| "一无所有 (Nothing to My Name)" | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Cover artwork from the overseas release of the album Nothing to My Name | |||||||||||||||
| Single by Cui Jian | |||||||||||||||
| from the album Rock 'N' Roll on the New Long March | |||||||||||||||
| Language | Mandarin Chinese | ||||||||||||||
| Released | 1986 | ||||||||||||||
| Genre | Rock and roll | ||||||||||||||
| Length | 5:35 | ||||||||||||||
| Songwriter(s) | Cui Jian | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
"Nothing to My Name"[a] (Chinese: 一无所有; pinyin: Yīwúsuǒyǒu) is a 1986 Mandarin-language rock song by Cui Jian. It is widely considered Cui's most famous and most important work, and one of the most influential songs in the history of the People's Republic of China, both as a seminal point in the development of Chinese rock music and as a political sensation. The song was an unofficial anthem for Chinese youth and activists during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre.
Both in its lyrics and instruments, the song mixes traditional Chinese styles with modern rock elements. In the lyrics, the speaker addresses a girl who is scorning him because he has nothing. However, the song has also been interpreted as being about the dispossessed youth of the time, because it evokes a sense of disillusionment and lack of individual freedom that was common among the young generation during the 1980s.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).