Multi-faceted Zheng Zhihua ’s rebellious past...
Not long ago, 60-year-old Zheng Zhihua posted a calligraphy calligraphy on Facebook, “When your judgment of right and wrong is blinded by ideology, you unconsciously become the biggest conspirator of cold-blooded greed. "Accomplice", with the text "Idiots without conscious ability" to criticize the situation in which some people in Taiwan were deceived during the epidemic. This resulted in Zheng Zhihua’s Facebook account being banned for 24 hours. Afterwards, Zheng Zhihua posted "Who is the initiator of hatred!" and closed the account.
Looking through Zheng Zhihua’s Facebook post, this is not the first time he has criticized the current ills. At the beginning of the epidemic, Taiwanese people rushed to grab toilet paper. Zheng Zhihua called it the "An Shi Rebellion." In order to eat salmon for free, a group of young people in Taiwan changed their names to names with "salmon" in them. He also said that "the sons of salmon in the year of Xin Chou belong to the salmon sect." After Taiwan received the Japanese vaccine, many elderly people died suddenly. Zheng Zhihua said, "Under the leadership of the promising government, Taiwan is quickly solving the problem of population aging."
Picture: Internet
With his sharp words and humor, the name Zheng Zhihua quickly became popular on mainland social networks. People who know him smile lightly: He is still the same Hua brother who has not learned restraint and tact. The younger generation sincerely raised questions in the comment area: Who is Zheng Zhihua?
Zheng Zhihua, a native of Taiwan Province of China, is often labeled as "the singer who sang " Sailor " and " Star Lights "" and "inspirational singer". But as long as you look through his collection of works, you can easily find that the so-called "inspirational singer" actually narrows the value of his works. Starting from "The Story of the Youngest" in 1988 and ending with "Children of China" in 2009, over the past 20 years, Zheng Zhihua has released more than ten music albums. In addition to conventional love and pursuit of dreams, Zheng Zhihua's creative content also includes It describes a large number of little people who live seriously and their own observations of some social phenomena.
This is consistent with one of the popular trends in the Taiwanese music scene in the late 1980s. In the 1980s, Taiwanese society underwent tremendous changes, and a group of humanistic singers emerged in the music scene who reflected on the times and were full of concern for society and people's livelihood. Luo Dayou sang "The Orphans of Asia Cry in the Wind", depicting a child walking alone in the wilderness of a foreign land; Zheng Zhihua wrote "The Story of the Youngest" "Black cinders, white fog", telling the story of mining It is the fate of life to grow up in the mining area.
What’s interesting is that a casual search on the Internet shows that the comparison between Zheng and Luo is still a hot topic today. The "Supporting Zheng School" and the "Supporting Luo School" each stand on the top of the mountain, with swords and swords, but generally they can agree on this: Luo Dayou's music creation is more of an intellectual's gaze, standing aside and thinking calmly like a philosopher; Zheng Zhihua's The creation is more civilian, thinking about life and society from personal life experience, using lowercase letters and uppercase letters.
"The Story of the Youngest" album cover, picture: Internet
Compared with other musicians who have received formal music system training, or the current traffic idols who can enter the music industry just by their looks, Zheng Zhihua's explosive experience is unique That time period. He doesn't know any musical instruments and has no knowledge of music theory. He hums the music himself and has professional musicians record it. That's why he said in the interview, "I am a musical instrument myself." In terms of appearance, polio left him dependent on crutches throughout his life. He has mentioned on many occasions that he has never considered himself a star, but a spiritually wealthy person.
In this sense, Zheng Zhihua’s popularity in the 1990s was a civilian victory. "It has an earthy flavor in it." In 2005, when Zheng Zhihua's "Zheng's Influence" concert was held at Beizhan Theater , guitarist Longlong commented on Zheng Zhihua's works. Another guitarist and former member of Hong band Jiang Jianmin ridiculed, "There are many piano players in bars and nightclubs in China who are making money playing his songs. In fact, they should pay his tuition." I really can't play that kind of taste. I'm really not good at it... It's not that it's difficult. I don't have that kind of thing in his heart."
Many years later, Zheng Zhihua's Facebook speech suddenly sparked heated discussions. Putting aside the nationalist sentiments wrapped in it, it was largely because he had brought the most real power to one or even two generations and influenced one or two generations. Young people who are more sensitive, slender, conscientious, or a little lonely, and this kind of power is extremely far away from today's music scene. When Jay Chou is obsessed with the words "I'll give you chest muscles", All fans can remember is yesterday.
