The Taiwan Folk Song Movement

30-second overview: On December 3, 1976, at a concert at Tamkang College of Liberal Arts, Filipino student Lee Shuangze smashed a Coca-Cola bottle and asked the audience, "Why do we have to sing foreigners' songs?" — this "Tamkang Incident" sparked the Taiwan Folk Song Movement. In 1975, Yang Xian premiered "Homesick Ballad" at the Grand Hotel, and Hu Defu introduced indigenous ancient melodies; in 1977, the Jin Yun Award and the folk song competition commercialized the genre, giving rise to a generation of folk singers including Qi Yu, Cai Qin, Ye Jiaxiu, and Li Jianfu. Although the ten-year movement ended with talents going abroad and commercialization, the spirit of "singing one's own songs" continued through the generations of Lu Daohai, Chen Qizhen, and Zhang Xuan.

On December 3, 1976, at a concert at Tamkang College of Liberal Arts¹, a Filipino student gripped a Coca-Cola bottle and strummed his guitar on stage, angrily questioning the audience below: "Why do we have to sing foreigners' songs?" He slammed the Coke bottle he held hard against the ground², and the sound of shattering glass was later seen as the moment when musical colonialism was broken. This person was Lee Shuangze, and this moment came to be known as the "Tamkang Incident" — the most iconic starting point of the Taiwan Folk Song Movement.

Why did young people want to sing their own songs? As 1970s Taiwan faced a series of diplomatic crises — leaving the United Nations, the severing of ties between the US and Taiwan — young people began to think about a fundamental question: In this rapidly changing world, what is truly our own voice?

The Turning Point of the Era: Why "Sing Your Own Songs"?

Before the 1970s, Taiwan's music scene was almost entirely dominated by Western pop music. From campuses to cafés, everywhere echoed English songs. Young people were familiar with the melodies of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, but knew nothing about the stories of their own land.

This phenomenon of cultural rootlessness became even more acute under the impact of international situation. The 1972 visit of Nixon to China, the 1978 severing of ties between the US and Taiwan, and the rise of the "Protect the Diaoyu Islands" movement — these events made Taiwanese youth begin to reflect: Who are we? Where is our voice?

It was in this historical context that "singing one's own songs" was no longer just a slogan, but a movement of cultural self-awareness. Young people were not satisfied with being audiences of Western music; they wanted to use their own language and their own stories to create the sound of this land.

Three Pioneers: Yang Xian, Hu Defu, and Lee Shuangze

Yang Xian: The Sower of Modern Folk Songs

On June 6, 1975, Yang Xian, a student at the Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University, held a "Modern Folk Song Creation Concert" at the Grand Hotel in Taipei.³ He set Li Guangyu's poem "Homesick Ballad" to music and for the first time proposed the concept of "modern folk songs."

Yang Xian's innovation lay in combining Chinese modern poetry with American folk and country songs, creating a previously unseen musical form. This concert was seen as the official beginning of the Taiwan Folk Song Movement, and Yang Xian was therefore hailed as the "father of modern folk songs."⁴

Hu Defu: The First Voice

Indigenous singer Hu Defu was another important enlightenment figure in this movement⁵. His performance at the Columbia Café was a slow process of cultural transmission. Hu Defu began singing the ancient melodies of the Paiwan tribe, allowing urban youth to hear for the first time the most primitive and pure voice from the land of Taiwan.

In 1974, Hu Defu held a concert called "Beautiful Rice Sprouts," which was also the place where Yang Xian first publicly performed "Homesick Ballad," laying the groundwork for the following year's Grand Hotel concert.

Lee Shuangze: The Trumpet of Revolution

If Yang Xian is the sower, Hu Defu is the enlightener, then Lee Shuangze is the trumpet of revolution. The "Tamkang Incident" on December 3, 1976, was the most dramatic moment of the Taiwan Folk Song Movement.

This young man, who had just returned from studying in Spain and the United States, was originally supposed to replace the injured Hu Defu on stage. But he chose the most intense way to throw a soul-searching question to the audience below: "Why do we have to sing foreigners' songs?"

Lee Shuangze's moment of smashing the Coca-Cola bottle, from a personal emotional outburst, was magnified into a symbol of the entire generation's resistance to cultural colonialism. His shout of "sing your own songs" quickly became the spiritual slogan of the Taiwan campus folk song movement.

🎵 Listen: Lee Shuangze "Beautiful Island" — Yang Zujun performance version

The Push of Commercialization: Jin Yun Award and Folk Song Restaurants

The "Tamkang Incident" ignited the flame of "singing one's own songs," but what truly allowed folk songs to penetrate into the masses and form a trend was the intervention of commercial forces.

In 1977, Xingge Records launched the "Jin Yun Award" singing contest, and in 1978, Hai Shan Records created the "Folk Song Wind" contest.⁶ These two competitions became the cradle of folk singers. Chen Mingshao, Bao Meisheng, Li Jianfu, Wang Hailin, and others came from the "Jin Yun Award"; Cai Qin and Ye Jiaxiu were representatives of "Folk Song Wind"; Qi Yu and Su Lai were stars who crossed both camps.

At the same time, all kinds of folk song restaurants sprouted up like bamboo shoots after a rain. From Taipei's "Wooden Boat" and "Straw Man" to cafés in various places, they all became stages where folk singers polished their skills and communicated with audiences. These places were bases for cultural exchange, allowing folk songs to move from campuses to society.

The Golden Age Stars

Intellectual Folk Songs

Represented by Qi Yu, the intellectual folk songs pursue the combination of poetic meaning and philosophy. Qi Yu's clear voice interpreted classics such as "Olive Tree" and "Walking in the Rain," showing the literary side of folk songs.

