One of my roommates at Penn is part of a Chinese acapella group, and he’s often out in the living room working on his arrangements. After he introduced B.O. by ØZI to me, I was inspired to learn more about this genre of music. A lot of my research is from the book Cries of Joy, Songs of Sorrow: Chinese Pop Music and Its Cultural Connotations, by Marc L. Moskowitz – I highly recommend checking it out if you’re interested in learning more!
^ PLS LISTEN TO THIS AMAZING BOP :D
I. Mandopop Overview
Mandopop is an up and rising genre of pop music, encompassing any Mandarin Chinese-language songs. This piece introduces the background of Mandopop, explores the emotional and cultural themes behind Mandopop, and examines the influence of Mandopop on the construction of gender identity in Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Mandopop in the PRC is largely dominated by Gang-tai pop, or popular music originating in Taiwan or Hong Kong. Taiwanese pop culture and music has made a remarkable impact on the PRC in a trend known as “Taiwan’s counter-invasion of China”, with Taiwanese Mandopop being one of the most popular music genres in the PRC, over traditional Chinese folk music, Chinese jazz, and other PRC created music. From 2002 to today, Gang-tai pop has consistently accounted for a staggering 80% of Chinese-language music sales in the PRC (Moskowitz 2010), which is an astounding statistic considering that Taiwan is home to only around 23.5 million people, compared to the 1.4 billion people living in the PRC. One of the main reasons for Gang-tai pop’s massive success in the PRC is due to the fact that music companies from Taiwan and Hong Kong have much more experience in the entertainment industry and what the market demands, following strategies from larger Korean entertainment companies. Additionally, Taiwanese music benefits from integrating a diverse range of cultural styles, creating a transnational blend of traditional Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, and Western musical ethos. This is partially due to the fact that Taiwan was exposed to the Japanese musical form enka during their colonial history under Japanese rule between 1895 and 1945. Finally, a large reason for Gang-tai pop’s success over PRC music is that the PRC eliminated all but a very select few political songs between 1949 and 1978, stifling musical creativity and expression within the PRC. All these factors contributed to a massive success of Gang-tai pop throughout both Taiwan and the PRC.
While Mandopop lyrics may seem superficial at first glance, they are surprisingly deep and progressive in terms of challenging traditional norms. Mandopop provides a space to discuss human emotions, especially those of loneliness and sorrow, which are traditionally discouraged in Taiwanese and Chinese culture. Additionally, Mandopop explores many complex themes, such as the characterization of gender roles and identities in Taiwan, the breakdown of traditional values, and an increasing expression of individualist ideologies.
II. Themes in Mandopop
Mandopop serves as a form of emotional expression for many Chinese and Taiwanese people. Due to a variety of factors, such as rapid modernization and urbanization, Eastern cultural norms of enduring hardships alone, and a conflicting shift towards individualism, many Chinese and Taiwanese people are experiencing higher rates of loneliness and other negative emotions without a proper avenue of expression. Over 12.3% of the population living in the urban cities of Taipei, Kaohsiung, and Taizhong, which accounts for over 10.7 million people, reported feeling a sense of loneliness and emptiness in 2006 (Jiang 2006).
Urbanization is one reason for rising rates of loneliness in Taiwan. Unlike older generations where small-town alliances provided an immersive social experience, an increasing number of Taiwanese youth are experiencing urbanized city life, where a normal daily routine is to go to work alone and come back home alone. Additionally, Western and Eastern ideologies differ on the perspective of individualism. Western cultures tend to place a stronger emphasis on the individual, making it normal to separate from friends or family to pursue career or personal interests. On the other hand, familial and social ties are prioritized in Taiwanese and Chinese culture, making loneliness feel unnatural and even more isolating. Although Taiwan is increasingly shifting towards individualism, the societal norms and emotions that come with it have not yet naturalized within the culture.
These increasingly common emotions of loneliness, emptiness, and sorrow are rare to discuss in the PRC and Taiwan due to prevalent cultural norms that idealize rennai 忍耐 (endurance of hardship) and social harmony, making it difficult for individuals to express themselves. Because of this, many individuals gravitate towards listening to songs that talk about these feelings of sadness instead. This provides them with a sense of solidarity, comforting them by reminding them that their experiences are shared and understood by others.
Themes of loneliness and heartbreak are central to Mandopop. In 2009, the top 20 selling CDs in Taiwan contained over 80 keywords of loneliness or isolation from 227 songs, compared to the United States, where there were only 17 appearances of these keywords in the 306 songs examined. Additionally, loneliness and heartbreak appear as central themes in Taiwanese music instead of passing references like they are in Western music. Stafanie Sun, a Singaporean performer and 2004 Golden Melody Winner for Best Mandarin Female Singer, comments on the popularity of these emotions in Mandopop: “One reason [loneliness] is such an important theme in Mandopop is that it covers such a wide range of emotions and experiences… Mandopop songs are very sensitive to this range of experiences and because everyone has gone through these experiences a lot of people can relate to these songs” (Sun 2005).
