I like Hip-Hop music. I like electronic music. I like, you know - I can get a lot of energies from the young people. - Cui Jian

I can't think of someone who has ever been more worthy than Cui Jian for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He's Woody Guthrie or Bruce Springsteen, whose songs made people suddenly realize that there are things going on about which we don't know and ought to, and singing with the voice of the people not often represented in popular culture.

I think rock music is more personal for me. I have more freedom. I can show more of my personal emotions in rock and roll music. With classical music, I can only play something that is written already.

If you’re singing and writing lyrics in Chinese, then you’re making Chinese music. You have your own story and you try to tell your own feelings, which are different from older generations’—different from the revolution. We were the first generation to try and express our own feelings. You can say this is Western, but I would say it’s human. Anyways, it doesn’t matter. I’m playing rock music and I’m singing in Chinese. That’s it.