Su Tseng-chang: Terrified even of "I am a Singer"

Su Tseng-chang: Terrified even of "I am a Singer"
China Times editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
April 16, 2013

Summary: The Hunan Satellite TV show, "I am a Singer" is a sensation on both sides of the Strait. Both the contests and the winners have become hot topics. Cross-Strait exchanges are clearly intensifying. If a political party hopes to survive, it must live in the present. It must offer people a future. The DPP cannot understand why "I am a Singer" is so popular. The problem clearly, is not with other people.

Full text below:

The Hunan Satellite TV show, "I am a Singer" is a sensation on both sides of the Strait. Both the contests and the winners have become hot topics. Cross-Strait exchanges are clearly intensifying. The DPP, from top to bottom, should set aside hatred and fear, and address the cross-Strait reality that this program represents.

DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang accused the CCP of "waging a war of reunification," of "entering the island, entering our homes, entering our brains." His charges were truly dismaying. They were also at odds with the facts. "I am a Singer" was not produced by the CPP, in order to wage a "war of reunification" on Taiwan. Nor did it gain currency as a result of Taiwan media hype. It is a program that the public on Taiwan went online to watch on their own initiative. It soon became a sensation. Only then did the media begin reporting it. No political conspiracy was involved, anywhere in the entire process.

The program attracted the attention of people on Taiwan mainly because four of the seven finalists were from Taiwan. A Mainland singer won. But the singers from Taiwan became famous on the Mainland. During the competition, the competitors often sang Taiwanese songs. The show even included a special tribute to Taiwanese singer Chyi Chin. This program, which became a cross-Strait phenomenon, exuded a strong Taiwanese flavor.

Nor was this an isolated phenomenon. Over the years, pop music from Taiwan has dominated the Mainland. The Mainland market has fattened the wallets of Taiwan television networks. Performing artists and singers from Taiwan often go to the Mainland to make career comebacks. The once famous "Little Tigers" are now primarily based on the Mainland. In 2012 the trio sang golden oldies on the CCTV Spring Festival Show. Mainland fans were moved to tears. They grew up with those songs.

For many middle-aged Mainland fans, many songs we are familiar with, are their shared memories. These songs speak of the love, heartbreak, and sweetness of youth. They are songs that people on both sides sung in unison, and that evoke common memories. Cross-Strait exchanges are increasing. Personal interactions are expanding.

This is especially true for popular music, for the performing arts, and for drama. Taiwan leads in creativity due to its greater freedom and openness.  This creativity is valued on the Mainland. The variety show "Kangxi Has Arrived" is widely watched on the Mainland. Young people on the Mainland all know "Xiao S," the host of the show, by sight. 

Conversely, young people on Taiwan are entirely accustomed to watching Mainland produced films and music online. The shows use simplified characters, but they watch them anyway. They watch the Mainland's most popular programs in real-time. The popular "Hou Gong Zhen Huan Tales" have also swept Taiwan. Campuses on Taiwan have many young students from the Mainland. Many Mainland tourists stand on Taiwan street corners, holding maps, looking for places to eat. Many young people from Taiwan look for work on the Mainland. Young people on both sides consider it perfectly natural to establish links with the other side. They are beginning to share many life experiences.

This represents the cross-Strait present. It also represents the cross-Strait future. If the trend continues, the two sides can soon put past hostilities behind them. They can inhabit a totally different world. But many Green Camp people insist on in living in the past. The insist on clinging to hatred and fear of the Mainland. They insist on perceiving even the people and the culture of the Mainland as Evil Incarnate. They refuse to acknowledge that cross-Strait exchanges are booming, and have become a perfectly natural phenomenon.

Long years of confrontation, different forms of government and thought, differences in freedom, clashes over sovereignty and military threats, all constitute a chasm that must be spanned. Green Camp wariness about the Mainland has an historical basis. Security considerations are real. But cross-Strait exchanges are so very close. This cannot be denied. Nor can it be undone. Therefore any policy path must be rooted in reality. It cannot ignore or deny reality. Otherwise it will be utterly unrealistic, It will run counter to the currents of history.

The Democratic Progressive Party, under the leadership of Su Tseng-chang, persists in living in the past. It persists in demonizing the Mainland. It persists in opposing closer cross-Strait relations. It attempts to isolate Taiwan from Mainland influence, in order to ensure Taiwan's autonomy. But history has moved on. Gone are the days when the two sides were totally isolated. Any attempt to maintain Taiwan's autonomy and values, must be accomplished amidst ongoing cross-Strait exhanges. Autonomy can no longer be maintained by preventing the two sides from having contacts.

Su Tseng-chang's declaration is seriously at odds with cross-Strait reality, The DPP has obstinately clung to an impracticable cross-Strait policy. Even when it established a "China Affairs Committee," it merely went through the motions. To the public, the Green Camp's rhetoric is tired cliches. All the Green Camp does is rant about Commie conspiracies. Ask it to elaborate, and it is at a complete loss. Young people have no desire to listen to their boring rants.

