Feeling a Shared History through Song

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TDR: The Drama Review 52:4 (T200) Winter 2008. 2008

New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Nancy Guy is an ethnomusicologist and Associate Professor of Music at the University of California,

San Diego. Her research has focused primarily on the musics of Taiwan and China. The questions most

prominent in her scholarly work involve issues of identity formation, the meaning and uses of expressive

culture in electoral politics, and the ecocritical study of music. Her bookPeking Opera and Politics in

Taiwan (University of Illinois Press, 2005) won the 2006 ASCAP Bla Bartk Award for Excellence in

Ethnomusicology. It was also named an Outstanding Academic Title for 2006 byChoice, the reviewmagazine of the Association for College and Research Libraries.

Feeling a Shared Historythrough SongA Flower in the Rainy Night

as a Key Cultural Symbol in Taiwan

Nancy Guy

Figure 1. Taipei mayoral candidate Lee Ying-yuan (left) stands next to former Taiwan president

Lee Teng-hui as the senior statesman galvanizes the crowd at an election-eve rally, 6 December 2002.

(Photo by Chang Ying-Ying, Taipei Times)


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FlowerintheRainyNight

On a warm December evening in 2002, ormer Taiwan president Lee Teng-hui brought anelection eve rally or Taipei mayoral candidate Lee Ying-yuan to an emotional close by leadingthe crowd o 50,000 in singing an old Taiwanese song, U ia hoe (A Flower in the RainyNight).1 To a simple piano accompaniment played in the style o a Christian hymn,2 ormerPresident Lee, candidate Lee, and other onstage supporters sang in unison with the crowd,many o whom gently waved campaign ags in tempo with the song. As the pianist played thesongs closing measures, air horns blasted, freworks exploded, and green lasers lit up the sky.

Watching a live broadcast o the rally together with a close riend (a proudly Taiwanesewoman in her mid-70s) in her Taipei living room, we both got goose bumps when Lee erventlybegan to sing.3 This rather extraordinary moment made me wonder what orces had combinedto imbue this old popular song, written over 70 years ago, with its ormidable aective power.4Why is this song, which narrates a pathetic young womans ate, so oten invoked at heightenedpolitical moments in Taiwan?

Polls showed candidate Lee Ying-yuan trailing the mayoral incumbent Ma Ying-jeou by aairly wide margin (Hsu 2002:3). Lee Ying-yuans loss was a virtual certainty. In act, the next day

Ma would win 64.11 percent o the vote (Lin Fang-yan 2002b:1). What message or sentimentwas senior statesman Lee Teng-hui aiming to communicate by choosing A Flower in the RainyNight to bring the fnal rally, or a candidate who was certain to lose, to a close? What was thiswell-known songs meaning in the context o this highly charged political moment?

Written during the period o Japans colonial occupation, by composer Deng Yuxian(19061944) and lyricist Zhou Tianwang (19101988), and released in 1934 on the Columbiarecord label, this song was one o the frst in an emerging genre o Taiwanese-language popularsongs. These songs are popularly reerred to today as old Taiwanese songs ( lao taiyu ge). Thatthey are also requently labeled olk songs (minyao) is testament to the degree to which theyhave become part o a perceived, always already existing Taiwanese culture. Many o these songsare experienced as sad, but A Flower in the Rainy Night is one o the most heartrending.

Using a amiliar and immediately understood metaphor, lyricist Zhou conveys the ate o adejected young woman by narrating the plight o a delicate ower. In writing his lyrics, Zhouwas reportedly inspired by the real-lie experience o a teahouse girl that he met one rainy night(Zheng and Guo 2002; Zhuang and Sun 1994).5 While many listeners are probably not aware othis aspect o the songs history, most will glean that it expresses the sadness o a young womanwho has been discarded by her lover:

1. I have employed pinyin or the romanization o most Chinese words and names. In the case o the song title, I

romanize according to the Taiwanese, or Hoklo, pronunciation since this song is not sung using Mandarin pro-

nunciation.

2. Former President Lee Teng-hui is a devout Presbyterian. Presbyterian missionaries became active in Taiwan begin-

ning in the late 1860s. Throughout its history on the island, the church has actively supported the use o the

Hoklo language, human rights, and democracy. This cluster o policies and belies orients the Presbyterian Church

towards avoring Taiwan independence.

3. My riend Lee Shu-teh and I attended about 30 minutes o the rally in person but decided to return to her nearby

home and watch on TV so as to see the stage action more clearly.

4. See David Samuelss book on expression and identity on an American Indian reservation or a detailed and exten-

sive examination o how mass-marketed and mass-mediated popular songs gain evocative and indexical meanings

mainly by being linked to personal biography, history, and place (2004:12348).

5. The young woman whose ate inspired Zhous song came to the capital in search o her intended, who had

departed their village several years earlier. Ater she arrived, she ound that he was already engaged to someone else.

Dejected and too ashamed to return home, she entered the world o teahouse girls and prostitution (Zheng and

Guo 2002:21; Zhuang and Sun 1994:14849).


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A ower in the rainy night, ower in the rainy night, blown by wind and rain, alls to theground.

No one sees, my sighing every day; once the ower alls, it cannot return.The ower alls to the ground, ower alls to the ground; no one sees or takes care.The heartless wind and rain bar me rom my uture. Once the ower has allen, what can

be done?Heartless rain, heartless rain, with no thought o my uture.Not noticing what has beallen me, so weak and ragile, my uture has lost its brightness

and promise.The dripping rain, the dripping rain, leads me to a pool o misortune.Why have my leaves been allowed to all and the ower to break rom its stem?For the rest o time, no one will pay heed to what has happened.6

One melodic phrase:7

Perhaps it is the airly simple structure o the songs melody that makes it memorable. Themelody spans an octave rom its lowest to highest pitches, which means that it lies comortablywithin the range o most peoples voices. While many dierent artists have recorded A Flowerin the Rainy Night and arrangements abound, the heart o the songthe melodyremainsbasically the same. The sung portion is comprised o an opening phrase (notated above) and aclosing phrase. This two-phrase melodic unit repeats or each verse o text. Composer Dengsoriginal sketch shows that he penned the melody in F major (Liu 1998:82). However, likemany Taiwanese popular songs o the period, sung portions o the song are pentatonic (Huang2006:109). Hints at the major (verses minor) modality only appear in the diatonic instrumentalintroduction and closing.8 I the song has any musically atypical aspect, it is that its opening andclosing phrases are each fve measures long, rather than the much more common our measures.The unusual phrase length is achieved by the composers lengthening o each phrases fnal noteacross the bar line. This extended musical pause has a disarming eect. Occasionally, it leavessingers jumping to the next phrase prematurely, thus producing a moment o musical instabil-

Figure 2. A phrase from composer Deng Yuxian's sketch of A Flower in the Rainy Night.

