Sounding Hakka Spaces in Taiwan

Abstract

In this article, I explore how notions of space are crafted and contested through singing and listening to Hakka mountain songs in Taiwan. Through five case studies, I show that local initiatives create space to sing mountain songs in reaction to national policies, and that local space to sing mountain songs is challenged by transnational developments. Furthermore, the case studies reveal how audible differences between Chinese and Taiwanese mountain songs are used to distinguish between China and Taiwan as different spaces. Lastly, they demonstrate that Hakka people claim their space in Taiwanese history and contemporary society through singing and listening to mountain songs. I situate my discussion in the framework of the Sinophone, which denotes places of cultural production by linguistically and culturally Chinese people worldwide who relate to one another rather than to a shared homeland in China. I aim to redefine this concept as “spaces that sound Chinese”, placing music and sonic culture at large at the centre of debates on what it means to be Chinese. This enables me to provide a perspective on the nexus of music and space more specific to the lived experiences of Taiwanese Hakka people, demonstrating that Hakka people sing mountain songs to craft Hakka spaces both in and beyond Taiwan.