Cui Jian

Über Cui Jian

Cui Jian is the founding figure of Chinese rock. A classically trained trumpet player at Beijing Symphony, he plugged in an electric guitar in 1986 and performed 一無所有 at a televised concert that turned him into the voice of a generation. He played for Tiananmen Square hunger strikers in 1989 and spent the 1990s as a quasi-banned cult figure whose tapes traveled hand to hand across the country. He still records and tours, and his 2021 album 飛狗 reaffirmed yaogun as a living tradition.