6. English translat ion o song throughout by Hung Mei-ang and Nancy Guy. The song, text, and notation can beound with slight variation in numerous sources (see or example, Liu 1998:96; Zheng and Guo 2002:31).

7. This phrase is taken rom composer Deng Yuxian's sketch o the song (Liu 1998:82). Unortunately, copyright

concerns make it impossible to share notation o more than one phrase. These ve measures represent the rst

phrase o the two-phrase unit that comprises the melodic portion o A Flower in the Rainy Night. Together,

these two phrases are repeated or all our verses o text. Dengs sketch also includes an eight-bar instrumental

introduction and a six-bar closing phrase. The tempo marking indicated here is the range o most common tempi.

For example, singer Hong Ronghongs version centers around 72 beats per minute while Feng Feiei sings at a

slightly aster 74 beats per minute. The perormance by Jiang Hui and Placido Domingo mentioned later in this

essay was uncommonly slow and dreamy with a tempo o between 58 and 60. President Lee Teng-hui led the

crowd at the December 2002 rally at a brisk 76 beats per minute.

8. The use o strictly pentatonic melody with diatonic accompaniment is not uncommon or Taiwanese popular

songs o the period. Many o Dengs other compositions, such as Longing or the Spring Breeze, share this same

characteristic.


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ity.9 Another eature that is somewhat uncommon (though certainly not unique) is its triplemeter (3/4 time). The vast majority o Taiwanese popular songs rom the pre-war period (andtoday, too) are in duple meter (either 2/4 or 4/4). The use o this waltz-like rhythm gives thesong a gentle lilt.

Analysis o the songs technical details, however, doesnt ully account or the various eelingsthat listeners experience in hearing A Flower in the Rainy Night. That a piece o music is notan autonomous entity whose meaning is derived solely rom its musical structure or lyric con-tent is widely understood by contemporary music scholars (Feld 1984; DeNora 1995; Cook(2001; to name a ew). Music is always received in a discursive context: It is through the inter-action o music and interpreter, text and context, that meaning is constructed (Cook 2001:180).The interpretation o musical meaning is, thereore, a uid, interactive, and accumulative socialprocess. As I document instances in which the songs meaning has been interpreted and histori-cized, it is critical to note that not all listeners share the same level o engagement with thesongs genealogy o association and meaning. And, there are most certainly additional aectiveinterpretations and understandings o the songs place within contemporary Taiwanese socialand political history than those that I document here. In short, A Flower in the Rainy Night is

a pretty song that most people in Taiwan probably recognize, quite a ew could identiy by title,and more than a ew could sing. Degrees o amiliarity and intensities o emotional reaction vary,though, based on a complex mix o actors including age, ethnicity, political orientation, andsocial class.

A Flower in the Rainy Night as a Key Cultural Symbol

A Flower in the Rainy Night has appeared in myriad contexts. It has occupied a place inpolitical demonstrations and rallies since the beginnings o Taiwans democratization move-ment in the 1970s; however, the song is by no means confned to political contexts.10 Besidesappearing on karaoke play lists, its sung in Taiwanese opera, has served as the theme songor a television drama, and was even adapted or use in a commercial advertising goats milk

(Chen Chiung-chi 2003). Reerences to the song are not only musical, but literary as well. Ina well-known short story,Kan haide rizi(Days or Watching the Sea) by Huang Chunming, theyoung prostitute protagonist sings the song and reers to both hersel and her sister sex workeras owers in the rainy night (Huang 2000:2324). Various other reerences to the song, orsimply its title, appear in writings too numerous to mention.

My investigation o A Flower in the Rainy Night and its various meanings has led me toview the song as a key cultural symbol in Taiwan in the sense outlined by Sherry Ortner (1973).Key symbols can be placed along a continuum whose two ends Ortner terms summarizing andelaborating. Summarizing symbols such as a national ag or the Christian cross, to name twoexamples, are viewed as summing up, expressing, representing or the participants in anemotionally powerul and relatively undierentiated way, what the system means to them

(1339). Elaborating symbols provide vehicles or making sense o complex and undierentiatedeelings and ideas, making them comprehensible to onesel, communicable to others, and

9. In act, Lee succumbed to this musical temptation during his election eve singing o A Flower in the Rainy

Night; the accompanist was orced to jump ahead a ew beats to catch up with him.

10. As an example o the prominence o the song during acts o political resistance, Qiu Chuizhen reported that on

the evening o the Kaohsiung Incident in 1979, he led the crowd o protesters in singing A Flower in the Rainy

Night, Mending Broken Nets, and Longing or the Spring Breeze (Lu 1997:480). The human rights rally

turned riot, commonly reerred to as the Kaohsiung Incident (Gaoxiong shijian) or the Formosa Incident

(Meilidao shijian), took place in Taiwans southern city o Kaohsiung on 10 December 1979. Taiwans pro-

democracy leaders organized the rally. Military police challenged the demonstrators by ring tear gas into

the crowd. The authoritarian Nationalist regime, which still ruled Taiwan with an iron st, used the riot as

an opportunity to round up dissidents, who were tried in military courts. Many spent years in prison.


