The evolution from Mandopop to songs in diverse languages in Taiwan

Lin, Chen-Yu 2024. The evolution from Mandopop to songs in diverse languages in Taiwan. [Online]. https://taiwaninsight.org/: University of Nottingham, Taiwan Research Hub. Available at: https://taiwaninsight.org/2024/02/28/the-evolution...

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Abstract

This article examines the evolving relationship between language, politics, and popular music in Taiwan, tracing the transition from the dominance of Mandopop to the growing visibility of multilingual music production. Drawing on historical analysis of language policy, music industries, and cultural institutions, it explores how Taiwan’s democratisation reshaped the role of language in popular music after decades of Mandarin-centred cultural governance under Kuomintang rule. The article highlights how languages such as Taiyu, Hakka, and Indigenous languages, once marginalised through state policies, have increasingly gained institutional recognition through educational reforms, cultural policies, and music awards such as the Golden Melody Awards. The article further analyses how contemporary musicians and indie artists engage with multilingualism as both a cultural and industrial strategy. While Mandopop remains economically dominant within the Chinese-speaking market, emerging artists increasingly employ minority languages to articulate local identities, alternative aesthetics, and transnational aspirations. Situating Taiwan within wider global debates on minority language music and creative industries, the article argues that language choice in Taiwanese popular music is deeply entangled with questions of identity, market positioning, state support, and cultural policy. Ultimately, Taiwan demonstrates how music languages function not as neutral mediums of expression, but as politically and economically charged forms of cultural production.

Item Type:	Online Content
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Journalism, Media and Culture
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform M Music and Books on Music > M Music P Language and Literature > PL Languages and literatures of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania
Publisher:	University of Nottingham, Taiwan Research Hub
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	21 May 2026
Last Modified:	21 May 2026 09:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/187128

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