In addition to listening to music as a form of expression, many Taiwanese and Chinese folks also enjoyed singing songs that resonated with them at Karaoke TV. The rise of Karaoke TV in the 1970’s shifted the enjoyment of music from public venues into private rooms and spaces. This allowed Taiwanese folks to sing amongst friends, creating a deeper sense of intimacy between groups. Because it is widely accepted that people in the PRC and Taiwan are generally less direct than their Western counterparts and that people do not directly express their emotions with others, Karaoke TV is an outlet for people to express their feelings while still adhering to social boundaries. The hardships that many people find hard to discuss in everyday conversation are then much easier expressed through singing lyrical music to reveal what she or he is feeling instead, with song choices indicating not only the person’s musical taste but also reflecting a public statement about their innermost feelings. In fact, it is quite common for women to break into tears while performing their favorite sad songs during Karaoke TV. In short, Karaoke TV became an increasingly popular way for individuals to indirectly express their emotions and share their experiences with others while still avoiding improper displays.
III. Construction of Gender in Mandopop
In addition to allowing individuals a socially-acceptable freedom of expression, Karaoke TV also gives them an opportunity to try on new identities and play with new roles. Karaoke TV blurs the boundaries between an idol and everyday person, allowing the average person to play out their gendered identities. In particular, a common theme in Karaoke TV is for women to act as performers for male pleasure, which was a traditional expectation in the 1900s for Taiwanese courtesans to entertain their guests with song and dance. On average, women play a central role in Karaoke TV performances by putting in more effort to prepare for their performances and singing more frequently than their male counterparts do.
The theme of women performing is actually central to Mandopop, where it is common for men to be lyricists and for women to be singers. These male lyricists write songs for women to sing that complain about men and are often taken to be a real reflection of actual women’s experiences, regardless of the gender of the songwriter. While this may appear problematic at first glance, many women actually embrace this male lyricist and female performer dynamic and see their song-writing as a male contribution to the real desires, emotions, and experiences of women. The dynamic of male lyricists writing gendered stories and women audience members claiming these stories as their own experiences is thus widely accepted by Taiwanese and PRC women. In fact, many of the lyrics written by men are interpreted as “sisterly advice” for the female audience, despite the audience knowing the lyricist is male. Angel, a Taiwanese marketing executive, describes this trend: “Sometimes men behave badly but they know it. That’s why they can write songs from a woman’s perspective – because they also know right from wrong – they know that they’ve done something bad so they express it by writing these songs.” Both genders alike conceptualize Mandopop lyrics to be accurate representation of the experiences of people shared in the real world.
Oftentimes, Mandopop lyrics represent the hopes and dreams of Taiwanese and PRC listeners. This is especially true for Taiwanese youth, one of Mandopop’s most prevalent audience groups. Taiwanese youth are heavily influenced by the lyrics of the music they listen to conceptualize what “real relationships” look like as well as to define their own gender identities. This is partially due to the fact that there are traditional sanctions against teenage dating, but also peer pressure and expectations to still do so. These sanctions make it so that Taiwanese youth cannot seek love and relationship advice from their parents or teachers, causing them to turn towards Mandopop instead. In fact, Taiwanese teens have nearly identical opinions with popular Mandopop lyrics concerning love, relationships, and the “natural” tendencies of each gender, even before having their own experiences.
The portrayals of men and women in Mandopop take on a more traditional perspective, with women being characterized as more “emotional” and men being characterized as more “intellectual.” Women are yin and generally are portrayed as emotional, yilai 依赖 (dependent) on men, innocent and pure, renci 仁慈 (kind and forgiving), beidong 被动 (passive), and wenrou 温柔 (gentle, tender, and feminine). On the other hand, men are yang and are portrayed as xinchangyaoying 心肠要赢 (hard-hearted), zili 资历 (independent), but also titie 体贴 (considerate), wenrou 温柔, renci 仁慈, and baorong 包容 (tolerate) as well. The contradiction of depictions for each gender, such as men being both hard-hearted and tender, illustrate the flexibility of gender-constructed concepts in Mandopop. These gender differences are legitimated through the “Western science” and are a not specific to Mandopop, but rather a reflection of pre-existing cultural conceptions from cinema, literature, and other mass media of both Taiwan/the PRC and Western countries. Men are characterized as active in doing what they want for their own reasons (piaobo 漂泊), while women are characterized as stationary and waiting. This generalization originated between 1949 and 1988 during which men left their villages to find better employment opportunities in cities and women stayed behind to raise the family and wait for their husbands’ return.
However, the depiction of masculine identity in Mandopop is more complex than just hard-heartedness; it is also common for men to take on a more androgynous character through showing the traits of titie 体贴 (considerate), wenrou 温柔 (gentle, tender), and baorong 包容 (caring). While these traits are more stereotypically “feminine”, they are actually seen as an ideal in men within Taiwanese culture. Being wenrou 温柔 is not stigmatized in Taiwan as it is in more Western societies because it demonstrates “an ideal for caring men that make up for the men in women’s real-life relationships” (Maskowitz 2010, p.89). While American standards of masculinity are often muscular men, in Taiwan, overly muscular bodies are often associated with lower-class working men, gay culture, or criminals and gangsters. This androgyny of men creates a multidimensional depiction of what a masucline identity really is, defying typical Western standards of masculinity.
