Cui Renyu studied aircraft manufacturing at Northwestern Polytechnic University in Xi'an, Shaanxi province-but instead of constructing planes, he started creating indie music after graduation.

"I have been living my dreams. Nothing has been like what I expected it to be," says Cui, 36, who celebrated the 10th anniversary of his music label, Pocket Music, on Dec 28 with a concert titled The Beauty of Indie Music.

Eight indie singer-songwriters, including Zhang Qianqian, Zhao Zhao and Du Kun, who have released albums and held tours under Cui's record company, performed at the concert in Beijing.

Though the venue was not packed, Cui was content and enjoyed the show in a corner along with about 300 people.

In the past 10 years, Cui launched 18 issues of a magazine called Pocket Music, released 78 albums-both of foreign and Chinese indie musicians-organized more than 400 live shows around China and staged one music festival.

In 2014, he will continue his music dream by organizing more than 400 live shows, and in 2015, he plans to hold the second Dreamer International Music Festival.

"I am not a realistic person. Sometimes I am even naive and ridiculously positive. As long as I could make ends meet, it's enough. I choose musicians I am interested in and share their music with like-minded fans," he says.

Describing himself as a daydreamer since his youth, Cui chose the aircraft manufacturing major because he longed for freedom and wanted to be creative. But he did not do well in the university since he was not interested in physics, statistics and theories.

He wanted to drop out. But for him, a young man who grew up in a village in Tianjin, obtaining a university degree means a better life and a bright future. He persevered.

The boring university years, however, opened another door for him. Cui spent his spare time listening to various kinds of music from China and abroad, among which he likes quiet, light-hearted folk songs most.

He says that he felt so alive and touched when listening to folk music, which "has inspiring lyrics and comforting rhythms" and has enriched his life.

While juggling classes he hated and immersing in the indie music, Cui started to sell secondhand cassettes and CDs on campus and later online, which, to his surprise, made lots of money.

With good profits and passion for indie music, Cui confirmed his idea of giving up his major after graduation.

In 2000, Cui came to Beijing with several bags of cassettes. He also sold DVDs of art films and T-shirts, and sought opportunities to pave other ways related to indie music.

He made friends with some singer-songwriters and music critics, who later became the writers of his magazine.

He continued branching out and expanding his passions. In 2007, Cui established his own music company, Sounds Great, and organized the first tour by taking German singer-songwriter Maximilian Hecker to Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen in Guangdong province.

In 2012, he took another risk by organizing the first Dreamer International Music Festival, which he dreamed of making into a Utopian event.

Unfortunately, due to the fierce competition of the music festival market in China, Cui's music festival didn't turn out as he envisioned. On the worst day only five people watched the show. But it didn't break the optimistic man.

"Indie music has somehow been reborn lately," he says. "There are more commercial opportunities. University shows combine mainstream and indie acts, introducing the alternative acts to new, younger audiences."

Shen Lihui, founder of influential Beijing-based indie music label Modernsky, agrees.

"Now everything about indie music is exciting. Many bands break into the mainstream and become true staying powers of the music scene in China," he says.

chennan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 01/10/2014 page18)