6 Symbols in Taiwan Literature

2016-07-18  Source: Chinaculture.org

［Olive---San Mao］

"Don't ask me where I came from; don't ask me where I am going…" this is a song written by San Mao. Just like the lyrics in the song, San Mao came into this world without much ado and left quietly.

For San Mao, life was like tasting an olive -- sour and a little bit sweet.

Even as a child, San Mao was sensitive and eccentric. In school, her classmates and teachers did not accept her very well, and in her second year of middle school, she discontinued her studies and learned how to play the piano and draw pictures.

Once, when San heard a Spanish classical guitar record, she decided that Spain was the place where she was longing for, with its small houses, donkeys, and vast vineyards. Hence she left her home and took two years of advanced courses in Spain.

After her time in Spain, followed by trips to Germany and the United States of America, San Mao returned to China'sTaiwan Province. However, before she could even get resettled in her hometown, she experienced a heavy loss:her lover died, prompting San to start another global trek.

This time, the destination was the Sahara Desert (in North Africa), which San had read about in a magazine. She described the reason for starting a new life in the desert as "an unexplained nostalgia."

Upon San Mao's arrival in the Sahara Desert in 1973, she met her husband, He Xi. She enjoyed a happy life mentally to some extent though most people would view the couple's living condition as harsh and unbearable. During that time San Mao wrote many travelogues and novels, which were widely popular. Some of her novels include Sahara Story and The Story of the Weeping Camel.

However, fate was cruel to San Mao again. He Xi died in a diving accident in 1979, causing San Mao to end her stay in the desert and return back to Taiwan.

In the next several years, San enjoyed a quiet and peaceful life; or so it seemed. She traveled to South America, taught literature, gave lectures, and wrote books and plays. It seemed that San was having a common but productive life. However, on the morning of January 4, 1991, San committed suicide at the age of 48. Her death shocked the society, as no one knew why she chose to leave.

San Mao was such a woman, who bravely spanned the trials of a long journey, as well as the tumultuous human society, until she could no longer bear the bitter olive taste.

［A Great Romantic-- Qiong Yao］

Qiong Yao, meaning finejadein Chinese, is the poetic penname for Taiwan writer Chen Zhe, who has long been considered a great romantic.

Qiong Yao was born in Chengdu of Southwest China's Sichuan Province in 1938 and moved to Taiwan with her family in 1949. As a young woman, Qiong attempted suicide two times -- after twice failing the college entrance examination and after ending her first love affair.

At the age of 22, Qiong Yao had her first child and began to write. Three years later, her first saga novel Outside Window was published in a magazine named Imperial Crown, launching her long and illustrious career.

Famous for her vivid and sentimental love stories, Qiong uses her pen to create a very special world that is filled with emotion and devotion. Qiong's fame really took off during the 1980s, when countless teenagers became her aficionados, with their eyes guzzling down every word she wrote.

Although it is almost impossible to know how many stories she has written over the past few decades, more than 40 of Qiong Yao's novels have been adapted to television, plays, and films, winning great acclaim from her many fans.

Right now, in the new century, Qiong's romance novels are no longer as popular as before. Nevertheless, her works have had a big influence on the way that people born in the 1970's talk about love.

［Enlighten book-Liu Yong］

Liu Yong once said: "Although I think I'm an expert on life, I do not dare to say I'm an educator. Every person is ordinary; so how can I can educate others? I am only an ordinary person who watches the world from an ordinary angle. I only directly state my true feelings from my heart…"

But in any event, it has to be said that it was from the Liu Yong where people first had the concept of the "enlightening book," which also became a new concept for the publication market.

By the Light of Fireflies (Ying Chuang Xiao Yu), Surmount Oneself, The truth of Life (Ren Sheng de Zhen Xiang)...These booklets with exquisite and short essays, inspired an impassioned resonance in young students, as the books' contents, rather than being merely musings on life, focus specifically on how to conduct oneself in society.

Liu's intention is to draw the youth out of their chrysalis (cocoon) of illusion, and warn them that dealing with interpersonal relationships in today's intricate society is not as easy as they might imagine. Liu's comments strike home, and help to enlighten those with little life experiences. This explains why so many immature youths gear their behavior according to Liu's words.

Liu Yong sees his works as medicine for young people blinded by dreams, but believes that a cure does not necessarily result in a thick skin and a calculating mind. The purpose of seeing all aspects of the world is to become more vigorous and enterprising in life.

