of public performances. His compositions evolved in the following year, culminating in Yiwusuoyou (‘Nothing to my Name’), for which he wrote the music and lyrics. Although cast as a romantic monologue, the lyrics of Yiwusuoyou were read as a critique of the Chinese government. It was broadcast daily in Tiananmen Square during the student movement in May–June 1989. Cui himself also made an appearance in the square, which was covered by the global media.
Cui's music and vocal delivery, often cited as emblematic of Chinese youthful anger, epitomized the frustrations of the post-Cultural Revolution generation in China. Although he was silenced for a short while in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Massacre in June 1989, Cui was enlisted by the government to help raise funds for the Asian Games in March 1990. His music continued to be distributed nationwide, and his band was allowed to travel to Europe and America for concert tours in the mid-1990s. Cui's band featured an array of Western and Chinese instruments, from suona, saxophone, trumpet and electric guitars to ritual gongs and cymbals.
See also China, §IV, 6(ii).
Chong Woei Lien: ‘Rock Star Cui Jian’, CHIME, no.4 (1991), 4–22
T. Brace and P.Friedlander: ‘Rock and Roll on the New Long March: Popular Music, Cultural Identity, and Political Opposition in the People's Republic of China’, Rockin' the Boat: Mass Music and Mass Movements, ed. R. Garofalo (Boston, 1992), 115–27
A.F. Jones: Like a Knife: Ideology and Genre in Contemporary Chinese Popular Music (Ithaca, NY, 1992)
A. Steen: Der Lange Marsch des Rock ‘n’ Roll: Pop- und Rockmusik in der Volksrepublik China (Hamburg, 1996)
C.P. Wong: ‘Cui Jian: Rock Musician and Reluctant Hero’, Association for Chinese Music Research Reports, ix/1 (1996), 21–32
Yiwusuoyou [Nothing to my name], EMI CDFH-50037 (1989)
Jiejue [Solution], China Beiguang Audiovisual Art Corp. BSL 029 (1991)
Hongqi xia de dan/Balls under the Red Flag, EMI 7 2438 30801 4 4 (1994)
JOANNA C. LEE