Music and Society, Episode 3

I came across a little collection of Chow Yiu-fai‘s essays a few weeks ago at the library.

Partly due to my nostalgic obsession, partly due to the regret of not having read that “unicorn” book, I enjoyed most of the materials. I strongly related to what I had already heard or been aware of, and quickly skipped those with remote connections. It explored the identity of being Chinese in modern pop music. One interesting part is that it made the assumption that the “Zhongguofeng” music in Taiwan appeared more masculine, while those in Hong Kong seemed to have more feminine touch.

What I want to focus today is the story of the song “黄种人” mentioned in the book. I had never seriously listened to that song before, as I loathed the seemingly “Koushui” title and I was reluctant to use Yellow to represent all Chinese people. Like what Hou Dejian, who wrote “龙的传人”, said in a concert during that tumultuous year: “I used to believe that black eyes, black hair, and yellow faces could represent Chinese people, but I realized that I was wrong when I met xxxx, he reminded me that not all Chinese people looked like that, so I changed the lyrics to ‘no matter you wish it or not, we are forever the heirs of Loong.’”.

I checked the comment area and bullet screen of the song in multiple platforms. Apparently, it is a quite inspiring and uplifting song made during the time of that early wave of patriotism in the first years of 21st century. There was hardly any talk of the lyrics writer Chow and his motive of composition. He admitted that he intentionally avoided using the word “Chinese” and chose “Yellow” for several reasons:

• The concept of being “Chinese” was deeply abused and kind of monopolized by the mainstream
• He was concerned about the xenophobic tendency appeared in other so-called “patriotic” songs
• Discussing Chinese identity in his terms may have some potential issue with the censorship bureau
• He then tried to add some innuendo of barbaric monarchs and internal conflicts
• He also avoid using “we”, and insisted on using “I” to emphasize the individualism he treasured

It was a mind-blowing experience reading that part, even though I could claim that I love and know Chow’s work well. The contrast of his intention and the fans’ reaction I witnessed was so striking that I felt a little sadness when looking at people saying how proud they are singing this song, thinking the lessons of all the historical tragedies Chow tried to express.

Back to Yellow. Based on what Hou said, I developed a sense of exploring the diversity in China. Probably partially due to me being exposed to the western cultures and values, I genuinely believe the power of diversity, and I keep trying to establish that China actually has a stronger diversity than any other western societies. Geography, culture, language, cuisine, you name it. Every Chinese shall proudly express their unique sub-identities as a part of being Chinese, and that will help make us confident and stronger.

With less room to explore those identities, it is not surprising to see how the senses of confusion and being lost arose in certain groups of people, and how they are expressing themselves by music in a tactful way.