Formosa is a song sung in both Mandarin and Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese). The lyrics were adapted from the poem Taiwan by Taiwanese poet Chen Hsiu-hsi (陳秀喜), who was born in 1921 and died in 1991. In 1977, a nativist literature war broke out and a folk song movement began. With the adapted lyrics of Liang Ching-fong’s (梁景峰) and Lee Shuang-tze’s (李雙澤) music, the song Formosa was created and popularized.
Chen, who had lived through both the Japanese occupation and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) era, served as president of Bamboo Hat (笠), a poetic society representative of nativist poetry. Formosa was popularized among advanced-minded youths and social movements, which shows that even during the authoritarian Martial Law era, Taiwanese resisted foreign power. It was a declaration in support of and identification with Taiwan. It was a demonstration of the innate power of reconstruction many Taiwanese possess.
On Dec. 10, 1979, the Kaohsiung Incident — also known as the Formosa Incident — prompted the KMT to ban the song Formosa, because it was thought to be associated with Formosa magazine, political grouping and the incident. At the time, the authorities also forbade the Formosa Poem Collections — published by Bamboo Hat — to include advertising. Both the Formosa song and poem collections appeared earlier than Formosa magazine, political grouping and the incident.
During Japanese colonization of Taiwan, it called the tropical island the Island of Splendor (華麗島). By the end of the 1960s, Tokyo-based Jakuju Shobo, a Japanese publisher, published a modern Taiwanese poem selection in Japanese. Words such as “the island nation’s agony and cries” were included in the introduction. After the end of World War II, the Taiwanese themselves proudly called their homeland Formosa, the beautiful island, which according to tradition is what the Portuguese sailors said when they first saw Taiwan.
Bamboo Hat’s Formosa Poem Collections were published in five editions: Footprints, Sense, Attestation, Voices and Grip. Thoughts and emotions of this land were expressed and conveyed in the poems. Chen’s poem Taiwan, when adapted to the song Formosa, speaks of the beautiful island as a cradle and a mother’s warm embrace. The lyrics permeated with the tragic island’s search and hope that it one day would be able to transform itself into a beautiful nation.
The deceptions of politicians are frequently disguised in sugar-coated language. KMT politicians often say that they love Taiwan to conceal their evil, colonial mindset, and the name Formosa appears in their lies to hide their malevolence.
Wu Yung-fu (巫永福), one of the Bamboo Hat poets who experienced both Japanese and KMT rule, wrote a poem called Love that every Taiwanese who aspires to see Taiwan become a free and normal nation should read:
“My parents never said they loved me, but I know they do.
You always said you loved me, but I couldn’t accept it.
You meant to harness me, so you said you loved everyone just the same.
I have learned of your deceits and pretenses.
You intend to win over my heart, but having been fooled by you time and again, my heart has turned into a stone.”
Lee Min-yung is a poet.
Translated by Ethan Zhan
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