I interviewed Cui Jian (崔健), aka the “Godfather of Chinese rock’n’roll”, when I first started my career as an entertainment news reporter in Shanghai. I still remember he gave me a signed poster after the interview. I was just thrilled.

Cui Jian is widely considered as the “John Lennon or Bob Dylan of China.” My generations all grew up with his songs — those are more than just songs. If you want to understand China and its vast changes, listen to Old Cui.

He gave a live concert online on April 15 Friday, especially for those who are in lockdowns still. The live concert attracted about 45 million audience online — quite a surprise to Cut himself as well as the government perhaps.

At home or abroad, Cui’s fame is always associated with Chinese politics. In more recent years, Cai has been quite low profile as he worked more behind the scenes on music production and tried to find and grow new and younger talents.

While I was listening to his long-awaited live concert with many of my friends in China on WeChat, they shared exactly the same feeling — Cui didn’t age too much; Spiritually, he’s still the Old Cui we know. You can feel the energy and passion even from behind the screens rather than in person.

Cui told a local host at the end of the concert that he felt nowadays people focused too much on materials and tried to create and waste too many resources. “That kind of attitude (of greed) can result in conflicts, and even wars,” he added.

When Cui began to sing “The Lost Season” (迷失的季節), some netizens sent “Freedom” in live comments!

It means a lot. Indeed, after so many years and especially nowadays, let’s not forget what freedom really means to all of us. Freedom makes you proud. Freedom makes a nation proud.