Liang Jingfeng

Liang Jingfeng pursued advanced studies in German at Heidelberg University in Heidelberg, Germany. In Germany, he translated poems by Bai Qiu (白萩 Pai Chiu, also Pai Ch'iu) together with Karlhans Frank. The small volume of poems was published in 1974. This translation seems to have marked Liang Jingfeng's commitment to poetry by Taiwan-born poets that continued to characterize his work as a writer, scholar, and translator. The choice of Bai Qiu was hardly accidental. Bai Qiu's poetry is alive with images of rural China, of peasant life, and the poet was one of those who had been jailed by the regime.

Later, in 2011, Liang noted on his blog's website that he had returned to Bai Qiu, translating more of his poems – this time together with the German scholar Wolf Baus.

Silvia Marijnissen mentions also Liang Jingfengs book Selected Historical Archives: New Taiwanese Literature Under Japanese Occupation. Part 4: Poetry.

Liang returned to his native island Taiwan in 1976 and obtained a teaching position at the German Dept. of Tamkang University.

As a young scholar and teacher at Tamkang University, Liang focused on Heine, seeking to awake the interests of his students in this poet who was an exile, a radical democrat, and a friend of Karl Marx.

But he also focused on Taiwan's critical literature, especially its poetry that had often been leftist and anti-colonialist during the period of Japanese colonial rule. Thus he published an article entitled "Who is Lai He?" (賴和是誰？) in the leftist democratic opposition magazine Xiachao 夏潮 under the pseudonym Liang Demin in 1976.

He also animated students to read stories and novels by xiangtu wenxue authors such as Wang Tuoh, Wang Tuoh Yang Qingchu (楊青矗) and Chen Yinzhen. Chen had been imprisoned by the KMT dictatorhip because of "subversive activity" between 1968 and 1973 and was again imprisoned in 1979, in the context of the massive crack down on voices of the democratic opposition that was unleashed after the Meilidao incident, also known as the Kaohsiung Incident. In this, Liang paralleled the practice of at least two other teachers at the Dept. of German and the English Dept., most notably Wang Jinping (scholar and activist) (Wang Chinping 王津平). Wang Jinping taught at the English Department; in 1977 or 1978, he was dismissed by the university because of his political activities in the Tangwai movement; he then operated a bookshop in Tamshui and a hostel, which let him keep in touch with students. Another subversive teacher was Liang's colleague Wei (魏蓝德) who motivated students of his essay writing course to write essays about Wang Tuoh (Wang Tuo 王拓;, b. 1944), Chen Ying-chen (Chen Yin-zhen 陳映真, b. 1937), Yang Ch’ing-ch’u (Yang Qingchu 楊清矗;, b.1940), Wu Cho-liu (Wu Zhuoliu 吳濁流 (1900–1976)), or Hwang Chun-ming (Huang Chunming 黃春明). Since 1976, Wang Jinping (Wang Chinping 王津平), the feminist activist and Tamkang teacher Lee Yuan-chen (Li Yuanzhen 李元貞 - the founder of Women Awakening), Liang Jingfeng and their friend Li Shuangze (李雙澤) formed what the liberal chairman of the German Dept. at the time called, with a smile, a "gang of four." Indeed, they were all outspoken Tangwai movement activists, they took a stand in the debate about xiangtu wenxue (Taiwan Nativist Literature that was severely attacked by the KMT-controlled media, and they also furthered a nativist folk music revival on campus.

At the time, Liang Jingfeng using a pseudonym or pseudonyms, published repeatedly articles related to questions of Taiwanese culture in journals close to the Tangwai movement, such as Xiachao夏潮 (Summer Tide, often referred to now as China Tide.), perhaps also in 前進雜誌 (Advance! Magazine; the name of the magazine refers to a poem written in the 1930s by Tian Han, the "March of the Volunteers" ) and Formosa Zazhi ( 福摩薩雜誌 Formosa Magazine).