Zheng Zhihua, political?
is defined as an "inspirational singer" because of Zheng Zhihua's overnight fame in mainland China. In 1992, as a representative of young singers with disabilities, he was invited to participate in CCTV. Before the rehearsal of the "92 Torch Gala", the director hesitated whether to change the song because he felt that the lyrics of "Sailor" were slightly inflammatory. However, during the official rehearsal, when he heard him singing, the students in the audience suddenly became quiet, and some people slowly began to sob. Therefore, this song was retained. Later, on more than one occasion, Zheng Zhihua mentioned this day - 9:15 pm on August 15, 1992, "Before this day, Zheng Zhihua was nothing, and after this day, Zheng Zhihua was nothing." Circle".
However, just like many singers hate their famous songs, because they sang "Sailor" and "Star Lights" too many times, Zheng Zhihua himself was a little disgusted, "It just misplaced me, what's the 'inspirational' Singer', it was a misunderstanding. "
Looking back now, Zheng Zhihua's first album "The Story of the Youngest" has rich themes, which are basically derived from his personal experience. This established his music that tells stories through music, is rebellious and straightforward, but is not condescending. style. In his subsequent works, Zheng Zhihua consistently adhered to this attitude. When
wrote the single "The Story of the Youngest", two major mining disasters had just occurred in Taiwan. In his autobiography "Fallen Angel", Zheng Zhihua described his feelings at that time. , "Two consecutive mining disasters made me intuitively believe that Jiufen is a barbarian land troubled by disasters, poor and backward, and must fight against nature in order to survive." He brought a "self-reliant intellectual conscience" and "With an ignorant passion and impulse", he decided to do something for the miners and stayed in Jiufen for almost a week.
Zheng Zhihua's autobiography "Fallen Angel", picture: Internet
The real experience in Jiufen made him sleepless. ——Jiufen has a sense of humanity and security that you can never experience in Taipei. No one wants to move away, and grandma’s tone is even more fatalistic, “Everyone will die! Digging dirt, you will either die in a pit, or die in an sleeping bed . What's the pity? Mr. Ruan ( Hokkien , our old man) has long seen through..." He decided to give up his plan to write an article, "I just recognized my relationship with Jiufen. I am not qualified, I am just an outsider." "If I want to write, I will write about the human issues caused by the Haishan and Meishan mining disasters that are worthy of our reflection, instead of treating this matter as a 'topical social incident'."
So, We heard the single "The Story of the youngest": "The entangled house, the pure heart, the treasure in the pit are no longer there, why don't we move away? The throbbing of precipitation and the intoxicating wine, Abba murmured at the corner of his mouth, "Only here are old friends." "People in my hometown were drowned in the mines and lost their lives; people in the city were drowned in desire, but lost their souls."
In this song, the lyricist speaks from the perspective of "I", writing the image of a proud and stubborn young man who wants to escape the fate of his father's generation. The climax is the climax, "In the scene of material civilization, I got it." Everything but losing myself.” At that time, Zheng Zhihua was still working in an advertising company. Therefore, this narrative was not just the perspective of the next generation of miners, but more like his own spiritual experience, panicked and lost in urban desire.
"Daqi Daqi Du", also included in "The Story of the Youngest", is written about children with congenital hearing impairment. The lyrics are almost babbled, and the repetition is simple. It opens with "Daqi Daqi Du, Daqi Daqi Du". "Du, Daqi never talks, he just likes to cry", creating a sad and tender atmosphere.
The album cover of "Private Songs", which contains Zheng Zhihua's classic work "Sailor", picture: Internet
After that, he wrote " Tutoring Street ", writing about the contradiction between classroom education and real-life education, and in the end he couldn't help but A series of questions were issued, "Who can squeeze through that narrow door, who is waiting impatiently outside the door, who is manipulating this competitive game, and whether academic qualifications are the ultimate goal of education." In "The Middle Class", almost every sentence he has begins with "I", but he cannot see the subjectivity of "I" in every sentence - "I often drink Coke, I eat hamburgers... I wander around with face on my shoulders." "Among the Crowd", the more careless it is, the more confused it is, vividly portraying a group of people who are busy in the world and give up thinking. In the 1993 "Grand People", Zheng Zhihua's words became even more intense, saying that Taiwan "is no longer an island suitable for poor people."
