Identificación de los grupos relevantes

As previously mentioned, from 1949 onwards nationalist education in Taiwan’s schools has emphasised the ROC’s unquestionable Chineseness while the Mainland was ‘stolen and occupied’ (竊占) by Communist bandits (共匪). From promoting the publication of classical Chinese literature and philosophy, to strategically including these productions in education, the ROC regarded itself as the guardian of Chinese culture. Chang (2010) argues that in the education system during martial law, Taiwan was rendered invisible, whereas ‘the hidden protagonist of the lesson “Taiwan” was in fact the mainland’ (p.401). Although Jay Chou’s music was made 10 years after the lifting of martial law and fuses many styles, while reflecting on his music it became clear that all of the interviewees identified China Wind as his signature style. The participants who liked Jay Chou’s Chinese-style music explained that this was because they associated it with a love for, or familiarity with, Chinese language and culture:

I like JJ Lin’s song ‘River South’ (jiang nan) (…) I feel privileged to be able to understand the language and the culture, so I could appreciate its beauty. After all, we

have studied the history and geography of ‘the other side’ for so many years (…). (Becky)17

After the abolition of martial law in 1987, Taiwanisation, which stressed Taiwan’s local history and identity, has become even more prominent, in particular post-2000 when the school curriculum underwent a number of reforms. However, even though I was born after the lifting of martial law, during my elementary and high school days, we could always read familiar sayings on plaques in the student halls and sometimes on the back of our textbooks:

Be a student with a lively spirit;

Be a Chinese with an upright character. 做個活活潑潑的好學生;

做個堂堂正正的中國人.

Familiarity with Chinese culture does not merely result from the fact that approximately 97% of Taiwanese are ethnic Han (Executive Yuan, 2016). Rather familiarity is a result of the KMT’s education policies: constructing China as a ‘homeland’ (Chang, 2010) occupied by the CPC while declaring itself as descended directly from Chinese culture and virtues. Although Taiwanization has gradually introduced more local perspectives in education, especially since 2000, many respondents still connect China Wind songs with their high school education:

I associate the lyrics with what I learned from high school, especially history class. Even my mom finds Jay Chou’s lyrics easy to like. They are beautiful with no superfluous words. (Andrea)18

Rhoda19 _{is a second-year student who minors in Chinese Literature. She had a habit of}

copying out lyrics that she likes by hand, and admitted that during high school she had

17 _{Becky, personal interview in National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan, 16 October 2015.} 18 _{Andrea, personal interview in National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan, 16 October 2015.} 19 _{Rhoda, personal interview in National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan, 16 October 2015.}

handwritten half of the book that Fang Wen-Shan and Jay Chou composed to explain the cultural references used in their songs.20

I love hand-copying lyrics. There is one song in which Jay Chou portrays alleys in Northern China. I had never known anything like that until listening to the song (…) He even uses a dialect in Northern China in his songs, and this aroused my interest in the cultural background (…) I think this leads to my being more successful in

Geography, Chinese Geography specifically. I have a deep appreciation of the culture. Although Rhoda is a lover of traditional Chinese literature, she still had misgivings about the education she received at high school. In a small-group interview, her friends joined the debate, emphasising their ambiguous feelings towards the education associated with ‘the other side’ as Becky had discussed earlier:

Rhoda: ‘It might sound too political (…) but why do we always have to study Chinese

history to pass the exams when both sides are (…) separate?’

Jenny21_{: ‘Maybe I will never set foot in China in my entire life; why should I learn its}

history?’

Researcher: ‘But if you had not learned these things, would you understand these

lyrics differently?’

Rhoda: ‘Very differently’

Researcher: ‘So, do you think these things should be taught or not?’ Andrea: ‘Maybe the number of chapters could be reduced?’

Chang (2010) argues that Chineseness has been embedded in post-war geography education in Taiwan via the deployment of various themes, including making territorial and sovereignty claims while expressing homesickness for the ‘Fatherland,’ which she sees as the result of a patriarchal imagination. Chang argues the rise of Taiwanese identity after the 1990s proves

20 _{Fang Wen-Shan’s publications include two works written in 2008 dealing with lyrics wrote several books,}

including Zhong guo feng: ge ci li de wen zi you xi (China Wind: Word Games in Lyrics) (2008a) and Qing hua

ci: Yin cang zai you se li de wen zi mi mi (Blue and White Porcelain: Secret Texts Hidden in the Glaze) (2008b).

that the arbitrary construction of Chinese identity was problematic. Meanwhile, our interviewees in Taiwan grew up at a time when the reflexive consideration of

Taiwanese/Chinese identity gradually became common. According to research by NCCU, from 1992 to 2015, the number of people willing to identify themselves exclusively as Taiwanese and not Chinese gradually increased (Election Study Center, N.C.C.U. 2016),22

while Balderas and Stockton’s (2013) research also shows that Taiwanese/Chinese identity is no longer simply a binary struggle between the KMT, the nationalist party that used to control the state under a one-party authoritarian regime, and relatively younger supporters of the DPP. There is a more general expectation of Taiwanese self-awareness compared with twenty years ago, irrespective of political partisan affiliation. In other words, regardless of whether they voted for the KMT or DPP in previous elections, people in Taiwan overall identify themselves as Taiwanese, not as Chinese.

Although education is a key factor contributing to these perceptions, it is not the only one. In Allen’s (2011) study of classical Chinese poetry in Taiwan, he argues that classical Chinese poetics is diffused through popular culture and the media, such as advertisements, new year couplets, Chinese idioms (Chengyu 成語), and so on. He points out that in traditional Chinese literature there is a specific cultural dynamic that encourages the circulation of these

elements. This phenomenon is by no means unique to Taiwan, but can also be detected in other Chinese-speaking communities. Regardless of the question of whether Fang’s lyrics can be categorised as modern vernacular poetry, the influence of traditional poetry is evident. In addition, Jay Chou’s China Wind lyrics have even been adopted in language tests while Fang Wen-Shan’s books have become part of school libraries, which has led to a certain

canonisation of China Wind pop lyrics. These idioms, sayings and phrases certainly do not just belong to the elite, but are also part of popular culture.