The other night when I was listening to an ambient music in a veterinary clinic playing 雨夜花 while awaiting my ailing cat to receive treatment, some strange feelings occurred to me toward that soft but sad song written in Taiwanese dialect, which I’d heard so many times before. People said the personified flower had been a metaphor of some unfortunate woman uttering the grievance of her fate. However, I’ve been wondering why the song was so popular that had lasted for over seventy years, how there were so many hapless female victims of exploitation in our society, or if it was just a reflection of the ethos of our times.

When I returned to my car and turned on the stereo, it happened that the CD was playing 飄零的落花, another melancholy tune sung by Tsai Chin(蔡琴). The likeness of two songs cast a light on the answer to my question. Both songs, full of pathos and bouquet, were composed during 1930’s, the days Taiwan was the oppressed colony of Japanese occupation, whereas the Mainland China was a so-called quasi-colony under imminent threat of Japanese invasion. Maybe the songs reflected the outcry of some kind of pent-up emotion.

Seventy-odd years later, I guess 飄零的落花 has become a classic, more of an art, and no longer a popular hit in Taiwan, let alone in the Mainland. That change has something to do with a sanguine mindset toward the future world. But here in Taiwan, 雨夜花 is still a sacred symbol of historical sadness; even one of most famous vocalists in the world sang this song along with Chiang Hui(江蕙) at his performance in Taiwan, signifying its irreplaceably high status. I have to ask, do we really need to sit alone weeping, lamenting our fate all the time?

I don’t know much about music. The only thing I know is that both songs, in the form of pathetic fallacy, are soft and melodious, and being wistful for the past. But 飄零的落花 is trying to regain the things lost, and 雨夜花 is just kind of fatalistic. With regard to their lyrics, 飄零的落花 is much, much better. Elegance with rhetorical flourish, including embellished inversion, has made 飄零的落花 a lasting piece of classic essay in modern Chinese literature.