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translatable into orderly action (1340). A Flower in the Rainy Night is best categorized as anelaborating symbol that aids in conceptualizing the order o the world, making ties between thepast and present, and oering visions o alternative utures. As with symbols o signifcantconceptual elaborating power, evidence rom Taiwan shows that many aspects o historical andlived experience can be likened to, and illuminated by the comparison with the symbol itsel

(1340).As a starting point or my investigation I begin with the months surrounding the December

2002 mayoral election, since this period witnessed at least three high-profle perormances oA Flower in the Rainy Night, which, in turn, triggered discourse in various orms o mediacentering on the song. The perormance by the world-renowned tenor Placido Domingo oA Flower in the Rainy Night on 29 November, just days beore the election, seems to havebeen a key catalyst or this heightened period o discourse.11

Though it was Domingos fth concert appearance in Taiwan, it was his frst time singing aTaiwanese song. Numerous articles ramed his perormance o A Flower in the Rainy Nightas a matter o great national pride, and the concert was attended by a number o key publicfgures, including Lee Yuan-tzu (then President o the Academia Sinica), Huang Rongcun

(Minister o Education), Long Yingtai (the Director o the Taipei City Government Depart-ment o Cultural Aairs), Annie Lee (Lee Teng-huis daughter), and Lee Ying-yuan (2002 Taipeimayoral candidate), to name a ew (Chen Rong 2002). With this perormance, Taiwanese olksongs would make their debut on the international stage. Event organizers programmed AFlower in the Rainy Night as the concerts grand fnale. Donning an elegant black eveninggown, Jiang Hui (the Queen o Taiwanese song) began the fnale by singing the completesong with ull symphonic and choral accompaniment. Following the applause, Domingo andtwo guest sopranosGrammy Awardwinner Ana Maria Martinez and the internationallyacclaimed Zhang Liping rom mainland Chinajoined Jiang on the stage or a reprise o thesong; the members o this prestigious quartet alternated solo and unison passages.

Newspaper articles covering the event cast the singing o A Flower in almost mystical

terms, implying that the songs emotive powers moved even heaven to tears. The concert tookplace beore a crowd o nearly 20,000 in Taipeis open-air sports arena. Though the weather hadbeen cloudy and threatening all day, several reporters noted that thanks to heavens help, by con-cert time, the skies had cleared (see Chen Rong 2002 and Zhang 2002). However, when JiangHui, in her characteristically sorrowul voice, opened with the phrase A ower in the rainynight, blown by wind and rain, it suddenly started to drizzle. As one critic noted, Even heavenshed tears (Qiao 2002). When Domingo sang The ower alls to the ground, the audiencewas extremely touched, particularly by his virginal Taiwanese. In the third section, as thequartet sang heartless rain in unison, the applause became so thunderous that it moved godin heaven (2002). The rain (according to some, heavens tears) ell with greater and greaterintensity. It became impossible to distinguish i it was rain, or their own tears, which covered

the audience members aces (2002). The United Daily Newsreported that, Many ans leteeling that it was really miraculous (shenqi) or the rain to have started to all just at thatmoment (Zhang 2002).

An essay titled Taiwan xinsuanshi de suoying: Yu ye hua (A Miniature o Taiwans Historyo Hardships: A Flower in the Rainy Night) appeared on Ziyou dianzi xinwen gang(the LibertyTimes Web) the day ater the mayoral election and reerenced Domingos perormance. It is oparticular value here since it oers insight into how the songs history is viewed as parallelingthat o the Taiwanese people.

11. A video o this perormance has appeared on numerous web sites. For example, see www.youtube.com/

watch?v=Qke67CiYR_Y (Domingo et al. 2002).


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When World War II broke out, the colonial government asked Zhou Tianwang to changehis lyrics to a text that would attract young Taiwanese to join the Japanese war eort.Giving the excuse that he had never been a soldier (and, thereore, didnt understandmilitary matters), Zhou Tianwang reused. The Japanese government then ound aJapanese writer to make A Flower in the Rainy Night into a military song.12 These lyrics

make us sick when we hear them; like, or example, Im very proud to be a son o Japanand In death we hope to wither like allen cherry blossoms, and so on.13 This was anenormous insult and humiliation to the most precious composed song o Taiwan.

Ater the end o WWII, the perormance o Taiwanese songs was once again restricted;naturally, A Flower in the Rainy Night was no exception.14 Fortunately, with Taiwansdemocratization in the 1980s, the period o repression or these songs fnally came to anend. One by one they have returned to their original character.

More than 100 years ago, Taiwans young men were Qing dynasty soldiers. Later theybecame brave militiamen fghting against the encroaching Japanese army. Next, they wereorcibly transormed into conscripts serving the Japanese army in the South Seas. Laterthey were changed again, this time to compulsory soldiers in the Republic o Chinas

counteroensive against the Chinese mainland. Still today, there is a powerul orce thatwants to see Taiwanese belong to Chinas Peoples Liberation Army! How is this situationany dierent rom that suered by the song A Flower in the Rainy Night? (Zhou 2002)

Though my translation alls short o capturing the ull emotional intensity o the originalChinese, it does convey how the songs own history is entwined with the history o theTaiwanese people. In keeping with Ortners notion o the elaborating symbol, the islands historyo repeated colonizations is illuminated through a comparison with the songs own history ocoerced transormation and suppression.

The fve years between 1932 and 1937, during which time A Flower in the Rainy Nightwas written, represent a golden period or Taiwanese popular song. A number o songs rom

this time narrate the stories o broken-hearted young women who have been discarded bytheir heartless lovers. According to olk musician, ormer political prisoner, and legislator QiuChuizhen, the young girls bitter ate told in the lyrics o A Flower in the Rainy Night mirrorsthat o the Taiwanese people under colonial rule (Qiu n.d.:11).15 Popular songs rom this periodoer evidence o early expressions o the notion o Taiwan as a eminized victim. Sel-perceptiono eeminacy on the part o colonized peoples has been well-documented (see Sinha 1995). Inthe case o Taiwan, this is perhaps linked to the act that Taiwan has perpetually been a nationwithout a state. As Jan Jindy Pettman notes, nations are typically imagined as emale, whilestates are male (1998:157). As emale, the nation is under threat and sexual danger. Invasion

12. Zhou Shuye titles the Japanese military song Flower o the Southern Nation (in Mandarin, Nanguo zhi hua).

However, most sources give the title o this wartime version as Renowned Soldiers (in Japanese, Homare no

gunpu) (see or example Yoshida 1993:11516).

