26 Facts About Cui Jian

Cui Jian or Choi Geon is a Chinese singer-songwriter and musician.

Cui Jian is known in the Chinese rock music industry as a "leader in promoting the true singing movement" and the "first person in Chinese rock".

Cui Jian fantasized that rock 'n roll could rebuild young people's "red idealism".

Cui Jian's father was ethnic Korean and a professional trumpet player, and his mother was a member of a Korean dance troupe.

Cui Jian followed his father to start playing the trumpet at the age of fourteen.

Cui Jian joined the Beijing Symphony Orchestra in 1981, at the age of twenty.

Cui Jian was first introduced to rock during this period when friends smuggled in illicit recordings from Hong Kong.

Cui Jian first shot to stardom in 1986, when he performed his song "Nothing to My Name" on the 100-Singer Concert of Year of International Peace at Beijing's Workers' Stadium.

Cui Jian's songs drew on folk and traditional music types, such as the Northwest Wind peasant songs of the Loess Plateau of Shaanxi.

Cui Jian reached the apex of his popularity during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, when "Nothing to My Name" became an anthem to student protestors.

Sanctions proved relatively temporary, and Cui Jian was able to return to Beijing shortly afterward.

Midway through the tour, Cui Jian gained notoriety for appearing on stage wearing a red blindfold across his eyes before performing his well-known political anthem, "A Piece of Red Cloth", prompting the government to terminate the performance and cancel the remainder of the tour.

Soon, Cui Jian's music was banned from all state-controlled broadcasting stations.

Cui Jian toured all over the world including the United States and Europe four times each and has played numerous shows in East and Southeast Asia.

In 2000 Cui Jian was awarded the prestigious Dutch Prince Claus Award for positive artistic and intellectual influences on the broader culture and society.

Cui Jian followed this with a 10-city tour in Germany and performances with Udo Lindenberg, performances with Deep Purple in China and a 13-city sold-out tour of the United States.

In 2002, Cui Jian initiated, produced, and played at a major rock festival in the mountains of Yunnan.

In early 2003, Cui Jian was authorized to open for the Rolling Stones' concert in Beijing.

Cui Jian was quoted as having three dreams: to perform in his home city of Beijing again, to see the Rolling Stones perform live, and to perform together with the Rolling Stones.

Not until March 2004, when Cui Jian opened for Deep Purple on their mainland tour, was he finally able to perform a full set at a major venue in Beijing.

On 24 September 2005, Cui Jian was finally granted permission to headline his own show at the Beijing Capital Stadium, which signified the end of the unofficial ban on his performances in China's capital.

Cui Jian did finally play with the Rolling Stones at the Shanghai Grand Stage on 8 April 2006, singing and playing "Wild Horses".

Cui Jian performed in Taiwan on 8 July 2007 after numerous attempts in previous years to perform there had been derailed by governments on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

On 4 December 2009, Cui Jian returned to Taiwan for his second concert there in three years, for the grand opening of the Legacy Taipei.

Ultimately, Cui Jian did not make it because he would not change the song lyrics.

In December 2018, Cui Jian brought the original band to the Blue Note Beijing stage for the first time and performed a double special performance for two consecutive nights.