Taiwan campus folk song, campus folk song, or campus folk rock () is a genre of

Taiwanese Music The music of Taiwan reflects the diverse culture of Taiwanese people. Taiwan has undergone several economic, social, and political changes through its cultural history, and Taiwanese music reflects those issues in its way. The music of the cou ...

with its roots as student songs in the campuses of

Taiwanese universities The following is a list of universities, colleges, junior colleges, and institutes of technology in the Republic of China (ROC), which consists of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and the Matsu Islands. Public universities and colleges Private u ...

during the 1970s. The genre was highly popular from the mid-1970s to the early 1990, with its focus on themes from the

Chinese cultural sphere The East Asian cultural sphere, also known as the Sinosphere, the Sinic world, the Sinitic world, the Chinese cultural sphere, the Chinese character sphere encompasses multiple countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia that were historically ...

in reaction to the prevalence of Western

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

as well as being edged out by the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

from the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

and from the world political stage. This genre of music became very popular in

mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

during the 1990s with the increased cultural exchanges between

and the mainland during this period. Campus folk rock was created by university age youth wishing to assert their own distinct cultural identities and "''Sing our own songs.''"() in Chinese, taking the aspirations from the

American folk music revival The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, Billie Holiday, Richard Dyer-Benn ...

. The movement towards and popularization of this music is considered to be a societal reaction towards Taiwan's expulsion from

(UN) in 1971 in the

United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 (also known as the Resolution on Admitting Peking) was passed in response to the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1668 that required any change in China's representation in the UN be ...

, with international admission of the

as the sole legitimate representative of China in the UN. The songs were composed through fusing instrumental and melodic elements from American

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...

, along with the expression and themes from

Chinese folk music Music of China refers to the music of the Chinese people, which may be the music of the Han Chinese The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, ma ...

, both of which were familiar to the youth of the time. Songs from the genre are characterized as having a forward-looking, optimistic, simple, and youthful feel, with

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

as some of its most commonly used accompanying instruments.

References

{{Reflist Taiwanese music Chinese music Academic songs