13. In this context, cherry blossoms (sakura) is a metaphor or Japans soldiers, including Taiwanese volunteers

(Chou 1997).

14. Huang Wenxiong recalls that more than 300 Taiwanese songs were banned by the Nationalist government through

the early 1960s (1993:269).

15. A chronology o the islands multiple colonizations or transers o power can be summarized as ollows: 1624,

Ming dynasty (China); 16241662, Holland (in the south) and Spain (in the north); 16621683, Zheng

Chenggong (China-born, Ming loyalist whose orces expelled the Dutch); 16841895, Qing dynasty (China);

18951945, Japan; 1945present, the Republic o China. Some view the period rom 1945 up to the ascent o

Taiwan-born Lee Teng-hui to the presidency in 1988 also as a colonial period since those in power (Chiang Kai-

shek and later his son Chiang Ching-kuo) came rom outside o the island (Liao 1999:20607).


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and colonization are viewed as heterosexual rape. This concept o Taiwan as a eminized victim,a woman who has suered multiple rapes, persists in the present.16

On a web page dedicated to A Flower in the Rainy Night, which was last updated about amonth ater the election, an anonymous writer mentioned the recent perormance by Jiang andDomingo as well as the songs use by Shih Ming-tehs campaign during the Kaohsiung mayoralrace, held on the same day as the Taipei election. The writer asks, Why is it that A Flower inthe Rainy Night is always able to reach deeply into our hearts at sentiments that are difcult toexpress in words? (Yuanliu 2003). He makes a clear tie between the songs young woman, wholacks agency to control her own destiny (like a ower mercilessly beaten by wind and rain), andthe people o Taiwan, who have been passed rom one colonizer to the next and whose ate,even now, depends largely on policy decisions made in Beijing and Washington.

In his bookTaiwanrende jiazhi guan (The Value System o Taiwanese), Huang Wenxiongdevotes an entire chapter to A Flower in the Rainy Night, which he believes representsTaiwan better than any other song (1993:272).17 Huang takes this song (an elaborating symbolpar excellence) not only to explain specifc historical developments, but also to defne a Flowerin the Rainy Night Psychological Phenomenon, which he asserts is prevalent in Taiwanese

society. He launches his argument by analyzing the nature o the ower alluded to in the songlyrics. Unlike the sakura (cherry blossom), which stands as a symbol o Japan and denotes a realower (and, incidentally, is the subject o Sakura Sakura [Cherry Blossoms], a traditionalJapanese song known around the world), the ower in the rainy night denotes not an actualtype o ower, but the concept o a particular kind o ower. A ower in the rainy night is ametaphor or a person who has suered humiliation, bitter trials and tribulations, and throughit all, has remained riendless and alone (Huang 1993:273).

Huang identifes three components, or mentalities, o this psychological phenomenon:weakness; lack o sel-determination or agency; and, hopelessness or atalism. He borrows songlyrics to illustrate each o these, such as with the ollowing phrases, which he asserts express ahopelessness or atalism:

[. . .] once the ower alls, it cannot return.[. . .] my uture has lost its brightness and promise.For the rest o time, no one will pay heed to what has happened.

In an optimistic conclusion, however, Huang looks orward to the day when this sad songwill be tied to a rising national consciousness (minzu zhuyi de sixiang). With the change inpolitical tide, the Taiwanese people will awaken to put to rest their humiliating history(1993:277). A Flower in the Rainy Night will then stand as a dirge or a shaken system.

The above examples evidence various ways in which A Flower in the Rainy Night is takenas a metaphor or the colonial history and even psychology o Taiwans people. Through thiskey symbol, potentially disparate experiences or phenomena are interconnected and viewed asrelated. This interconnection goes beyond intellectual realization. As song, the metaphor hasstrong aective powers. The text tells the story; the melody carries the message straight to theheart. To enlist a dichotomy frst articulated by Charles Seeger and urther developed by StevenFeld, speech communicates a world view as the intellection o reality while music communi-cates a world view as the eeling o reality (Feld 1984:1).

16. For example, the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre o Taiwan perormed an extremely moving depiction o the rape o

Taiwan in its 2006 production oFormosa, Island the Beautiful.

17. I have even heard people mention that A Flower in the Rainy Night should be Taiwans national anthem. A chat

room entry dated 30 August 2004 posted the songs lyrics and historical background, and titled it Taiwan guoge

(Yu ye hua) (Taiwan National Anthem [Flower in the Rainy Night]) (Kingnet 2004).


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Feeling the Past through Song

To urther explore how the song enables the eeling o reality, I fnd Raymond Williamssnotion o structures o eeling useul. In developing this notion, Williams was chiey con-cerned with meanings and values as they are actively lived and elt (1977:132). He was reaching

or the aective elements o consciousness and relationships: not eeling against thought, butthought as elt and eeling as thought (132).

Several scholars have convincingly demonstrated ways in which music articulates structureso eeling. In their work on music and social movements, Ron Eyerman and Andrew Jamison useWilliamss theory to show that songs sung in social movements give us access to both eelingsand thoughts that are shared by larger collectivities (1998:161). Other scholars have demon-strated that as structures o eeling change, music changes as well (see Kirshenblatt-Gimblett1998; McClary 2000).

To illustrate the structure o eeling articulated in A Flower in the Rainy Night, Ivecompiled several vignettes that narrate emotionally poignant situations involving the song.The frst comes rom a short story that recounts the journey o a womanwho was sold into

prostitution at age 14as she gains control o her lie by leaving the proession and returningto her home village. First published in 1967, Huang Chunmings Kan haide rizi(Days orWatching the Sea) later appeared in English translation under the title A Flower in the RainyNight (Wieman 1976). Huang is one o the most popular authors o Taiwans nativistliterature and is particularly renowned or bringing depth and humanity to his portrayal o themarginalized fgures he weaves his stories around (Yip 2004:72).18

Having drited rom brothel to brothel or hal o her lie, Huangs heroine Pai-mei sueredmisery, loneliness, and rootlessness. In the early part o the story, beore she fnds her way toredemption, Pai-mei sings A Flower in the Rainy Night in the company o her close riend,who is also a prostitute. Ater she sings, her riend Ying-ying comments that, Its a sad song,and when you sing it, its even sadder. To which Pai-mei replies: My tears dried up years ago,

and I know how it hurts not to be able to cry when you want to. You still have a lot o tears let;but when you cant cry when you eel like crying, then you might as well sing that song. Itllmake you eel a lot better. Ying-ying asks, Whats a ower in the rainy night? Pai-meianswers that they are both owers in the rainy night and explains: The situation were in rightnow is very bleak, isnt it? Its like a rainy night, and women like us are like weak owers; wevebeen beaten and separated rom the branch by the storm, and weve allen to the ground, right?As Ying-ying nods, her tears begin to all. From this time orward she began to reconcilehersel to her tragic ate (Weiman 1976:205).

