Hou Dejian

Life as a dissident After the 1989 events at Tiananmen, Hou Dejian disappeared from the public eye to avoid the crackdown on so called "counterrevolutionaries" who had participated in the protest. While rumors swirled of his whereabouts, Hou had taken refuge in the Australian embassy, and spent 72 days under its protection, during which he told Australian embassy staff what had occurred at the square. Following his emergence out of hiding, Hou gave an interview to media discussing his role in the evacuation of the square. He stated: "During the whole withdrawal process I didn't see a single student, either citizen or soldier killed in the square. Nor did I see any armored personnel carriers rolling over people." Contradicting student leaders like Chai Ling and appearing to take the Chinese government's side of the story, Although the news release was clearly "slanted" in order to emphasize that no one had been killed in the clearing of the square, he questioned the people who had thought he was lying about his story. Hou asked: "are we going to use lies to attack an enemy who lies? Aren't facts powerful enough? To tell lies against our enemy's lies only satisfies our need to vent our anger, but it's a dangerous thing to do."

Through interviews with foreign media, Hou took a much more critical approach of the government. According to the Wall Street Journal, among the 1.1 billion people in China in 1990, Hou Dejian was the only individual to utter "in public the criticisms of the state that many Chinese share but dare not speak." According to Linda Jaivin, the news conference was intended to reaffirm Hou and the others' "commitment to the principles of rationality, tolerance, and non-violence." It also acted as a petition for the release of Liu Xiaobo and other so called black hands that took part in the 1989 protests. After his deportation Hou moved to New Zealand and began writing books and screenplays.

Later career Hou relocated to Beijing in 2006. In 2011, he was granted a permit to perform in a concert. In an interview that year, Hou stated, "Human rights in China are not what I am most concerned about now".

In 2018 Hou wrote the tune for a song called Chinese Dream , with lyrics by Jiang Kairu (蒋开儒), which was performed for the first time at a ceremony at Zhengding High School in Hebei. The song refers to the concept of the Chinese Dream promoted by Xi Jinping, current General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.

Albums 《龍的傳人續篇》The Descendants of the Dragon II(1983) 《潮州人》"ChaoZhou People" 《給新生代》"To New Generation" 《龍的傳人續篇》"The Descendants of the Dragon II" 《把自己唱出來》"Sing to Express Yourself" 《好像》"As If" 《高速公路》"High Way"

《新鞋子舊鞋子》New Shoes and Old Shoes(1984) "Well I Need To Be Alone" 《趁你還年輕》"While You Are Still Young" 《歌詞·一九八三》"Lyric 1983" 《歸去來兮》"Come to Return" 《你和我的明天》"Tomorrow of Yours and Mine" 《我們都曾經年少》"We Are All Once Young" 《新鞋子舊鞋子》"New Shoes and Old Shoes" 《熊貓咪咪》"Panda Mimi" 《就讓它像一首歌》"Let it be a Song" 《酒干倘賣無》"Any Wine Empty Bottles for Sale" 《未來的主人翁》"The Masters of the Future"

《三十以後才明白》Only Understand it After 30 Years Old(1988) 《三十以後才明白》"Only Understand it After 30 Years Old" 《一樣的》"The Same" 《寂寞難耐》"Hard to Stand Being Alone" 《我愛》"I Love" 《出走》"Escape Away" 《喂, 老張》"Hi Old Zhang" 《家》"Home"

《下去不》Get Off or Not(1990) 《下去不》"Get Off or Not" 《一顆小小的石頭》"A Little Stone" 《今天是什麼天氣》"What Weather Today" 《漂亮的中國人》"Pretty Chinese People" "To Dream The Broken Dream" 《我們要活下去》"We Must Live On" 《不是我們年紀小》"Not Because We Are Too Young" 《卅歲以後》"After the Age of 30" 《龍的傳人》"The Descendants of the Dragon" (Long De Chuan Ren) 《再梦一遍》"Dream Again"