If a political party hopes to survive, it must live in the present. It must offer people a future. The DPP cannot understand why "I am a Singer" is so popular. The problem clearly, is not with other people.
   
中時電子報 新聞
中國時報 　2013.04.16
社論－連《我是歌手》都怕 蘇貞昌還活在過去
本報訊

    　大陸湖南衛視的《我是歌手》轟動兩岸，無論是過程還是結果，都成為熱議的話題。而這個現象也清楚呈現了兩岸交流的深化，民進黨上下都應該放下仇恨與恐懼，好好正視這個節目所呈現的兩岸現況。

    　民進黨主席蘇貞昌指責中共統戰「入島、入戶、入腦」的說法，實在令人失望，也與事實有明顯差距。《我是歌手》並不是中共為了統戰台灣而製作的節目，這個熱門話題也不是被台灣媒體炒作或引導出來的，而是因為台灣民眾自行透過網路觀看，引起轟動後，媒體才跟進報導。整個過程，無涉任何政治陰謀。

    　這個節目之所以受到台灣民眾矚目，主要是總決賽的七強裡有四位台灣歌手，雖然最後由大陸歌手拿到冠軍，但參賽的台灣歌手都已在大陸聲勢暴紅。而在比賽過程中，不但歌手經常唱台灣歌，還有一集是向台灣歌手齊秦致敬的專場。在兩岸掀起熱潮的這個節目，飄著濃濃的台灣味。

    　而這不是單一現象，這些年來，台灣流行音樂在大陸一直有領先的地位，由於大陸市場大，電視台財力雄厚，台灣藝人與歌手轉進對岸再造第二春者所在多有。昔日的「小虎隊」現在全部以大陸為工作重心，而三人在二○一二年央視春晚合體演唱當年名曲時，許多大陸歌迷還感動落淚，因為那是他們自己「成長的記憶」。

    　是的，我們熟悉的台灣歌曲，其實也是大陸許多中年以下者的共同成長記憶。那些愛情、悲傷、甜美與青春，都在兩岸集體吟唱、觸發並且記憶著。兩岸交流愈來愈綿密，民間的互動也愈來愈深化廣化。

    　尤其在流行音樂、綜藝與戲劇方面，台灣在自由開放以及創意上較為領先，就相當受到歡迎。《康熙來了》等節目在大陸廣為流傳，年輕人熟知小Ｓ即是一例。

    　相對的，台灣年輕人現在也很習慣上大陸網站看影片、抓歌，簡體字囫圇吞棗也看得下去，大陸的熱門節目，一樣即時觀賞，暴紅的《後宮甄嬛傳》，台灣同樣風靡。台灣校園裡出現了年輕的大陸學生，街頭有拿著地圖找美食的自由行旅客，不少台灣年輕人想到大陸工作。兩岸的年輕世代，正以他們輕盈自然的方式，與對岸建立連結，也開始一起寫下一些共同的生命體驗。

    　這，不但是兩岸的現狀，也是兩岸的未來。這個趨勢如果持續下去，兩岸可以走到和過去劍拔弩張完全不同的世界。但是，綠營很多人卻堅持活在過去，緊抱著對中國的仇視與恐懼，連帶把大陸的人民與文化也視為洪水猛獸，而不願面對兩岸交流已經蓬勃延伸得愈來愈自然的現狀。

    　當然，長年的對峙、不同的政體與思維、自由的落差、主權的衝突以及軍事威脅，都是橫亙兩岸之間的鴻溝，綠營對中國大陸的戒心既有歷史背景，也有現實安全的考量。問題是，兩岸交流已經如此密切，這是既不能否認、也不可能倒流的事實，因此任何政策思維與執行路線，都應該根據這樣的事實來建構，不能無視或否定現實，或者提出完全不切實際、也與時代發展背道而馳的主張。

    　民進黨在蘇貞昌的領導下，其中國政策仍然活在過去的時空裡，把中國的一切妖魔化，反對兩岸接近、交流，想用隔絕中國影響力來保持台灣的主體性。但歷史在往前走，兩岸完全隔絕的時代已經一去不返，要維持台灣的主體性與自我價值，也必須是在兩岸持續交流的狀況下實現，而不再可能藉由阻擋雙方接觸的方式達成。

    　蘇貞昌的說法和兩岸現實嚴重脫節，民進黨也一直提不出務實可行的兩岸政策，連成立一個中國事務部，看來只是在虛應故事。綠營的兩岸論述更被一般民眾視為是老掉牙的陳腔濫調，除了喊殺喊打狂罵老共陰謀之外，講不出什麼所以然來，年輕人根本聽之生厭。

    　政黨要有政治生命，必須看得見現在，也能給人民一個未來。當民進黨看不懂整個《我是歌手》熱潮是怎麼回事時，問題，顯然不在別人。