Ai Jing (; born 10 September 1969) is a

mainland Chinese Mainland Chinese or Mainlanders are Chinese people who live in or have recently emigrated from mainland China, defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (PRC) except for Hong Kong ( SAR of the PRC), Macau (SAR of the PRC), ...

singer and painter. China's ''Northeast News'' called her "China's most talented female folk rock singer." Ai was born into a musical family in

Shenyang Shenyang (, ; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly known as Fengtian () or by its Manchu language, Manchu name Mukden, is a major China, Chinese sub-provincial city and the List of capitals in China#Province capitals, provincial capital of Lia ...

Liaoning Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmost ...

: her father played several instruments, and her mother was a ''

Pingju Pingju or Ping opera () is a form of Chinese opera from northern China. History Pingju originated in Tangshan, Hebei, near the city of Tianjin.. Among all China's regional operas, it was the most famous in the Republican period for its passiona ...

'' singer. She attended the Shenyang Special School of Art, joined the Oriental Song and Dance Troupe () in Beijing at age 18, and first gained widespread attention with her 1992 song " My 1997" (). A semi-autobiographical ballad that has been compared to

Cui Jian Cui Jian ( zh, c=崔健, p=Cuī Jiàn, ; born 2 August 1961) is a Beijing-based Chinese singer-songwriter, trumpeter and guitarist. Affectionately called "Old Cui" (), he pioneered Chinese rock music. For this distinction Cui Jian is often la ...

's " Nothing to My Name" in terms of its social impact, the song tells about her love for a man living in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, and how she eagerly awaits the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China so she can visit him. After "My 1997", she performed throughout

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

for several years. The music video for her 1993 "Wandering Swallow" () won the Chunlan Cup MTV Convention. Nimrod Baranovitch describes Ai as one of China's first "independent, free, active, dynamic, perhaps even rebellious" female pop stars". She is also known for having written and produced much of her own music, in a time when few Chinese artists were doing so. Much of her music defied stylistic rules and incorporated Western folk and rock styles.Baranovitch 2003, 165–6. But after her early albums, Baranovitch claims, Ai's popularity decreased as her themes became more "personal and nonconformist",Baranovitch 2003, p. 169. and she faced "antagonism" from men within the music industry because she did not sexually objectify herself and because her introduction of new musical styles challenged the male-dominated industry. Ai moved to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in 1997, and since then has mostly lived in the United States, although she recorded her 2003 album ''Is it a Dream?'' () in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. In the late 1990s Ai switched her focus to painting, and had her first professional exhibition in 2008. She has also acted in three films: ''

Five Girls and a Rope 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Literature * ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram * ''5'' (comics), an awa ...

'' (五个女子和一根绳子; 1991), ''

Beijing Bastards ''Beijing Bastards'' () is a 1993 drama film by Sixth Generation director Zhang Yuan, and is one of the first independently produced Chinese films. Cast * Karzi "a rock promoter" - played by Li Wei 李委 * Cui Jian as himself * Wu Lala (武啦 ...

'' (北京杂种; 1993), and ''

From the Queen to the Chief Executive From may refer to: * From, a preposition * From (SQL), computing language keyword * From: (email message header), field showing the sender of an email * FromSoftware, a Japanese video game company * Full range of motion, the travel in a range of ...

'' (等候董建华发落; 2000).

Discography

References