Compared with the rough and straightforward writing of "social issues", Zheng Zhihua's writing of "people" is more delicate. "Fallen Angel" is about a prostitute who sells her body for a living. When the wind blows, she sees "thin and slender bird feet, high heels, and bumpy steps." The picture and emotions come out. "Your Birthday" is about a wanderer, "I thought he was going to pray for something, but he always shook his head. He said today was his birthday, but no one wished him a happy birthday." It completely gave up on the situational rendering that he is good at. , but under the foreshadowing of the previous sentence, the image of a wanderer yearning for the spiritual world is vividly presented.
At one time, because his songs always criticized reality and politics, Zheng Zhihua's name was ridiculed by the Taiwanese media as "politicized", and there were even rumors that he would be imprisoned for seven years for "The Great Nation". In many interviews, Zheng Zhihua had to patiently explain that he wrote the song because of a true story, not with the intention of criticizing it. "I love Taiwan very much, that's why I have been singing Hokkien songs in the later period. I have always felt that my favorite land is still this place, still in Taiwan. Although many people see from my lyrics that I have been criticizing In this place, it’s because of love that you criticize,” Zheng Zhihua said.
Rebellious spirit
In a 1996 video, the host Yu Fu asked Zheng Zhihua whether it was because of polio that he felt a strong sense of alienation from society. Zheng Zhihua did not directly deny it, but said, "If I say no, you will not believe it," "Because this is a fact that has been seen with open eyes. Many people will think that a disabled person must have low self-esteem first and secondly. More autistic, if the third one succeeds, it must be after a period of ups and downs. How you survive in adversity is the stereotype."
Picture: Screenshot of Zheng Zhihua’s interview video
But in fact, polio gave him more of an observation ability that is different from ordinary people. When he was two years old, a high fever caused polio; before he was seven years old, Zheng Zhihua almost relied on crawling to move his body. "The posture of crawling is lying on the stomach, and the posture of walking on two legs is standing. I am destined to see things from a different angle than other people." . Since his feet were weak, when he was a child, when other children were running and making noises in the yard, he would quietly watch them from the window.
As for the rebellious temperament, according to Zheng Zhihua’s description, it seems to be innate. In his autobiography "Fallen Angels", he wrote that the origin of the word "Zhihua" is a Buddhist saying and the name of a monk. "It can subdue my natural rebellious spirit" and "the relationship between (me) and my youngest sister" There was also an older brother who died before I was born, and the fortune teller said it was me who killed him."
When he went to school, Zheng Zhihua described himself as a "problem student". The three things he learned in the fourth grade of elementary school were "fighting", "doing business", and "falling in love"; after transferring to high school, his classmates were all children from upper-middle-class families and were naive and naive, so he decided to return to his original job of being a dragon and a snake. School; had tit-for-tat views with the Chinese teacher, causing him to be severely slapped by the instructor; while many people stayed away from his classmate because his father had killed someone, Zheng Zhihua liked to be with him, commenting that this friend was "real and unpretentious." ".
It was also during this period that Zheng Zhihua fell in love with Kafka.He called Kafka his "lifelong idol". "Although he always explored human nature desperately and nakedly, many people said that his thoughts were very gray. But is there anything wrong with being gray? I believe that the deepest knowledge is a kind of Pain!" Seeing Kafka, Zheng Zhihua felt that he was seeing the same kind of people. "They are all too smart", so they share the same pain, so they have an insight into the unsolvable blind spot between good and evil. The subsequent experiences of
have been described in many reports. He entered the civil engineering major of Taipei Polytechnic College, and his first job was as an assistant engineer in an engineering company. He wore a uniform light blue shirt and dark blue pants, and his enthusiasm was quickly exhausted. I accidentally broke into the advertising industry when I saw an advertising company recruiting copywriters, and then the advertising song "Happy Girl" spread in the streets.
However, even when he encounters a job that he is very passionate about, Zheng Zhihua still does not forget to complain, "People in advertising agencies speak completely differently from ordinary people. They will complicate a seemingly simple thing, and then use different words to express it." Perspective discussions and analysis... What's even more frightening is that they are full of professional words, such as 'strategy', 'Selling Point', 'Target Consumer'..." Such psychological activities are cute even today. Like his later songs, no matter how decadent and melancholy the atmosphere is, the undertone is always optimistic and friendly.
Picture: Screenshot of Zheng Zhihua’s interview video
To a large extent, this is his true mentality. In interviews, he always said that his life so far has been "smooth sailing". He was doing commercials and releasing jingles, and was noticed by people from record companies. When I went to sound check, I realized, "Oh! I love that microphone."
