Lau Seng-hian, PhD student, Graduate Institute of Linguistics, National Tsing Hua University

Don’t Scorn Taiwan 

(Translated by Tenn Nga-I)

If you love your forbears

Please don’t scorn Taiwan

Although the land is small

Father’s sweat and mother’s blood

Have fallen on the soil

If you cherish your descendants

Please don’t scorn Taiwan

Paddies, orchards, mountains too

Sweet fruit, fragrant grain

Food enough for generations to come

If you love your homeland

Please don’t scorn Taiwan

Although earning a living isn’t easy

Work and strive, there’s a better road ahead

None are more fortunate than we  

If you love your brothers and sisters

Please don’t scorn Taiwan

Although earning a living isn’t easy

We’re free and the future is bright

None are more fortunate than we 

If you love your homeland

Please don’t scorn Taiwan, 

The nation is young so don’t grumble

Work and strive, there’s hope for the future

Our fate is in our hands

At first glance, the title “Don’t Scorn Taiwan” might seem puzzling. Basically, the poem asks readers to identify with both the Taiwanese (Holo) language and the homeland of Taiwan. Yet there’s a paradox – why would a native Taiwanese look down on Taiwan? 

In an understated tone, poet Lin Yangmin repeatedly entreats readers not to “scorn Taiwan,” the repetition suggesting that such negative sentiments do in fact exist.

The writing is simple and direct, without imagery or metaphor. When he wrote the poem in 1987, Lin Yiangmin had already accumulated abundant creative experience; here, however, he opts for concise, repetitive stanzas and ordinary colloquial language, obviously aiming for ease of recitation. In fact, the poem later served as basis for a number of songs, one of which won the 1991 Golden Melody Award for best lyrics.

When we reflect on the aforementioned “negative sentiments” the work addresses, the colloquial language, the simple cadences, and particularly the choice of Taiwanese (Holo), the poet’s purpose reveals itself: The poem is an appeal to the Taiwanese-speaking masses. But why issue such a call? For the answer to that, we must look to history.

Taiwan’s population includes both the descendants of Han Chinese immigrants and indigenous peoples, the island’s original inhabitants. Traditionally, Taiwan has been a Sinic culture; even in the Japanese colonial period (1895-1945) Taiwanese still regarded themselves as a Han people. Moreover, the colonial system served as catalyst for the gradual emergence of a regional “Taiwanese consciousness.” Nevertheless, the Kuomintang (KMT) suppressed that trend in the postwar era, vigorously promoting Chinese nationalism. As a result, Taiwanese had little recognition of the island’s culture, geography, and history, giving rise to a strange phenomenon: Many Taiwanese looked down on their native culture.

KMT diplomatic failures from the 1970s onward stimulated a resurgence of Taiwanese consciousness and paved the way for the lifting of martial law in 1987. “Don’t Diss Taiwan” was published just over a month after martial law ended. The same year Lin Yangmin and others founded New Taiwan Culture magazine to promote local culture and Taiwanese consciousness. Thus, the poet has long endeavored to eradicate the sense of inferiority that cultural colonialism instilled in the Taiwanese people. A product of Taiwanese consciousness, the poem was often sung at political gatherings and rallies in the 1990s, when the “localization” movement in politics was still ascendant. A catalyst for social and political movements, the work is an example of literature’s far-reaching influence.

Chen Jinshun

Lin Yanmin (1955- ), a native of Chiayi County’s Taibao City, currently resides in Taoyuan Country’s Turtle Mountain Township. He is a graduate of Chiayi Normal College and Fu Jen University’s Department of Chinese Literature. He has served an elementary school teacher, a special-education instructor, president of the Taiwanese (Holo) Literature Promotion Association, and chief editor at Ka-tang Taiwanese (Holo) Periodicals Association. He currently directs the Firefly Taiwanese (Holo) Literature Foundation, teaches in Providence University’s Department of Chinese Literature, and serves as director of Taiwan P.E.N. and president and chief editor at Frontline Taiwanese (Holo) Literature. He has received the United Daily News Literature Awards’ First Prize, the Golden Melody Award’s “Best Taiwanese (Holo) Lyricist” prize, the Wu Yongfu Criticism Award, and the Rong Hou Taiwan Poet’s Prize.

Lin published his first modern poem in 1972, and his poems and essays have often run in the Central Daily News and United Daily News literary supplements. His early works are beautiful and romantic, with a classical feeling. In the 1980s Lin was active in political, cultural, literary, and educational movements, his writing critical of the status quo, thus his works were often officially suppressed. In 1987 he cofounded Taiwan New Culture with Sung Tze-lai, Lin Shuangbu, and Li Qiao, promoting Taiwanese (Holo) literature. The same year he also published “Don’t Scorn Taiwan.” Set to music by Xiao Tairan and others, the poem deeply influenced the democracy movement. In this period he also published the short story “Spring and Autumn of the Generalissimo” (1988), Taiwan’s first fictional description of the death of dictator Chiang Kai-shek.  

Lin began writing primarily in Taiwanese (Holo) literature in 1982, his Chinese-language output gradually diminishing. In 1991 he joined the Sweet Potato Poetry Society, advocating mother-tongue literature. In 2002 he published Lipstick Tears, a long narrative poem. Taiwan’s longest narrative poem, the work is a Taiwanese (Holo) classic.

Lin Yangmin’s poems and essays reveal a love of his homeland; his fiction is written a realist style. He has also penned screenplays, criticism, and other writings, a total of over thirty volumes. Many of his Taiwanese and Chinese works have been included in anthologies and textbooks. 

This excerpt is taken from the Encyclopedia of Taiwan; for the entire Chinese article, please visit: http://nrch.culture.tw/twpedia.aspx?id=7649