The Development History of Taiwan Province Folk Songs

Taiwan Province folk songs were introduced into Taiwan Province Province with Minnan immigrants at the beginning of16th century. It can be roughly divided into nursery rhymes, love songs, labor songs, life songs, stories and legends songs, custom songs, exhortation songs and begging songs.

Nursery rhymes are widely spread, and almost all Minnan people will hum a few words that they learned when they were children, such as "Moon and Moon, Deciding on Nakata", or "Inviting a gentleman to have onions, inviting him to have vegetables, inviting him to have a soup cycle (boiling water means excitement), and inviting him to have wonderful rice noodles", which is full of children's imagination and interest in the East. Representative nursery rhymes include Jie Roger, Shake the Boy, Cao Meng Gong, People Arrange Flowers and You Insert Grass, Strike Gong while the Iron is Hot, Longan Dry, and A Piece of Copper in the Sky. Love songs account for a relatively small proportion in folk songs, with less joy and more sadness. The famous ones are Looking for Brother to Steal, Throwing Copper, Watching Cow Songs, Singing for a Long Time, Writing for Tian Ge, Sailing for a Ship, Singing for a Fan, Autumn Wind in September and so on.

Folk story songs that are widely sung include Chen Sanwu Niang, Shan Bo Ying Tai, Meng Jiangnv and so on. During the Japanese occupation, the famous folk songs were Dark, Looking at the Spring Breeze, The Lost Copper Boy, Bai Mudan, Heartbroken, rainy night flower, Mending the Broken Net and so on, all of which expressed the sufferings of Taiwan compatriots.

At present, in Taiwan Province Province, folk songs are still a popular way to express feelings.