Since his arrival in Tamshui in 1976, Liang was determined to help friends like Li Shuangze to push ahead with their attempt, started in 1975, to convert the Western oriented Campus Folk Music Movement into a genuine Nativist, socially critical folk song movement of singer-songwriters and a committed audience eager to embrace and develop their "own songs." As one of the critics of non-political English-language folk rock (and of often quite sentimental pop music), Liang Jingfeng, just like his friend and collaborator Li Shuangze(李雙澤, b.1949-d.1977), clearly resented the "internalization" or "Westernization" of the Chinese and regional Taiwanese culture, including its musical culture, and discovered locally rooted issues that could be transported in new Chinese language folk songs. But the musical form found for instance by Li Shuangze remained partly indebted to that of simple Western tunes. Today, Liang is even more adamantly attached to his regional Taiwanese heritage. In the mid-1970s, when he started to get involved in the folk music movement, he craved however, much like Li Shuangze and others, a folk song movement faithful to China's – and insofar, the island's – own heritage. He saw in folk singers like Chen Da a genuine expression of the people's unalienated culture on the island of Taiwan that was still governed by a regime that facilitated cultural Americanization, despite avowed determination to achieve a reactionary Neo-Confucian Renaissance. It was probably in 1976 or 1977 that Liang wrote the lyrics for the song Meilidao (Beautiful Island) that was composed by his friend Li Shuangze. The song became the key song of the radically democratic opposition movement and it is still, for many, the unofficial anthem of Taiwan.

When Li Shuangze as composer and singer, and Liang Jingfeng collectively created the song Meilidao (美麗島), it not only became the anthem of the democracy movement inTaiwan. Meilidao also became the name of a newly founded critical opposition magazine. Other songs created by the two were "We are the Young China" and "Little Friend, Do you know where the rice comes from?" (and the fish, and your clothing) – the song continued to say that it is the result of the work of the peasants, the fisher folk, the workers. The songs were made famous by Li Shuangze and then, after his death, by the singer Yang Zujun, in the mid- to late 1970s a student at Tamkang University (淡江大學 ). In 1978-1979, Liang Jingfeng distributed cassette tapes with these and other – often already banned – songs on campus. The four Tamkang radicals were also the factual organizers of the concert that was to feature, among others, their friend, the aboriginal singer Hu Defu (胡德夫 ). Because Hu Defu could not appear (probably due to health reasons), Li Shuangze replaced him, starting to talk about the cultural alienation that was implied when young people in Taiwan sang American folk songs (in the context of a so-called Campus Folk Movement) while forgetting their own precious heritage. When Li symbolically smashed a Coke bottle (a symbol of Western cultural penetration) on stage, the thing was lambasted in the KMT controlled press as the Coca Cola Incident (Tamkang Incident)(Coca Cola incident 可口可樂 事件 or Tamkang incident 淡江事件). It was also due to the young Tangwai scholars, that Chen Da, an old but soon equally noted Taiwanese folk singer was invited to perform on campus in Tamkang. It has been noted that it was "a closeness to the regionalist culture" that linked the four Tamkang activists Lee Yuan-chen (李元貞), Liang Jingfeng, Li Shuangze and Wang Jinping (scholar and activist) to Native critical and realist literature, to genuine Taiwanese folk music (thus also to the blind old singer of protest songs, Chen Da), and to the Democracy movement. This activism must have become less apparent, and was perhaps temporarily scaled down in the wake of the crack down linked to the so-called Meilidao incident ( 美麗島事件 ) in 1979.

In 1987, many years after Li Shuangze's premature death in 1977, and thus in the period when Martial law in Taiwan was about to be suspended, his friends Liang Jingfeng and Lee Yuan-chen published his collected works, together with a biography of this courageous and talented man.

Liang Jingfeng, who has been described as a "Germanist" in a German publication and who has published much on German literature, has continuously done research on and has published on the Taiwanese literary heritage. As the faculty website of National Dong Hwa University points out, Liang has compiled 日據下臺灣新文學──詩選集 (Rì jù xià táiwān xīn wénxué ──shī xuǎn jí /The New Literature in Taiwan under the Japanese Occupation - a poetry anthology), Taipei : Mingtan 明潭 , 1979 (he edited the book with Li Nanheng 李南衡 ). And he is the author of Xiāngtǔ yǔ xiàndài (鄉土與現代 Native and modern).

After Liang had published "Lai Ho shih shei" (賴和是誰？Who is Lai He?) in Xiachiao ( 夏潮 Hsia-ch’ao ) # 6, Sept. 1976, he went on to publish Taiwan xiandai shi de qibu LAI He, ZHANG Wojun he YANG Hua de hanwen baihuashi (台灣現代詩的起步賴和, 張我軍和楊華的漢文白話詩 / The Beginnings of Taiwan's modern poetry: Lai He, Zhang Wojun and Yang Hua's Chinese poetry in the vernacular language) in 1994.

Ingrid Schuh's book 臺灣作家楊青矗小说研究: 1975年以前 / Taiwan zuojia Yang Qingchu xiaoshuo yanjiu 1975 nian yiqian (A Study of Taiwanese Writer Yang Qingchu 's Novels: Before 1975 ) also mentions Liang Jingfengs research and publication activity in the field of Taiwanese literature.