Huangs story presents a type o metadrama with an ill-ated prostitute singing o a allenyoung woman, both o whom are likened by metaphor to a wind- and rain-pelted ower. Thedepiction o Pai-mei at this dark and hopeless moment parallels the image that many listeners

have in mind when they hear or sing A Flower in the Rainy Night. Pai-meis emotion andmindset, which are deepened by her own singing, are one representation o the structure oeeling most oten associated with the song.

Returning to the realm o perormance, traditional Taiwanese opera provides a venue or thesong where it also holds connotations o sorrow and victimization. Ethnomusicologist ChenChiung-chi has ound that in scenes ollowing the rape o a young woman, the victim typicallysings A Flower in the Rainy Night to express the sorrow or rage o being raped. According toChen, the original text and melody o A Flower in the Rainy Night are used without any

18. The nativist (xiangtu) movement in literature began to take shape in the 1970s. With contemporary Taiwanese

people and concrete social problems as its subject, this literature oten incorporates the localHoklo (aka Taiwanese)

dialect in its narration o island lie.


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alteration. She observes that the original text always sounds quite ft to the dramatic context(2003).

A particularly moving mention o the song is drawn rom a biography o the politicaldissident turned legislator (rom 20012004), turned talk show host and political commentator,Sisy Chen (aka Chen Wenqian).19 It recalls an emotional meeting that took place between Sisyand two Taiwan exiles, Chen Fangming and Zhou Ming, in Caliornia in 1987 around the timeo the 40th anniversary o the 28 February 1947 Taiwan Uprising, in which an estimated 18,000to 28,000 Taiwanese died at the hands o Nationalist soldiers (Copper 2003:64).

Zhou Ming and Sisy Chens deceased great uncle, who was Zhou Mings close riend, haded together to China ater their ailed resistance against Nationalist troops around the timeo the 1947 Uprising. That evening, Zhou described the tragic circumstances o Sisys unclesdeath. Breaking the pregnant silence that ollowed his narration, Sisy asked Zhou i he enjoyedTaiwanese olk songs. He nodded yes. She then sat down at the piano and gently began to playA Flower in the Rainy Night. As Sisys biographer recalls:

The pianos melodious ow carried back old memories as well as old pain. I saw Zhou

Ming standing acing the wall with tears streaming endlessly down his ace. He had lethis home in Taiwan more than 40 years ago. Facing the wall, he must surely have beenrecalling the lakes, rivers, and green mountains o Taiwan. Sisy also wept, but continuedto play. Beore my eyes was a scene o the past overlapping with the present. As i peeringthrough a tunnel bridging the past and present, the tragic ate that Sisy glimpsed in thedistance was not only her great uncles, but that o all Taiwanese people. (Chen Fangming1999:26)

In this tearul moment, the past olded into the present. As she sat playing A Flower in theRainy Night, Sisy realized that the tragic ate described by Zhou was not confned to the past,nor did it belong solely to her great uncle. It is the shared sadness o the Taiwanese people.This realization, both thought and elt, is underscored, heightened, and articulated by the

music. Through expressivity, the recoverable past is revealed to both listeners and perormersthrough their aective response to aesthetic experience (Samuels 2004:39).20

A last example recalls the creation o a song that takes the A Flower in the Rainy Nightmelody and sets new lyrics to it. The lyricist John Tin remembers that back in 1973, in the wakeo Richard Nixons visit to China and Taipeis loss o the China seat in the United Nations toBeijing, he was riding on a streetcar in Europe. Thinking o the dangerous diplomatic crossroadaced by Taiwan, he broke down in tears. Still on the tram, and with tears streaming down hisace, he immediately scribed the poem Fairest Taiwan, Our Homeland, which he set to themelody o A Flower in the Rainy Night (Tin 2002:50). In writing his song, Tin connected themelody o the amiliar song to a circumstance flled with both anguish and an overriding eelingo powerlessness.21

The Political Environment and the 2002 Mayoral Election

The two candidates in the Taipei mayoral race were Lee Ying-yuan o the DemocraticProgressive Party (DPP) and Ma Ying-jeou o the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuo-min-tang,

19. Once one o the Democratic Progressive Partys rising stars, Sisy Chen declared hersel an Independent ollowing

the 2000 presidential election and quickly became one o the DPPs most zealous critics.

20. Samuels also nds that what he terms eelingul iconicity dissolves the wall separating the present rom the past,

and memory easily becomes historical imagination (2004:138).

21. Tin notes that ater the Kaohsiung Incident o 1979, his song was used on many diferent occasions and was one

o the democracy movements rst street protest songs. He surmises that in the midst o hopelessness, this song

helps to express the peoples will (2002:50).


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KMT). The other person o central interest here is Former President Lee Teng-hui, also theormer chairman o the KMT, who is now considered the spiritual leader o the deep greenpro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union. In Taiwan, party membership is oten, but certainlynot always, linked to ethnicity. The Nationalist Party to which Ma Ying-jeou belongs is theparty that Chiang Kai-shek brought to the island when he and nearly two million migrs ed

China in the late 1940s. The KMT orms the cornerstone o the pan-blue coalition whichincludes several other parties that splintered o rom the KMT. The DPP is central to thepan-green coalition. Quite like the contemporary American situation, Taiwans politicalenvironment is highly partisan with a deep and oten caustic divide separating the blue andgreen camps.

