Jason G. Buhi

Lǜdǎo Xiǎoyèqǔ, The Green Island Serenade: Parsing the Coconut Tree's Shadow

The Green Island Serenade is a standard Chinese love song that has been caught in a decades long dispute over authorship and broader Taiwanese politics. Two camps both claim to have written the popular song: the first claims it was written as a movie theme, the second asserts it began as a love letter between inmates incarcerated as political prisoners. The author of this working paper has attempted to parse the relevant history, translate the Chinese language material and incorporate the local folklore gathered on-site to develop the two stories in their historical and political context. The author hopes to expand this work with references to unabashed Taiwanese protest songs of the era and, in time, include a complete comparative review against songs and methods of folk-performative rebellion in mainland China. In the end, the truth about this particular song may never be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. To the casual listener, especially as generations pass, Lǜdǎo Xiǎoyeqǔ will be but a love song, but to those who suffered under Chiang Kai-sheks Kuomintang regime the song will remain an anthem of protest and pride, recalling one of the darkest chapters of the Cold War.