Liang Jingfeng has published on Ye Shitao (葉石濤, b. 1925), Yang Qingchu (楊青矗, b. 1940) etc., and together with Chen Mingtai an article entitled "Der Wiederaufbau der modernen Lyrik. - Deutsche und japanische Nachkriegslyrik."

• "Chūnguāng guān bù zhù—lùn Yáng Kuí de xiǎoshuō <<é māmā chūjià>>" ( 春光關不住—論楊逵的小說 "鵝媽媽出嫁" / Spring cannot be forbidden - Yang Kui's story "Mother Goose marries"); journal article, Sept. 1976).
• "Shénme bùshì xiàndài shī " ( 什麼不是現代詩 / What is not modern poetry), journal article, Oct. 1976.
• "Hǎi Niè (Heinrich Heine) shī zhōng de xiàndài shī zhì" ( 海涅(Heinrich Heine)詩中的現代詩質 / Heinrich Heine: Poems with a modern poetry quality), journal article, Nov. 1977 pp. 143–177. (This journal article is referred to in German as: "Moderne Aspekte in der Lyrik Heines." It was discussed in 1979 in the German-language "Heine Yearbook".)
• Lài Hé shì shuí (賴和是誰 / Who is Lai Ho). A small book of which only one copy was printed, March 1979.
• "Shénme bùshì xiàndài shī " ( 什麼不是現代詩 / What is not modern poetry), journal article, March 1979.
• "Hǎidǎo zhīgē: Lùn rì jù shíqí Táiwān xīnshī " (海島之歌 : 論日據時期臺灣新詩 / Island Song: On Taiwan 's New Poetry in the Period of Japanese Occupation), journal article, March 11, 1979. (= "Hai-tao chih ko" (Island Song), in: Shih hsuan-chi (Selected Anthology of Poetry), Vol. 4 of Jih-chü-hsia T’ai-wan hsin wen-hsueh.)
• "Hǎi Niè (Heinrich Heine) shī zhōng de xiàndài tè" (期刊論文, 海涅(Heinrich Heine)詩中的現代特 / Heine's poetry (...)), journal article, June 1979.
• "Dé Táiwān rì jù shíqí xiǎoshuō zhōng de zhímín zhě yǔ bèi zhímín zhě" (德臺灣日據時期小說中的殖民者與被殖民者 / The Colonized and the Colonialists in the Japanese Novels during the Japanese Occupation ), journal article, Sept. 1979.
• "Ai de gùshì: Tán <<yàzhōu xiàndài shījí>>" ( / Love story: talk about the "Asian modern poetry collection), journal article, June 1982.
• "Lādīng měizhōu wénxué de tànsuǒ" (拉丁美洲文學的探索/ The Journal of Latin American Literature), journal article, Jan.1983.
• "Heine über Goethe," in: Deutsche Studien # 18, 1984, pp. 17–21 (published by Deutsche Abteilung des Tamkang College and mentioned by George F. Peters, on p. 300. See: George F. Peters, Die große Heide No.2, Heinrich Heine and the Levels of His Goethe Reception, New York (etc.) : Peter Lang Inc., 1989.)

• " (昨日之夢 : 西德學生運動 / Yesterday's Dreams : West Germany's student movement), journal article, July 1986.

