Andy Lau started his “Today … is the Day” world tour in the summer. Photo: CNA
BEIJING has slammed some Taiwanese politicians for “manipulation” after they attacked Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau Tak-wah for performing his song “Chinese people” at a concert on the self-ruled island.
At the centre of controversy was Lau’s performance of his 1996 single during his tour in Taiwan between October 31 and November 3.
His singing of “Chinese people”, released to mark Hong Kong’s handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997, drew criticism from some Taiwanese audiences over his “orchestrated setting”, with a politician calling him a “pro-communist artiste”.
In Beijing, Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman for the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said on Wednesday that Lau’s concerts were welcomed by fans on the island and pointed out that the song was composed by Taiwanese musicians.
She said the lyrics, “holding hands, without differentiating you and me, we will move ahead with our heads up and let the world know that we are all Chinese”, not only received an “enthusiastic response” from the audience but resonated with Chinese communities at home and abroad.
“Some politicians of the green camp have forgotten their ancestors and tried to interfere with normal music exchanges through political manipulation,” Zhu said, referring to Taiwan’s independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party.
Lau has found himself embroiled in a political controversy after he performed his classic song, Zhong Guo Ren, or “Chinese people”, at his first concert in Taiwan in more than a decade.
Lau’s recent performance of the nationalistic song in Taipei earned the ire of some Taiwanese people, including a ruling-party politician whose critical comments online quickly went viral, sparking heated debate among netizens both in Taiwan and China.
The incident is the latest controversy highlighting how the political impact of increasingly tenuous cross-strait ties has spilled over into broader society.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Wang Ting-yu had on Nov 2 posted a video clip from Lau’s concert on social media platform Threads.
It showed the singer belting out the classic as simplified Chinese text appeared on a screen behind him and a depiction of a multicoloured dragon danced across the stage above him. Taiwan uses traditional Chinese characters.
“Is this a scene of Andy Lau performing in China? What a very, very ‘China’ stage design,” Wang, 55, wrote in his video caption.
“I’ve never heard this song before... Shocked to hear it sung tonight at the Taipei Arena!”
In an earlier post on Facebook on Oct 31, the politician had also described Lau, 63, as a “pro-Communist Party artiste” whose concert was “not worth watching”.
The lyrics to Lau’s song, which had been released in 1997 to commemorate Hong Kong’s return to China, border on the nationalistic.
“The same tears, pain and bitter sufferings of the past, we bear them in our hearts. The same blood and seed, let us together realise our dreams for the future,” the lyrics read.
“Hand in hand, with no distinction between you and me, we advance with our heads held high, to let the world know that we are all Chinese.”
Some Taiwanese internet users soon joined Wang in lambasting Lau, suggesting that the song was “intentionally selected” to “culturally indoctrinate” his fans and concertgoers.
“I’m dumbfounded... If you’re Chinese, then don’t come to Taiwan to hold your concerts,” one netizen wrote.
As Wang’s Threads post gained traction, China’s internet users jumped into the fray to defend Lau, pointing out that the creators of the song were, in fact, Taiwanese.
Its lyricist Preston Lee An-xiu and composer Chan Yiu-chuen are famed Taiwanese music producers who have worked on many Hong Kong and Taiwanese pop singers’ classic hits since the 1990s, including those of stars Anita Mui and Jolin Tsai.
Singer Andy Lau’s classic song, Zhong Guo Ren, or “Chinese people”, had been released in 1997 to commemorate Hong Kong’s return to China. PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM SOCIAL MEDIA
China’s state-run media weighed in as well.
A Nov 5 news segment on national broadcaster CCTV suggested that Mr Wang was deliberately sowing cross-strait discord and called on Taiwan’s leader Lai Ching-te to clarify if his legislator’s comments reflected the DPP’s political stance.
A Nov 4 opinion piece in the state-owned Global Times newspaper argued that the incident “exposes (the) fragility of ‘Taiwan independence’ secessionists”.
The heated debate over Lau’s song underscores the delicate relationship between Taiwan and China.
“Many people in Taiwan understandably do not identify themselves with the PRC Chinese regime since this regime has continuously imposed threats on Taiwan and its people,” said Dr Josephine Chiu-Duke, a professor of Chinese intellectual history at the University of British Columbia’s department of Asian studies.
China regards Taiwan as a part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary, and has in recent years ramped up military and political pressure on the island.
“It is possible they felt that Andy Lau’s singing was intended to impose his view on them, (which) of course would not be received well,” Dr Chiu-Duke said.
“(But) if this person has not offended any laws in Taiwan, then it is really up to him to choose his own identity.”
Years of tense and often deteriorating ties have hypersensitised people on both sides of the strait, causing them to seek to police behaviours in society outside of the political sphere.
The phenomenon is not new.
Taiwanese girl group S.H.E found themselves mired in similar controversy in 2007, when their tongue-twister rap Zhong Guo Hua, or “Chinese language”, was slammed for pandering to China.
It featured lyrics stating “how smart the Chinese people are... The whole world is learning Chinese; the world is taking us seriously because of the language we speak”.
But the catchy song quickly gained popularity across the region, winning multiple music awards in Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and South-east Asia.
The political hypersensitivity may be growing, however, as cross-strait relations have continued to deteriorate in recent years.
In Taiwanese media, centrist news channel CNews noted that Lau also sang his “offending song” when he last performed in Taipei in 2013, but that there was no outcry over it at the time.
“The song is a staple in Andy Lau’s concert line-ups,” Taiwanese legislator Hung Mong-kai, affiliated with Beijing-friendly opposition party Kuomintang, told the news channel.
“His world tour has used the same selection of songs... whether in Singapore, Malaysia or elsewhere. No changes were made specifically for Taiwan,” Mr Hung said.
“Can we please be more self-assured? Just hearing the song (Zhong Guo Ren) won’t cause us to forget that we are Taiwanese.
“Let music be music. We shouldn’t impose our own political ideologies on Andy Lau.”
