The Power of the Cultural Globalization: Taiwanese Pop Music in China

In recent years, much of the most popular music and artists in China and throughout the Chinese-speaking world (Singapore, Hong Kong, overseas Chinese, and, to a certain extent, Malaysia) have come from Taiwan. Even in non-Chinese-speaking countries throughout the Asia-Pacific region (such as Japan, Korea, and Indonesia), Taiwanese pop culture is becoming increasingly trendy and fashionable. This has happened despite significant challenges that Taiwan faces due to its unique political situation and is a testament that the pillar of cultural globalization has to the power to transcend national boundaries. In fact, Taiwan’s success in media and entertainment is bringing Taiwan and China far closer together than political and economic means have over the past six decades. Since China began opening up to the world in the 1980s, mainland Chinese have been more receptive to music from other parts of the Chinese-speaking world, in spite of cultural and political differences. Nowhere is this more obvious than the vociferous consumption of Taiwanese pop culture, particularly its music. According to Baidu, China’s top search engine, 12 of the Top 25 singles in China in December 2007 were from Taiwan, including seven songs in the Top 10. Another seven were by artists from Hong Kong and Singapore. Only eight songs on the list were from mainland artists. One potential reason for this success is Taiwan’s relative openness to global cultural influences. One of Taiwan’s most popular artists, David Tao, was born in Taiwan, but spent part of his childhood in Hong Kong and attended high school and college (UCLA, in fact) in the United States. Lee-Hom Wang, another one of Taiwan’s biggest stars, was born and raised in New England before moving to Taiwan at age 19 to pursue a career in music. Both of them were heavily influenced by the R&B flavor of American pop music and incorporated many western styles into their own music. Wang has also been heavily influenced by traditional Chinese music, much of which he has blended into his compositions, creating a unique style never before heard of in pop music. In short, both are clear products of cultural globalization. Tao and Wang were two important players in bringing a more “globalized” character to Taiwanese pop music in the late 90s. Interestingly, this coincides with when Taiwanese music really began to dominate the entertainment scene in Chinese-speaking countries. Peter Mao, a graduate student from China’s Shaanxi Province, cites Taiwan’s relative openness to global cultural influence as a factor in its success, stating that “it is easier for Taiwan to accept popular culture from around the world, while most of [China’s] thinking is still conservative.” Due to its political system and cultural environment, Taiwan's pop culture has been leading China's entertainment industry for decades. In cross-strait cultural exchange, it is Taiwan that is at the vanguard of Chinese people. "Made in Taiwan" is virtually a guarantee of success in the China, and the island's show biz types have been making for the mainland in a steady stream. Singers and actors who are has-beens in Taiwan are able to extend their careers there. However, things have not always been this way. In fact, such enthusiasm would have been unthinkable just half a century earlier. The current sociopolitical landscape of reform-era China is far different from what it was when the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949. One of the first actions taken by the government was to denounce popular music as pornography1. The communist regime began suppressing pop music in order to promote revolutionary songs. In the 1950s and 1960s, tensions between China and Taiwan were especially high. China was largely cut-off from global music trends, while people in Taiwan had Japanese and Western influences to draw upon. Taiwanese musicians took these influences and created something that was uniquely Taiwanese. The trend of Taiwanese artists having such a stronghold on the entertainment industry in Asia really started in the 1970s with the previously unprecedented rise in popularity of Teresa Teng throughout much of Asia. Born in Taiwan, Teng became one of Asia’s first true pop divas. Because of tension between Taiwan and China, her music was banned for several years in mainland China in the early 1980s for being too "bourgeois"2. However, this did not stop her immense popularity in China, and her songs made their way into homes, villages, and bars throughout China via the black market. At the height of censorship, the government lifted the ban on Teng in 1986 and proclaimed that "By day, Deng Xiaoping rules China, but by night, Teresa Teng rules"3. The ability of a single, non-political figure to have such a profound influence on one of the world’s most tightly controlled countries despite ideological opposition is evidence of the seemingly ever increasing power of the pillar of cultural globalization. More recently, A-mei, a Taiwanese aboriginal singer who achieved instant success and mega diva status since her debut in 1996, began to fill the void left by Teng’s unexpected death in 1995. Although A-mei has little interest in politics, Beijing's leaders took a political interest in her. When the communist government offered her access to the world's largest market, it wanted something in return: to co-opt A-mei's popularity as a way to legitimize its claim over Taiwan. Chinese fans saw the singer, an aborigine, as a symbol of the free-spirited island they long to possess. At concert appearances in China, A-mei was billed by the government as an "ethnic minority," one of a number of nonethnic-Chinese groups the government claim to have brought into their fold. One of A-mei's producers claims that they granted her access because they wanted to show that Taiwanese aborigines were under their rule. However, A-mei became the subject of considerable political controversy after performing the Republic of China national anthem at the first inauguration of Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian in 2000. This angered the government of China, which subsequently banned her from visiting mainland China, and radio stations ceased broadcasting her music. However, in January 2001, A-mei was featured on the cover of Newsweek with the heading “Back in The Spotlight” and soon began performing in China soon after. Not even the Chinese government could hold back what Time magazine named as one of their 20 Asian Heroes. Another Taiwanese artist that has achieved immense global success and megastardom is Jay Chou. Born without good looks, connections, or even an outgoing personality, Chou’s incredible success is a true rags-to-riches story only possible in Taiwan’s capitalist society. Kerry Brown of Chatham House named Chou as one of the 50 most influential figures in mainland China, one of only three singers on a list dominated by politicians and corporate owners4. In Singapore, Chou was the second most searched celebrity behind Britney Spears in the music category5. But perhaps the greatest indicator of his ability to transcend political boundaries is when, in 2005, the Shanghai city government released a list of popular music that local middle school students were now allowed to sing, instead of being limited to patriotic folk songs, in their music classes for the first time6. Some of Chou’s tunes were among those listed. The openness to global cultural influences that has fostered such creativity and enabled Taiwan to dominate the Chinese entertainment industry has established Taiwan as the central hub for the Chinese music industry. Thus Taiwan has become to the Chinese music industry what Hollywood is to the global film industry. In the words of Jennifer Chou, a U.S.-born Taiwanese singer, “to get anywhere significant in the Mandarin Pop industry, you must come to Taiwan to develop.” Many aspiring Mandarin-speaking musicians from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and even mainland China go to Taiwan in the hopes of being discovered. This trend does not appear to be subsiding any time soon despite efforts by China to develop a stronger local music industry. When looking at world music, the visual arts, and literature, it is “readily apparent how trade has brought a more diverse menu of choice and helped many regions develop cultural identities.” (Cowan, 73) Indeed, as one of the world’s largest trading nations, Taiwan has been heavily influenced by diversity and has developed an unique identity within the entertainment scene. This has caused their success to come more from the “demand-pull” of consumers preferring to listen to music from Taiwanese artists rather than the “supply-push” of Taiwanese record labels and producers trying to sell their wares. This explains why the Taiwan music industry has continued to dominate the music scene in China despite efforts by China to cultivate local talent. An important result of Taiwan’s success in the entertainment scene (with respect to Taiwan-China relations) is that an entire generation of mainland Chinese are now more open and accepting of Taiwan than ever before. Truly, the third pillar of globalization has proved its resilience in transcending national boundaries despite heavy political and economic resistance. Going forward, it will be interesting to see how this impacts future political and economic developments between the two countries.

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