Nothing To My Name

The 'featured article of the day' on Wikipedia today is about Cui Jian's landmark hit Nothing To My Name (一无所有 yi wu suo you), which was first written or performed some 25 years ago. It's basically an angry teenager's song of frustrated love, but it appears to bear a subtext of wider dissatisfactions with society: it struck a nerve with the restive Chinese youth of the late '80s and was widely interpreted as a call to revolution. Cui performed the song, to a rapturous reception, for a crowd of student protesters during the sit-in at Tiananmen Square in the early summer of 1989. (At least, according to the legend, he did; he certainly visited the Square, and performed for the students at least once, but there is dispute as to whether he in fact played this song [although it seems almost unimaginable that he would have omitted it!]. However that may be, as a result of his expressed support for the protesters, he was subject to more than a decade of heavy restrictions on his public appearances. In Beijing, he continued to be nominally 'banned' from performing live at all well into the Noughties, although he was making occasional clandestine appearances during my early years here. The Rolling Stones had tried to insist on him opening for them at their proposed 2003 gig at the Workers' Stadium in Beijing, but that was cancelled because of the SARS outbreak. I'm not sure if Cui's participation would have come to pass at that time. He played with them when they finally came to China a few years later, but a Beijing date was scrapped from the schedule, so we all had to go down to Shanghai for that [really - I think there were more Beijingers than Shanghai folks at that gig, scores of people that I recognised!]. I think the gig he played in about 2005 or 2006 at the New Get Lucky Bar - not a very large venue - was the first time that he'd been able to a advertise a performance in Beijing in more than a decade and a half. And the first big concert he did here was headlining the Chaoyang Pop Festival at the end of 2007.)

Although that 1980s spirit of rebelliousness has pretty much withered and died, the song retains a stirring, rabble-rousing power; it is inspiringly angry. It is probably the most anthemic of all modern Chinese songs, and hugely popular across a broad spectrum.

It was also pretty revolutionary musically, in its blending of different genres. The result is a bit of a mish-mash, but it was an important innovation at the time, really opening up the doors for Chinese music to start embracing Western influences. The song also incorporates a lot of elements of traditional Chinese music, particularly in the haunting opening section - something which, unfortunately, most Chinese rock music subsequently has failed to do much of.

Cui's name had started to become known in the West by the late '80s, but largely because of his connection to the Tiananmen protests. I doubt if very many people outside of China had heard any of his music at that time. My old college buddy Richard, who came to teach in China in 1990, soon became a big fan of his, and sent me a tape of Cui's first album, Rock and Roll on the New Long March, on which Yi Wu Suo You was the standout track. So, that was probably the first phrase of Chinese I ever learnt (and one of the last!). I knew the song by heart before I first came here in '94, and it was a central element of the 'mental soundtrack' to my adventures on that trip.

Here's a young-ish Cui singing it at a cancer charity show - in 1992, according to YouTube (although I'm sceptical as to whether he was able to play a show of this scale in Beijing at that time, or to play on television anywhere in China; I rather think it's likelier to be c. 1988). It's a great performance, and good sound and picture quality too.

Update: China music maven Jon Campbell had a good piece on his blog about a new version of this song (including video) put out by a Chinese Netizen in July, bitterly satirizing the official response to the Wenzhou train crash. He also links to an article about this on China Geeks which includes an English translation of the protest song lyrics (and he provides a link to Cui's original lyrics). Well worth checking out. Because this has become the archetypal song of 'angry youth' in this country, it is readily appropriated by each new generation, by anyone with something to rage about.

Jon has also managed to unearth rare TV footage of the first-ever public performance of the song by Cui's band, in 1986 - the moment at which yaogun, "rock'n'roll with Chinese characteristics", was born.

Don't forget to check out Jon's recently published book, the excellent Red Rock: The Long, Strange March of Chinese Rock'n'Roll.