In 1962, Cui won the Hundred Flowers Award for Best Actor as Zhu Laogong in Keep Red Flag Flying (1960).

[2] In 1930, having briefly studied scriptwriting at Shandong Provincial Experimental Theatre, he organized the Seagull Theatrical Troupe and wrote stage play scripts.

In 1932, he joined the League of Left-Wing Dramatists and traveled to the east and north of China, performing in leftist activities to promote patriontism against the Japanese invasion.

[4] In 1938, Cui joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and taught at the Lu Xun College of Arts in Yan'an.

[3] He also directed and co-directed films such as Song of Youth (1959), an adaptation from Yang Mo's novel of the same name,[2] Zhang Ga, a Boy Soldier (1963), a children's film,[5] and Women Warriors of the Yang Family (1960), which was an adaptation of a traditional opera.