For many decades, Chiang Kai-shek, and later his son, Chiang Ching-kuo, led the KMT andruled Taiwan as an authoritarian dictatorship. During these years, the Mainlanders who ollowedChiang Kai-shek to Taiwan rom the late 1940s through the early 1950s held all-importantpositions in the KMT. Meanwhile, opposition parties were outlawed. Near the end o ChiangChing-kuos lie, under increasing pressure rom the opposition (termed dangwaior outside theparty), he initiated Taiwans liberalization and democratization process. This included bringing

into the KMT native Taiwanese (roughly defned as people who were born in Taiwan prior to1945 and their descendants). One o his most successul native-born recruits was Lee Teng-hui.When Chiang died in 1988, then Vice President Lee succeeded him as the head o the KMTand as the President o the Republic o China (on Taiwan). Particularly toward the end o his12 years in the presidency, Lee initiated a number o strategic eorts that many (includingofcials in Beijing) viewed as moving Taiwan towards independence.22

Lees third and fnal our-year term in the presidency ended in 2000. Chen Shui-bian o theDemocratic Progressive Party won the 2000 presidential election by a narrow margin in a racebetween three ront-runners. Lee Teng-hui was blamed or causing turmoil within the KMT,which led to its splitting into two contending campaigns o what was likely to have been awinning KMT ticket. Thus, Lee paved the way or Chens election. Chen Shui-bians ascent to

the presidency in the year 2000 marked the end o fve decades o KMT rule. Chen, like mostmembers o his party, which has historically been associated with the Taiwanese independencemovement, is native Taiwanese.

Chen Shui-bian served one term as Taipei mayor (19941998) but lost his bid or re-electionto Ma Ying-jeou. Though his amily moved to Taiwan when he was barely a toddler, Mas HongKong birth to parents rom Hunan Province identifes him as a Mainlander. As the son o ahigh-ranking KMT ofcial, Ma Ying-jeou grew up as part o the political elite. His handsomelooks and refned manner have contributed to making him one o the most popular pan-bluepoliticians. In the run-up to the 2002 mayoral election, there was widespread speculation thatMa would also run or president in 2004. Some even eared that Ma was positioning himsel toturn Taiwan over to Beijing. In act, Ma ran or the presidency not in 2004, but in 2008. He won

and assumed the ofce on 20 May 2008.Mas victory over Chen in the 1998 Taipei mayoral election was viewed by many in terms

o ethnic politics. The vast majority o Taiwans Mainlander population (those who ed toTaiwan in the late 1940s and their descendants) live in northern Taiwan. With the beginningo the direct election o ofcials in the 1990s, Taipei quickly gained a reputation as a KMTstronghold, while southern Taiwan tends toward pan-green allegiance. Issues o ethnicityand questions over candidates loyalty to Taiwan are very much a part o the islands politicalenvironment, as evidenced in a public opinion poll taken shortly ater the 7 December 2002elections. The poll reported in the Taipei Timeson 18 December 2002 showed that more than

22. Taiwan independence essentially means a renunciation o the notion that Taiwan is an inalienable part o China.

Though China and Taiwan had, in act, only been under the control o the same government or less than ve

years (19451949) since 1895, the one China policy views this as a temporary situation.


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50 percent o respondents expressed a concern that politicians may sell out Taiwan (Chang2002). More than 40 percent o Taipei and Kaohsiung residents worried that ethnic strie wouldworsen in the run-up to the 2004 presidential elections. The enormous rit that opened theevening o 20 March 2004, when Chen was announced the winner o that election, revealedthe volatility that had been lurking just beneath the surace.

Throughout the 2002 Taipei mayoral campaign, polls showed DPP candidate Lee trailingthe popular incumbent Mayor Ma. Lee Ying-yuan was born in Yunlin County on Taiwans westcoast. He became active in the Taiwan independence movement while studying or advanceddegrees in the US. In the late 1980s, Lee received a teaching appointment at National TaiwanUniversity but was reused entry to Taiwan due to his political activities while in the States.Ater his eventual return, he was charged with sedition and detained or over a year. In 1995, hewon a seat in the Legislative Yuan. At the time o the election in 2002, he was still consideredsomething o a novice as a political candidate. On election day, all that the DPP could hope orwas to narrow the margin o Mas victory over Lee.

A Flower in the Rainy Night on Election Eve

As it turns out, Former President Lee Teng-hui was not the only politician to invoke this songthe day beore the election. On 7 December 2002, voters in both Taipei and Kaohsiung (theislands second largest city, located in the south) elected their next mayors as well as city councilmembers. While the race in the capital city had just two main contenders, the Kaohsiung racewas peopled by our key candidates. However, by the end o the Kaohsiung race the incumbentHsieh Chang-ting o the DPP and the KMTs Huang Jun-ying were the two leading contend-ers. Chang Po-ya (the only emale candidate) and Shih Ming-teh both ran as Independents.The decision o Shihs campaign organizers to use A Flower in the Rainy Night, also onelection eve, provides a ruitul comparison with Lee Teng-huis choice o the same song.

Shih holds the distinction o being one o the islands pioneering advocates or democracyand human rights. He was jailed between 1964 and 1977 or his anti-government activities.As a key player in the Kaohsiung Incident o 1979, he was sentenced to lie imprisonment oncharges o treason, though he was pardoned in 1990 by then President Lee Teng-hui. In jail,he was treated more brutally than most o the others who were imprisoned ollowing theKaohsiung Incident (Rubinstein 1999:444). In protest, he went on numerous hunger strikes andwas orce-ed by the authorities, who eared that his death would turn him into a martyr. Aneditorial published in the China Poston 21 August 2006 nicely summarizes a commonly heldperception o Shih: Over the years, Shih has become a household name in Taiwan because ohis sot spoken opposition to tyranny and his willingness to endure punishment rather thancompromise his belie in democracy (China Post2006).