"If the person ahead of you loosens his grip on a door and it smashes into your nose, you should hold on tight to the door to stop it from hitting the person behind you," said Liu. Such esoteric but educational writing resonates strongly among young readers.

［Lunatic-- Li Ao］

Li Ao is perhaps one of the most rebellious idealists in the world. All together he has wrote over 100 books, of which 96 are banned. The outspoken talent likes to portray himself with American idealist Eugene Victor Debs's sentences: While there is a lower class I am in it; while there is a criminal element I am of it; while there is a soul in prison I am not free.

Li Ao was born in the city of Harbin in North China's Heilongjiang Province in 1935 before moving with his family toTaiwanProvince in 1949.

In high school, Li was a star student. However, the prodigy suspended his schooling in his senior year -- he was disgusted with the "suffocating" education. Years later, he enrolled inTaiwanUniversity and studied Law and History. After graduation, he served as a reserve officer for one and a half years. Then he went back to the university to study in the History Research Institute. But he soon decided to drop out before ending up as a scholar, and the "lunatic," as he became known, began writing articles revealing the dark side of the school and was not happy about studying there any more.

Starting in the 1960s, Li Ao served as editor-in-chief of the magazine Wenxing, which promoted democracy and personal freedom. He was credited for his contribution to the democratic movement at that time in Taiwan, but his audacity infuriated the authorities. His tirades eventually landed him in prison for over 8 years.

At the age of 44, Li again flung himself in the battle against the authorities with even more bitter diatribes. As a result, he was put in jail again; despite this, the fighter was still unwilling to compromise. He wrote books and articles in his jail cell, exposing the ill treatment by the prison officers and the unfair judicial system. He wrote at an amazing rate-for ten consecutive years he wrote one book per month on average without interruption.

This is Li Ao, the most rebellious idealists in China.

［Humor -Zhu Deyong］

In Zhu Deyong's books, in sharp and sarcastic words, simple but funny characters tell each other short stories based mainly on the theme of "love is unreliable and marriage is a nightmare."

The societies of Zhu Deyong's comic strips are compacted into si ge man hua - series of four pictures, with each series following a miniature storyline.

Zhu consciously chose to simplify his comic strips from the usual stories told in other Chinese comic strips, saying that the fast pace of modern life tallies well with the si ge man hua style of cartoons.

"Everything, including every person I see, are reflected in my imagination as four squares," said Zhu in an interview. "That's already part of my intuition."

The humor of Zhu's comic strips lies in his puns. In addition, with a light dusting of thought-provoking humor, the comics also give a small window of knowing philosophy on the relationships of young Chinese couples.

The vertical margins of each page outline the maxims and strategies of the Vinegar Tribe (Cu Liu Dinglu) such as, "If women are baseball courts, then every man wants to be a striker," and "The main reason for lovers to quarrel may be about affection, but if you are familiar with each other, then the reasons will be money."

The resonant message has garnered Zhu Deyong a wide readership ranging in age from 20 to 40 years old. Since the series was first published in 1994, more than 1 million copies have been sold in Taiwan Province alone.

［Painting-Ji Mi］

Ji Mi's works possess a whimsical nature commonly associated with children's books and yet they have become immensely popular with adults who find them refreshing and even philosophical. Not only are his books well received in Taiwan Province, Malaysia, and Singapore; they also have been translated into German, Japanese, and English.

A childlike innocence prevails in the simple sentences and though one may be lulled into taking the books at face value, it is difficult to ignore the adult sentiments expressed in them. Undercurrents of the author's personal experiences pervade the books and always, the extraordinary are presented in the seemingly ordinary. Often, feelings of profound loneliness, confusion, and isolation are expressed in the depiction of individuals becoming lost in a vast maze like city.

A Chance of Sunshine (Xiang Zuo Zou, Xiang You Zou) is a hopeful but cautionary tale set in the city about a man and a woman who live in the same apartment block but never meet because each has the habit of traveling in opposite directions - to the right and left respectively. The tale speaks poignantly of how much we have grown accustomed to the alienating aspects of modern city life and offers the chance for change.

On the surface, A Smiling Fish (Wei Xiao De Yu) is about a man who has bought a fish but in truth, it is about an individual trapped and helpless in circumstances beyond his control.