Rustic Folk Songs

Ye Jiaxiu's "Country Road" and Pan Anbang's "Grandma's Penghu Bay" represent the pure and warm style of rustic folk songs. These songs depict the hometown in everyone's heart, touching the hearts of those who have left home.

Urban Folk Songs

Cai Qin, Zheng Yi, and others represent the delicate and mature style of urban folk songs. Their singing techniques are more professional, and the musical arrangements are more abundant, injecting modern urban colors into folk songs.

The Birth of Classic Works

This period gave birth to countless classic works:

"Descendant of the Dragon" (lyrics and music by Hou Dejian, first performed by Li Jianfu) was born against the background of the 1978 US-Taiwan break, expressing the national sentiment and cultural identity of the Chinese people, and was the most historically weighted voice of the folk song movement. "[Olive Tree]" (Qi Yu) conveys the romantic desire for freedom with "the little bird flying in the sky for the sky"; "Just Like Your Tenderness" (Cai Qin) shows the delicate and deep feelings of urban love; "[Country Road]" (Ye Jiaxiu) perfectly combines nostalgia and innocence; "[Grandma's Penghu Bay]" (Pan Anbang) writes into childhood memories and the poetic sense of the sea; "[Autumn Cicada]" (Yang Fangyi, Xu Xiaojing) depicts the sentimental feelings of youth; "[If]" (Shi Bimei, Tai Zhaomei) is a romantic imagination of love.

🎵 Classic Folk Song Selection: Pan Yueyun "Wild Orchid Also Has Spring" | Hu Defu "Pacific Wind"

The End of the Era and Transformation

In the early 1980s, the Taiwan campus folk song movement began to decline. This decline had multiple reasons:

Talent Drain

After the main figures of the folk song movement graduated and went abroad for further studies or served in the military, a talent gap was caused. Yang Xian published "West of the Yang Pass" in 1977 and then went to the United States to study traditional Chinese medicine; Lee Shuangze died in an accident in December 1977 while saving a drowning youth in Tamsui, at the age of only 28 — the two songs he left behind, "Beautiful Island" and "Young China," were later completed and recorded by Yang Zujun and Hu Defu². Many folk singers also temporarily or permanently left the music scene due to career planning.

Changes in Social Atmosphere

In the late 1980s, the social atmosphere in Taiwan changed dramatically. After the lifting of martial law, the localisation movement rose, and the atmosphere on campus turned to criticizing the cultural hegemony of mainland China. The style of local grassroots culture began to replace the fresh campus folk songs.

The Double-Edged Sword of Commercialization

Although commercialization allowed folk songs to become popular, it also made music creation increasingly formulaic, losing the original innocence and experimental spirit.

Legacy and Influence: The Rebellious Successors

Although the campus folk song movement ended, the legacy it left behind deeply influenced the later Taiwan popular music.

Lu Daohai: The Rebellious Successor of Folk Songs

Lu Daohai can be said to be the most important rebellious successor of the folk song movement. He inherited the spirit of "singing one's own songs" from the folk songs, but rejected the gentle and pure nature of the folk songs, turning instead to a more sharp and critical way to focus on social reality. From "Thus Spoke" to "Home," Lu Daohai opened a new era of Chinese pop music.

The DNA of Modern Independent Music

Today's Chen Qizhen, Zhang Xuan, Lu Guangzhong, and other independent folk singers actually inherited the DNA of the folk song movement. They use their own language and their own stories to create music, just as concerned about personal emotions and social issues, only the expression methods are more diverse and personalized.

The Eternal Spirit of "Singing Your Own Songs"

The greatest legacy of the folk song movement is the eternal spirit of "singing one's own songs." Whether it is the later new folk songs, rock music, or today's independent music, they all carry on this spirit in a sense — using music to express one's own voice and responding to the issues of the times through creation.

Revival and Nostalgia: Folk Songs 40, Folk Songs 50

Entering the 21st century, as the folk song generation entered middle age, nostalgic feelings began to ferment. Commemorative activities such as "Folk Songs 40" and "Folk Songs 50" were held one after another, bringing these classic songs back to the public eye.

But this nostalgia points to the ideal of "changing the world with music" itself. In today's commercialized and digitized music environment, the innocence and idealism represented by the folk song movement seem even more precious and moving.

Conclusion: The Meaning of Sound

The Taiwan Folk Song Movement lasted only ten years, but it changed the face of Chinese-language music as a whole. It proved one thing: sound carries identity, cultural self-awareness, and the spirit of the times.

When Lee Shuangze smashed the Coca-Cola bottle at Tamkang, the question he asked — "Why do we have to sing foreigners' songs?" — was actually about "Who are we?" and "What kind of person do we want to become?" This question is still valid today, and still worth thinking about for every creator.

In today's globalized world, we may need to think even more: In this world full of all kinds of sounds, what is truly our own voice? How can we find our own cultural roots while remaining open?

The Taiwan Folk Song Movement gives us the answer: Don't be afraid to create with your own language and your own stories. Because only in this way can we leave a truly our own voice in this world.

Extended Reading

• Development of Taiwan Popular Music — After folk songs, from Lu Daohai to Chen Qizhen and Zhang Xuan, the mainstream axis of Chinese pop music
• Taiwan Literature After the Lifting of Martial Law — Another cultural self-awareness movement after 1987, with the same source as the folk song "singing your own songs" spirit
• Taiwan Film — The Taiwan New Cinema movement of the same period, another axis of Taiwan's local cultural awakening in the 1970s and 1980s
• Sanmao — The original lyricist of "Olive Tree," whose lyrics were rewritten and spread throughout the Chinese-speaking world

References