Rock star rejects new year show

Chinese rock icon Cui Jian's agent has confirmed the star will not be singing at the China Central Television (CCTV) Spring Festival gala after refusing to change his song lyrics.

"Cui Jian will not perform at the Spring Festival gala, thanks for everyone's attention," Cui's agent You You announced on his Sina Weibo account on Friday.

Earlier reports from the Chinese website of the New York Times said Cui could not accept censorship over his choice of song and decided against performing at the gala.

The Chinese news website Sina then ran a story alleging Cui would still perform a less-sensitive song, foregoing his original choice, "Nothing to My Name."

You You's statement ended the speculation. The singer had refused to "change the words" of his songs, You You told The Beijing News.

Asked his opinion on the absence of Cui, gala director Feng Xiaogang told the Global Times on the phone, "I can't answer."

Zhu Dake, a professor at the Cultural Criticism Institute of Tongji University, said "whether Cui Jian is allowed to perform at the gala is a touchstone of tolerance in the cultural sector."

A reader's letter to the Guangdong-based Nandu Daily expressed disappointment.

"The Spring Festival gala is more and more away from the common people, away from real life," He Yong wrote. "It's far less critical than it used to be in the 1980s."

Wang Xiaoyu, a research fellow at the Tongji University institute, played down the issue.

"To go or not to go, I don't think it is a big issue," he said. "The gala is not as important to audiences as 20 years ago."

Televised since 1983, the annual CCTV Spring Festival gala is a national institution for many Chinese families as they gather for lunar new year's eve.

After coming under fire for extravagant costumes, lavish style and pointless performances, successive organizers of the show have experimented, innovated and injected freshness.

Cui, 52, who gained his fame in the Chinese mainland in the mid 1980s with the iconic "Nothing to My Name," was banned from performing at large venues in the 1990s.

Yet Cui managed to stay in the spotlight as a director and musician. He recently showed up for his directorial debut Blue Sky Bones at the eighth Rome Film Festival.

After hearing Cui would not perform at the Spring Festival gala, his fans expressed disappointment, but they also understood and supported his decision.

Cui's agent You You commented by reposting another media critic's post about Cui Jian that "Cui insists on what he wants to insist, changes what he wants to change." "Anyhow, he does not lower his head. He is Cui Jian."