But his final decision to change from an advertising man to a singer was still related to the rebellious temperament in his heart. One day when he was 28 years old, he heard a child playing on the street reciting the tea advertising slogan he created, "Bo Daba Ma Bo Ge Bo Jie Boer Tea". Zheng Zhihua was stunned and said, "Am I advertising? Or are we doing education? Just a can of ordinary sugar water, because we can make it sell well by using some tricks. Are we doing the right thing, or are we selling the air? "
Multiple Zheng Zhihua
It's difficult. Imagine how you can be as free and easy as Zheng Zhihua in real life. He is at the forefront of the tide but recedes when the tide rises. In 1999, after completing his twelfth album, he announced his retirement from the music scene because there were still many things he could do in life. He continued his childhood hobby of painting and built a large community for the world. Another very important reason is probably that songwriting is no longer challenging for him, which means it is no longer fun. Every time he writes a new song, it's just "just another song."
In the past twenty years, Zheng Zhihua has held two concerts, one in 2005 and one as a farewell performance in 2009. What few people know is that in 2005, he signed with Mainland Dou Chamber Records, and released the album "Flying Birds" in 2007 and the single "Children of China" in 2009. Regarding "Children of China", he said, "A long time ago, I wanted to write a song that was more catchy than "Descendants of the Dragon". "Descendants of the Dragon" was already written very well, but what it wrote was Compared with China in the past, China now needs something more in line with the modern spirit. "
Zheng Zhihua participated in "Extraordinary Change", picture: official stills
In the past twenty years, Zheng Zhihua has occasionally appeared in variety shows. In the third episode of "Extraordinary Change" in 2019, the program team invited him to be a guest judge. Contestant Fang Lei adapted and sang his "Don't Cry, My Favorite Person". After listening to it, Zheng Zhihua took off his glasses and wiped tears silently. "Don't Cry, My Favorite One" is originally a short poem "Ephemeral Epiphyllum" written by him to his separated lover A Yuan. "Tonight I bloom like an epiphyllum, and wither at the most beautiful moment. Your tears are also withered." Withering without return." At the show, he said these were his last words, almost pleading in his words, "I really don't want to face this, don't ask anymore."
Twenty years have passed and times have changed. Looking back, quitting the music scene in 1999 may have been a wise choice.In the 1990s, when cultural products were relatively barren, a cassette tape was enough to make young literary and artistic people fascinated, singing "I have no money in my pocket, but I don't have a lot of fame" and walked around the streets, even if the tape was pirated. "It has someone else's photo on it and it says Zheng Zhihua." But then, Internet songs such as "Mouse Loves Rice" and "Two Butterflies" became as popular as viruses, and penetrated into every corner of China with the help of the ring tones business.
There is a question on Zhihu , "Why has Zheng Zhihua been forgotten so completely?" The reply of netizen "Wang Donglai" was approved by 122 people: Many popular singers who have been popular for many years, most of their songs are still about love between men and women, " It is not only suitable for men and women in love to feel the beauty or bitterness of love through songs, but also for boys to show off their singing skills in KTV or on dates with girls to win the favor of girls. However, most of Zheng Zhihua's songs rarely have such elements. It’s hard to imagine a boy going to KTV to sing a song like “Thirty-Three Yuan” to his beloved girl.
Zheng Zhihua’s painting exhibition, photo: Zheng Zhihua’s Weibo
Zheng Zhihua probably doesn’t care about such a result. He has mentioned many times that he has changed since his daughter was born, and has become more and more tolerant. He used to be so mysophobic that if there were holes in his clothes, he would not wear them anymore. “In the past, many things had principles. Everything must be that way, but now it is the same thing.” I can tolerate anything beyond a certain baseline." In his spare time, he picked up paint brushes, made lacquerware, and practiced calligraphy. In 2019, he also opened a personal exhibition "Doting" in Beijing. The 36 oil paintings were richly colored and all were cartoon images.
In 1992, Zheng Zhihua published a photo album "Zheng Zhihua's Private Talk". In the book, he sincerely analyzed many aspects of himself, which may be able to summarize his choices again and again -
"There are many Zheng Zhihua inside the body...
Zheng Zhihua, who paints, often makes fun of Zheng Zhihua, who sings, for being vulgar;
Zheng Zhihua, who sings, often refutes the fact that Zheng Zhihua, who paints, is self-righteous.
The melancholy Zheng Zhihua has thoughts of committing suicide when encountering rainy days in Taipei;
But the brave Zheng Zhihua always remains calm. It doesn’t matter.
One Zheng Zhihua wants to have a family;
Another Zheng Zhihua will say scornfully:
Why lose the whole forest?
There is Zheng Zhihua who always wants to take nude photos..."
cover picture: Zheng Zhihua Weibo