• Heinrich Heine und die Moderne, Conference papers, Tamkang University, Oct. 1992.
• "Fānyì kèchéng zài déyǔ jiàoxué de gōngnéng" ( 翻譯課程在德語教學的功能 / Teaching German translation courses), Conference papers, Tamkang University, Jan. 1993.
• Taiwan xiandai shi de qibu Lai He, Zhang Wojun he Yang Hua de hanwen baihuashi. (台灣現代詩的起步賴和, 張我軍和楊華的漢文白話詩 / The Beginnings of Taiwan's modern poetry: Lai He, Zhang Wojun and Yang Hua's Chinese poetry in the vernacular language.) Hsinchu/Xinzhu : Guoli qinghua daxue ( 國立清華大學) 1994. (Re Lai He see: "賴和"Lai He / Lai Ho, Taiwanese Loa Ho, b. 1894 – d. 1943. 賴和.)
• "Déguó liúwáng wényì zài Zhōngguó" (德國流亡文藝在中國 / German Exiles in China), Conference papers, Tamkang University, May 1999.
• "Déyǔ gēqǔ kèchéng shèjì yǔ jiàocái zhī biānxuǎn - chūbù bàogào (2000)" (德語歌曲課程設計與教材之編選-初步報告(2000) / German Course Design and Compilation of Textbooks - A Preliminary Report (2000)), Conference papers, Tamkang University, 2000.
• "Yì zhě yǔ jiàoxué" (譯者與教學 / Being a translator and teaching), in the Proceedings of a conference at the Dept. of German Language and Literature, Tamkang University, June 2002.
• "Taiwan: kulturelle Perspektiven einer Weltinsel im Prozess der Globalisierung", conference papers, Tamkang University, June 2002.
• Schwabbauer, Monika; Tao Wei (陶緯); Liang Jingfeng (梁景峰); Guo Mingfong (郭名鳳) ; Lai Lixiu (賴麗琇); Wei Rongzhi蕭時雄 (eds.), Qīngsōng xué déyǔ wénfǎ (輕鬆學德語文法 / E輕鬆學德語文法asy to Learn: German Grammar); book, 2002.
• Fēngjǐng de biànqiān: Déyǔ wén xué pínglùn xuǎn" ( 風景的變遷 : 德語文學評論選 / A Changing Landscape: A Review of the German Literary Criticism (in German); book, 2006.
• Heine: Neuer Frühling. (Chinese translation with annotations); research report, Dept. of German Language and Literature, Tamkang University, 2011.

• Bai Qiu, Pai Chiu : Feuer auf Taiwan: Gedichte. Transl. by Liang Jingfeng梁景峰 and Karlhans Frank. Pforzheim : Verlag Harlekin-Presse, 1974.
• Elias Canetti (Jieyi Kaneiti節譯 卡內提), Miwang (迷惘, Chin. transl. of Die Blendung); transl. by Liang Jingfeng. Taipei台北 : Guangfu shuju 光復書局 1988.
• Deyu qing shi xuan (德語情詩選 Deutsche Liebesgedichte, a selection of German love poetry), translated and with a preface by Liang Jingfeng. Published in the journal Li 笠, issue # 251 / 2006. (Preface: [1], according to Liang Chingfeng's blog. This webpage of zic.com cannot be accessed anymore.) - The "Li Poetry Society" was already notable between 1964 and 1977. The journal was started in June 1964.
• [Translation projected in Dec. 2010 and announced in the blog of Liang Chingfeng; the work is perhaps already published:] Heinrich Heine (Hai Nie 海涅), Neuer Frühling. Meine Handschrift / 海涅, 新春集. 我的手筆 (compiled and edited by Liang Jingfeng)

On December 28, 2010 Liang commented: "Habe vor, den ersten Zyklus (Neuer Frühling) der Sammlung "Neue Gedichte" (1844) von Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) zu übersetzen. Die Gedichte sind meist geschrieben zwischen 1827 und 1831, sind also ein Bindeglied des "Buch der Lieder" (1827) und der späteren neuen Gedichte. Man liest wieder die Gedichte, und wenn die Nacht etwas lang wird, schreibt man die Texte mit der Hand ab. Die Handschrift ist heute wohl ein altmodischer Zeitvertreib. Aber vielleicht versteht man die Gedichte so besser. Hier sind die ersten Proben.

Hoffe, dass es einen neuen Frühling für jeden Menschen gibt, Brot, Rosen und Zuckererbsen." (Source: Liang Jingfeng's blog [2]

• Heinrich Heine, Neuer Frühling. Meine Handschrift. Hǎi niè, xīnchūn jí. Wǒ de shǒubǐ / 海涅, 新春集. 我的手筆(Heine poems, translated and edited by Liang Jingfeng)
• Dang ai fasheng shi... Xiyang shige changpian zhan (當愛發聲時... 西洋詩歌唱片展 / When Love speaks... Sound Disc Exhibition of Western Poetry and Songs), edited by Liang Jingfeng. Tamshui/Taipei : Tamkang University Library 淡江大學覺生圖書館 , 2005. A4. 55 pp.

(Content 內容 : Foreword 1; The Song of Songs 4 ; Greek: 7 (Sappho, Elytis ); English: 10 (Chaucer, Shakespeare, Burns, Byron, Poe, Whitman, Dickinson); German: 19 (Walther, Hildegard, Carmina Burana, Luther, Goethe, Schiller, Hölderlin, Eichendorff, Müller, Heine, Rilke, Hesse, Brecht); French: 36 (Villon, Ronsard, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Verlaine, Apollinaire, Aragon, Prévert); Spanish: 46 (Lorca, Alberti, Machado, Borges, Neruda))