Wen Hsia (; 20 May 1928 – 6 April 2022) was a Taiwanese singer and actor.

Personal life

Wen Hsia was born Wang Jui-ho in 1928, in present-day

Madou District Madou District () is a district of about 43,071 residents in Tainan, Taiwan. It owes its name to the Siraya language word ''Moatau'' or ''Mattou''. ''Mattau'' was one of the four core Sirayan villages during much of Taiwan's colonial history an ...

Tainan Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a Special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality in southern Taiwan facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and also commonly known as the "Capital City" ...

, and studied music in Japan. He was married to Wen Hsiang, who was also a singer. Wen Hsia died in his sleep on 6 April 2022, aged 93. Republished as:

Career

From the 1950s to the 1960s, Wen Hsia was known for his covers of Japanese melodies featuring

Taiwanese Hokkien Taiwanese Hokkien () (; Tâi-lô: ''Tâi-uân-uē''), also known as Taigi/Taigu (; Pe̍h-ōe-jī/Tâi-lô: ''Tâi-gí / Tâi-gú''), Taiwanese, Taiwanese Minnan, Hoklo and Holo, is a variety of the Hokkien language spoken natively by about 70% ...

lyrics, a practice that began in the 1930s. These works were known as . He also sang in Japanese. Over the course of his career, Wen Hsia wrote more than 2,000 songs. During

martial law in Taiwan Martial law in Taiwan () refers to the periods in the history of Taiwan after World War II during control by the Republic of China Armed Forces of the Kuomintang-led Government of the Republic of China regime. The term is specifically used to ...

Hokkien pop Hokkien pop, also known as Taiwanese Hokkien popular music, T-pop (), Tai-pop, Minnan Pop and Taiwanese song (), is a popular music genre sung in Taiwanese Hokkien and produced mainly in Taiwan. Hokkien pop is most popular amongst Hoklo people in ...

was heavily censored and Wen Hsia became known as the "king of banned songs." Wen Hsia recorded over 1,200 songs, of which 99 were banned by

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

authorities. His 1961 work, "Mama, I’m Brave" was banned for thirty years, setting a record for the longest period a

song was prohibited. Wen Hsia's songs became regarded as classics. At the 23rd Golden Melody Awards in 2012, Wen Hsia received the Golden Melody Lifetime Contribution Award. As an actor, Wen Hsia starred in

Joseph Kuo Joseph Nan-Hong Kuo (; Kaohsiung, 20 July 1935) is a Taiwanese film director best known for his Hong Kong based kung fu films of the 1970s and 1980s. His debut screenplay ''Ghost Lake'' was one of the earliest Taiwanese language films. He later r ...

's remakes of the Japanese Wataridori film series, in which the protagonist was originally portrayed by

Akira Kobayashi is a Japanese actor and singer. His nickname is . Biography Kobayashi attended Meiji University but left before graduating. He became an actor at Nikkatsu and made his film debut with "Ueru Tamashii" directed by Yuzo Kawashima in 1956. He s ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wen, Hsia 1928 births 2022 deaths Taiwanese people of Hoklo descent Taiwanese Hokkien pop singers Japanese-language singers 20th-century Taiwanese male singers 20th-century Taiwanese male actors Taiwanese male film actors Musicians from Tainan Male actors from Tainan Taiwanese expatriates in Japan