Sun, Aug 03, 2008 page3

• FEATURE: Exiled band members rock for freedom and democracy

  • By Loa Iok-sin / STAFF REPORTER
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  Although they are not Taiwanese, Ao Bo (敖博) and Duan Xinjun (段信軍), both members of the Chinese rock band PunkGod (盤古), were forced into exile four years ago for supporting Taiwanese independence.
  
  

  “Independence should be a basic right for everyone — each should be able to think and live as an independent person in a society,” Ao said in an interview with the Taipei Times at a small hotel in Taipei, where the pair has been staying since their arrival in Taiwan.
  
  

  The band is presently on tour here.
  
  

  

  PunkGod members Duan Xinjun, left, and Ao Bo perform during a concert in Taipei on Thursday.

  PHOTO: LOA IOK-SIN, TAIPEI TIMES

  “Based on the same idea, we believe that every people or region in the world deserves to become independent if they so wish,” Ao said.
  
  

  “There are 23 million people in Taiwan, there are countless Taiwanese around the world. In there minds, there’s only one homeland and that’s Taiwan,” PunkGod says in its song Soul of Taiwan.
  
  

  “Big China, that’s big massacre. Unification, that’s destruction. Unification, that’s extinction. Independence, it’s life. Independence, that’s victory. Taiwan is its own country,” another song, titled Taiwan is its own country, says.
  
  

  PunkGod does not only support Taiwanese independence, as “we have songs that support Tibetan and Chechen independence movements as well,” Ao said.
  
  

  PunkGod has been very critical of Chinese society and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since the band formed in 1996.
  
  

  “We were actually just some kids from a small town on the outskirt of Nanchang [南昌], Jiangxi Province, who like music and hang out together,” Ao said.
  
  

  “In 1996, a couple of friends and I decided to form our own band and we made the kitchen at a friend’s house our ‘studio,’” he said, smiling. “So I always tell people we’re a band that started out in a kitchen.”
  
  

  As the original band members and their friends issued from workers’ or low-level public servants’ families, “our song lyrics were often critical of the unfair treatment we received,” Ao said.
  
  

  From initial complaints about the injustice around them, PunkGod began to criticize the CCP and advocate for human rights and freedom.
  
  

  Gradually, with their daring words, the band gained popularity with underground rock fans across China.
  
  

  “The [Chinese] government didn’t say anything publicly, but we could feel the invisible pressure,” Ao said. “For example, our CDs could not pass censorship laws to be released legally in China.”
  
  

  Consequently, PunkGod’s first album was released by a Hong Kong-based record company and smuggled into China, Ao said.
  
  

  While the Chinese government tolerated the band to a certain extent, PunkGod crossed a line when it performed at the 2004 “Say Yes to Taiwan” concert on Feb 28, where Ao shouted: “Independence for Taiwan” on stage.
  
  

  The first bad news came as Ao and Duan were on a stopover in Bangkok later that year on their way back to China.
  
  

  “On the day before we were to fly back to China, I received a call from a friend in China,” Duan said. “My friend told us that state security officials had talked to several people close to us and asked us to stay in Bangkok for a while, just to be safe.”
  
  

  A few days later, Ao and Duan were informed that their families and friends were all under surveillance and that their properties had been confiscated.
  
  

  “We immediately contacted Freddy Lim [林昶佐] and through him received help from human rights groups in Taiwan, Thailand and elsewhere,” Duan said.
  
  

  Lim is the lead vocalist of the Taiwanese heavy metal band Chthonic and the organizer of the 2008 “Say Yes to Taiwan” rock festival.
  
  

  Within eight months, Ao and Duan received political asylum in Sweden and began their life in exile.
  
  

  The experience did not scare the pair off. Rather, it encouraged them to produce more music that challenges the Chinese government.
  
  

  They recently released a song titled Taiwanese Youth, which warns young people in Taiwan to be aware of China’s ambitions and to fight back.
  
  

  “Otherwise, you will become enslaved by the Chinese,” the last line in the song says.
  
  

  Another new title, Tibetan Youth, tells young Tibetans to “rise up and fight” for “your ancestors, for your own dignity, for your people and for your brothers and sisters.”
  
  

  “We want to be the child who says out loud that the emperor has no clothes,” Ao said. “But aside from telling the truth, we also want to overthrow the emperor,” he said.
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