Shihs motivation or entering the Kaohsiung mayoral race o 2002 was the subject owidespread speculation. The most cynical views held that his campaign was supported bypro-China (pro-unifcation as opposed to pro-Taiwan-independence) orces that hoped tounseat incumbent Hsieh Chang-ting by splitting the pan-green vote. While Shih had servedas a symbol o Taiwan independence or many years, his alling out with members o the DPP,including his ouster rom the party caucus in 2000, had let him adrit and vulnerable to themonied orces rom within the pan-blue camp. Others held the view that Shih had becomedisgusted by the corruption and hateul mudslinging that had become commonplace amonggovernment ofcials and politicians. He did not expect to become the next mayor o Kaoshiung.He entered the race in order to highlight the shortcomings o the other candidates and to shinea harsh light on the current state o Taiwans electoral politics (Lin Fang-yan 2002a:1).

With the election approaching, and polls indicating that he was likely to garner only a smallpercentage o the vote, Shih and his campaign organizers seized the moment to make one last

powerul statement. On election eve, they hired three campaign trucks to drive throughout


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Kaohsiung. Painted black with an image o a single rose on each side, neither Shihs name norhis candidate number appeared on the trucks; instead a single phrase was scribed: The oweralls to the ground and will not return (Shih 2003). As the trucks made their rounds, theybroadcast a recording o A Flower in the Rainy Night.

Curious to learn more about Shihs intention, I interviewed him in March 2003, roughlythree months ollowing the election. Ater explaining that I wished to understand his campaignsuse o A Flower in the Rainy Night, I asked Shih to explain the songs meaning. His immedi-ate response related the song to the islands colonial history as he recited a chronology oTaiwans history o being ruled by occupiers rom aar. He continued:

For many years, this song has been able to move Taiwanese peoples hearts. Sometimes,not necessarily during an election, when we sang this song our tears would ow. Wewould think o Taiwans sad history. It is like the eeling o a rainy nightthe ower isbeaten by the rain and alls to the groundno one takes care. Thereore, this songnarrates Taiwanese peoples history, especially during the White Terror Period. Duringthat time, when we were struggling against the Chiang regime, we oten sang this song.(2003)

I then asked Shih what the song meant in the context o his mayoral campaign. He replied that,in act, it was his sta that had selected the song. Sta member Chen Jiajun, who joined in ourtalk, said they knew beore the election that Shih wasnt going to win. They decided to holdtheir thanking ritual (xiepiao) and acknowledge the deeat the day beore the election. Thisritual, during which candidates travel throughout the voting precinct thanking voters or theirsupport, is normally held the day ater an election. In seeking a theme or the event, they choseA Flower in the Rainy Night. The lyrics the ower alls to the ground and will not return,told everyone that even i you didnt support us, we thank you. However, we wont be back. Weought courageously or so long, yet didnt gain strong recognition (Chen Jiajun 2003). Shihattributed their ailure to the current state o politics and governance in Taiwan. In his view, its

no longer about policy or a candidates character; the lines are strictly drawn between the blueand green camps. Its very dierent rom the healthy democratic government that we hadhoped Taiwan would develop (Shih 2003).

The use o A Flower in the Rainy Night as the song to close two campaigns, both owhich were certain to lose, seems to indicate a similar intention or meaning on the part oevent organizers. At frst glance, one might assume that singing A Flower in the Rainy Nightat the end o a campaign simply signals deeat. However, I argue or a multiplicity o possiblemeanings, based in part on how the participants in a particular event view their own actions.Using an ethnographic approach or the case o Shih Ming-teh, I sought to interview theorganizers o Lee Ying-yuans election eve rally and talk with Former President Lee Teng-hui.However, i ethnographic work means having direct, sustained contact with people and their

activities, as Deborah Wong defnes it, then this particular situation only allows or thesuccessul completion o about hal o this equation, even under the most optimistic circum-stances (Wong 2004:8). There are limitations when event participants are high-profle publicfgures such as the ormer president.

I arranged to meet Chung Chia-pin (a key member o Lee Ying-yuans campaign sta)in February 2003, about two months ater the election. My frst aim was to discover whosedecision it was to end the rally with A Flower in the Rainy Night. Mr. Chung verifed thatLee Teng-hui had personally made this choice and oered two theories regarding Lees songselection. First, he mentioned that Placido Domingo and Jiang Huis perormance, just aweek prior to the election, had become a hot topic or discussion. Everyone was talking aboutA Flower in the Rainy Night and speculating on how Domingo had come to program this

amous old song. Thereore, this song would allow Lee to tie the campaign to a very positiveand current topic. Second, Chung said that one must look to Lee Teng-huis personal back-


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ground. For native Taiwanese o Lees age (in their 70s and 80s) the eeling o A Flower inthe Rainy Night is associated very strongly with the islands colonial history. It expresses acolonized people never being the master o their own destiny; continually being transerredrom one colonizer to another (Chung 2003). Chung concluded that regardless o LeeTeng-huis reasoning, the songsganran li(aective powers) were very strong and inuential.

He went on to discuss how voters oten base their decisions not on reason but on eeling.According to Chung, music helps to create a unity o eeling between the audience and thecandidate.

In an eort to gain urther insight into how the ormer president viewed this song and hisdecision to sing it on 6 December 2002, I sought to speak with him personally. Through thegenerous assistance o Winston I Yu, the ather o my ormer student Randy Yu, and ProessorTiun Hak-khiam o National Taitung University, I managed to schedule an interview with LeeTeng-hui in June 2005. (I was accompanied by Proessor Wang Yingen o National TaiwanUniversity.) In gaining access to this elder statesman, who is still very active in Taiwans politicalscene, I frst had to write a letter explaining the nature o my interests. Besides introducingmysel and my research, I wrote: I am eager to talk to Former President Lee about his decision

to lead the crowd in singing the song A Flower in the Rainy Night at a rally or Lee Ying-yuanduring the December 2002 Taipei mayoral race. I also inquired about his musical background.The act that he read my introductory letter was made clear when in the interview he turned tome and said, In your letter, you were wrong. I didnt learn to play the violin. Twice, however,I asked Lee to discuss A Flower in the Rainy Night and both times he declined to elaborate.The second time, in a somewhat rankled tone, he said, Those songs like A Flower in the RainyNight [. . .] its nothing special [. . .] everybody could sing them (Lee 2005). Over the course oour nearly two-hour long talk, I ound Lee to be very warm and gregarious. Why he chose notto elaborate on A Flower in the Rainy Night or his choice to sing it at the close o LeeYing-yuans rally will probably go orever unanswered.

