The review of "Cui Jian" by Hwanny

The father of Chinese Rock, Cui Jian, is a representing popular icon in 1980s and 1990s in China. Especially, since the Tiananmen movement in 1989 occurred, the music of Cui Jian was widely used and sung by demonstrators—university students and urban workers. I would like to examine on the subject with my personal experiences that I have actually engaged in demonstrations—as a protestor and a protector—back in South Korea.

When we think of the word “天安门广场” regarding to Chinese people, GuangChang(square) is a significant term and a place where the people have gathered together in order to commemorate and proclaim historical events in Chinese history. As a capital city, Beijing, has gone through the establishment of PRC, the Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution, and later on the Open Door Policy, and Chinese people had to deal with their own ideological and political confusion between such as Communism and Democracy and collectivism and privatization. Especially, since Deng shaoping opened Chinese door to the West and tried to develop Chinese industry and economy, Chinese people started being able to access to foreign goods and culture. In the process of inflowing of foreign culture, a music genre, Rock n Roll, was a vast influence upon Chinese popular music in terms of individualism and capitalism in Chinese society.

When people demonstrate as a group, they do not just protest against their subject with their pickets, but also they perform different types of events—dancing, singing, speech, skit, tonsure, writing in blood—that could provoke and control over people who participate in protest either actively or passively. Among those performances of instigating people, singing is one of most influential and effective ways to express the agenda and the purpose of demonstration. In this way, Rock genre was the best way to express emotions and ideas shouting and yelling the lyrics. In order to provoke protestors, using rock music was a significant way to share their own identity and purpose. Some of pop music singers used metaphors to appeal their objection indirectly toward authorities, and for others even though they did not intend to sing a song on political purpose, songs were still sung by protestors changing lyrics. In 1980s and 1990s, in South Korea, many of rock and folk singers sang for anti-dictatorship and pro-democratic movement arrested due to their songs, and those songs, so called “protest song” or “grass-roots activist song”, are still sung by today’s protestors because the songs are still powerful and instigating in terms of expressing and appealing their claim.

The songs Cui Qing was singing in the movie, Yellow Earth, expressed her own emotions and ideas from undergoing the hardship of her life but also represented the life of ordinary people in village at that time. A song, poetic and rhythmical words with melody, could express emotions of individuals and provide a thoughtful statement at same time. For example, an anthem of a nation represents its uniqueness and identity. When people of a country sing their anthem, they feel united and patriotic. Imagine that there are hundreds of thousands people are gathering together at a huge square to protest against you and singing a provocative song all together that conveys a statement either in direct or indirect way to appeal their demand of you. How would you feel about that? What would you do to solve the situation? A song could be a great force. It is too late to settle the matter peacefully when the mass get already overwhelmed. Your violent action toward the protestor will cause of birth of the “Liumang(Hooligan)” who are fighters and soldiers to achieve their goal.