Mandopop gender stereotypes are widely accepted by both men and women alike, with both genders embracing their portrayals in their lyrics. While these traditional portrayals may be problematic in some aspects, such as reinforcing gender stereotypes, they also are progressive in other aspects, such as the humanization of women. One demonstration of this is that Mandopop has a heavy emphasis on the feelings and stories of women, which is much more liberal compared to older styles of Chinese and Taiwanese music. For example, the PRC’s 1930 jazz movement cast women as hypersexual vixens that use their sexual duplicity to cheat men. Women are nothing more than secondary objects in these old portrayals, in comparison to the fully human and emotional portrayals in modern Mandopop that generally stray away from sexual themes. While modern Mandopop casts women in “secondary roles”, they are often seen as more humane and wenrou 温柔 than their male counterparts, often portrayed as “victims” to the man. These characterizations give voice to the hardships that many women in Taiwan and the PRC face in their day-to-day relationships. Taiwanese women enjoy how they are depicted as “angelic martyrs” and all the soft stereotypes, such as being wenrou 温柔, beidong 被动, and renci 仁慈, since it makes the women in the songs more relatable and innocent.
The relatability of women singers extends beyond just female audiences; male listeners also show appreciation and identify with the wenrou 温柔 aspect of women’s songs. Political songs in Mandopop often do not directly talk about controversial issues and instead allude to them through the dynamics of a man and woman relationship. One example is “Men’s Talk”, which is about a woman who sings her frustration at her lover for not opening up with her but instead discussing with his male friends. This indirect commentary alludes to the current exclusion of women from traditionally masucline spheres, such as business and politics. In these political songs, due to the beidong 被动 (passive) and vulnerable portrayals of women, the woman often represents the “powerless people” whereas the man often represents the “oppressive government”, allowing men to further identity with the feminine voices. Thus, Mandopop’s gender portrayals are remarkably nuanced in that while they reinforce conservative gender roles, they also subvert then by allowing both men and women to identify with the women, allowing for women’s roles to become more relatable and appreciated by both genders and a different perspective for male listeners.
In summary, while Mandopop lyrics can carry some problematic gender stereotypes, they also are progressive in humanizing women’s experiences and stories and portraying a wider-range of emotional depth to men.
IV. Examples
1. Men’s Talk
Performer: Zhang Qing Fang
“Men’s Talk” is about a woman who sings her frustration at her lover for not opening up with her but instead discussing with his male friends. This indirect commentary alludes to the current exclusion of women from traditionally masucline spheres, such as business and politics. In these political songs, due to the beidong 被动 (passive) and vulnerable portrayals of women, the woman often represents the “powerless people” whereas the man often represents the “oppressive government”, allowing men to further identity with the feminine voices. Thus, Mandopop’s gender portrayals are remarkably nuanced in that while they reinforce conservative gender roles, they also subvert then by allowing both men and women to identify with the women, allowing for women’s roles to become more relatable and appreciated by both genders and a different perspective for male listeners.
2. 為你我受冷風吹
Performer: Sandy Lam | Lyricist: Jonathan Lee
“Because of you, I am blown by a cold wind” is told from a female perspective and conveys a deep sense of despair and disillusionment with her lover. The woman in this song is depicted with stereotypical “female” passivity, as noted through her actions of crying, waiting, and forgetting – “the tears run from my eyes”. The “cold wind” is a metaphor for the emotional coldness of her man, alluding to how Taiwanese men can emotionally withdraw from their relationships, leaving their partner waiting for them. The woman’s anger is expressed through her rejection of new suitors and condemnation of her friends for not sympathizing her pain, but also with an undertone of resignation – “who really cares about another?“. Additionally, her tone has underlying hints of forgiveness and a hope to “put things in the past.”
3. 怎麼會
Performer: Jackie Chan | Lyricist: Jonathan Lee
“How can it be?” also conveys heartbreak and despair, but in a much more “masculine” manner. The singer’s anger is much more clearly expressed through singing in louder, indignant tones. Lyrically, the song speaks of love “crushing (fensui)” and chasing his lover, combined with the themes of unrestrained passion instead of resignation. Instead of accepting their relationship’s fate, the singer takes on a much more aggressive and angry tone. Although both this song and the previous one are written by the same lyricist Jonathan Lee, the expressions, musicality, and lyrics of the songs demonstrate a clear difference between the “natural characteristics” of men and women.
4. Angel
Performer & Lyricist: David Tao
“Angel” demonstrates the wenrou 温柔 aspect of Taiwanese masculinity. Tao expresses feelings of loneliness and an inability to express his feelings towards others, but still is able to convey his gentle side: “Who can give me wenrou and embrace me…?“. This multi-dimensional aspect on masculinity allows for men to be depicted with a wider range of emotional depth, although not as much as their women counterparts.