Lee Teng-huis view o A Flower in the Rainy Night as a song that carries a tone o

misery and helplessness is revealed in a remark that he made in October 2000 while on a visitto the Czech Republic. His trip came fve months into the term o his presidential successor,Chen Shui-bian. Already, Chen was acing paralyzing obstruction rom the predominatelypan-blue legislature; and a couple o high profle umbles had showcased the act that most ohis administrations cabinet members and heads o ministries had no experience beyond the cityor county levels. In what was interpreted as a veiled wake-up call to Chen, Lee commented,Taiwans people should take the spirit o Czech composer Smetena and his piece M Vlast(My Fatherland) as a model, and sing less o the melancholy and bitter A Flower in the RainyNight (Chen 2000). In other words, Lee called upon Chen to stand up and build the nation,rather than continue to play the role o the victim illustrated in the song.

I believe, however, that Lee sang A Flower in the Rainy Night on election eve not as

a signal o deeat, as the Shih Ming-teh campaign had, nor as an expression o sadness orvictimization. Rather, he invoked the old song to promote a sense o shared history and tocreate a strong unity o eeling. He also imbued this symbol, which so aptly expresses thesadness associated with the islands colonial history, with the promise or a brighter uture byreaching beyond the last line o its well-known lyrics. In the emotionally charged atmosphereo the last ew moments o the 2002 campaign, Lee drew the crowd together to imagine theobvious. The ower alls to the ground, but the stem remains to put orth new blooms(Lee 2002).

Numerous news articles reported on Lees dynamic close to the rally. One paper evenmentioned the song in its headline: Candidates Make Final Appeal to Voters: Lee Teng-huiCloses Out DPP Rally Crooning Local Folksong (Lin Chun-yu 2002). Each report mentioned

how Lee brought the crowds eelings o togetherness to a climax with his ervent singing othe song (Fang 2002; Chen Baoguang 2002; Huang 2002; Zhan 2002; Lin, Chun-yu 2002).


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At the close o his passionate speech in support o candidate Leejust prior to singingFormer President Lee mentioned that he was greatly moved when he saw Domingos peror-mance o A Flower in the Rainy Night on television the previous week. From here, he setthe tone or the song to come:

Its air to say that all o Taiwans people can sing this Taiwanese olk song; it expressesa particular kind o tenderness. It allows everyone to eel the tenacity o the Taiwanesepeoples gentle nature [. . .] In the pursuit o our nations most critical issues such asautonomy and a common recognition o this land, we have met with many obstacles.However, the most important thing is that we keep our aith and that we orever pre-serve our warmth and tenderness. This is our gentle nature! This is a quality that cannotbe destroyed. The ower alls to the ground, but the stem remains to put orth newblooms. Isnt that right? Lets all sing together, okay? Let us use this song to reconcileour eelings o pressure over tomorrows election battle and to relieve this eveningsanxiety. With todays anxiety, we must unite our hearts, strive together, and work hardthrough singing this song. Tonight, when everyone returns home, we want to go withpeaceul and calm hearts. Together, lets wish Lee Ying-yuan victory tomorrow. (Lee

2002)

Numerous scholars, rom a variety o disciplinary backgrounds have analyzed politics andcampaigning as ritual or drama (Turner 1982; Herzog 1987; Kertzer 1988; McLeod 1991;Borreca 1993). Hanna Herzog ruitully applies the notion o liminality to the interpretation oelection campaigns, viewing them as an active arena or social construction o political worlds(1987:559). Liminality, as defned by Victor Turner, is a movement between fxed points and isessentially ambiguous, unsettled, and unsettling (1974:274). Viewed in this light, the beginningo election campaigning marks the opening o the period o liminality. In most cases, this periodis brought to a close when the election returns put into place the new legitimate government.23Campaign time is, thereore, an in-between time during which manipulating and alteringmeanings and creating symbols are the main activities (Herzog 1987:571).

In Taiwan, the most highly charged moments in an election campaign typically come duringthe last ew hours, and particularly in the fnal minutes o the last rallies. It was in this space thatFormer President Lee called upon A Flower in the Rainy Night, known or its power to elicita strong emotional reaction through summoning a commonly understood and experiencedstructure o eeling. This song, perhaps more than any other Taiwanese song, has the ability touse individual and collective identity and to reconnect the past and the uture to the present ina meaningul way (Eyerman and Jamison 1998:163).

With his speech just prior to the group singing, Lee oered a resh interpretation othe past, one that provides hope or the uture. In analyzing the ormer presidents move tourther develop the meaning o this key symbol, I turn to Turners notion o the subjunctiveor optative possibility o liminal processes. By employing the grammatical terms indicativeand subjunctive, Turner draws attention to the dialectic between isand may be (1977:71).Further elaborating upon Turners idea, Bronislaw Szerszynski notes that within ritual thereis typically an expression not just o how things are, but how things mightbe, how thingsoughtto be (Szerszynski 2002:56). Heightened periods o liminality, such as during campaignrallies, are in the realm o the subjunctive mood. With A Flower in the Rainy Night, Leetook advantage o the possibilities present within this liminal state to share an image o howthings oughtto be.

23. Notable exceptions to this ideal situation are the American presidential election o 2000 and the second election

o Chen Shui-bian in 2004. In both cases, election results were bitterly contested. While both presidents were

awarded the right to legitimate rule, in the minds o some o their citizens this rule was not legitimately earned.


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Over all o these years, the structure o eeling captured in A Flower in the Rainy Nightstill resonates or many people in Taiwan. In the liminal space o election eve, this old popularsong linked the past to the present through a eeling o shared history, while at the same timeallowing or the vision o a dierent and more positive uture to be imagined.

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Zhuang Yongming and Sun Deming1994 Taiwan geyao xiangtu qing[The Local Flavor o Taiwan Song]. Taipei: Sun Deming, Taiwan de

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Documents

Feeling a Shared History through Song