Unusual Popularity of Chinese Song Reflects Deep Public Discontent in China: Experts

A Chinese woman wears a protective mask as she walks in a nearly empty and shuttered commercial street in Beijing, China, on Feb. 7, 2020. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

Chinese singer-songwriter Daolang’s new song “Raksha Haishi” has suddenly became a global sensation, after he had faded from the public consciousness in recent years. China observers have pointed out that the fast-growing popularity of the song is due to the social critique coded into the song’s lyrics, which resonates with many people in China. The commentators believe that the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) not banning it—for now, at least—is a ploy to shift people’s focus from its current scandals.

The song was played more than 8 billion times on streaming platforms globally in the last ten days of July, setting a new world record—and the number is still growing fast.

The interpretation of the deeper meaning of the lyrics and the discussion of Daolang’s ups and downs in the Chinese music scene have become hot topics on Chinese social media.

Combining Traditional Chinese Stories, Folk Tunes, and Pop Music

The song Raksha Haishi is one of the 11 songs in Daolang’s new album “Folk Songs Liaozhai“ released on July 19. He wrote all of the songs—both the music and the lyrics. The song titles and lyrics on the album are inspired by Qing Dynasty Chinese novelist Pu Songling’s representative works ”Strange Tales from Liaozhai Studio” (commonly known as “Liaozhai”). Pu is one of the most famous writers in Chinese history.

The tale of Raksha Haishi in Pu’s collection Liaozhai tells the story of Ma Ji, the handsome and talented son of a merchant, who goes to do business in a small, far-away overseas kingdom called Raksha, where beauty and ugliness are reversed. The more ferocious and weird, the more beautiful, glorious, and rich it is considered in Raksha; while the beautiful and skillful is regarded as inferior, and is suppressed and thrust to the bottom of society.

An illustration of the story of Raksha Haishi. Public domain

Ma is considered a monster by the residents in Raksha, so he puts on an ugly mask to fit in, and achieves success. But soon he gets tired of pretending and goes to Haishi, the Sea God’s kingdom at the bottom of the ocean, where real beauty and talents are recognized and respected. He finds success and happiness as who he really is, and marries the Sea God’s daughter, who bears him two children. However, his happiness only lasts for a couple of years until he has to return home, never again to return to Haishi. The word “Haishi” also means “mirage” in Chinese.

Daolang [which means “Sword Man” in Chinese] has kept the main plot and the characters in the original story, while adding new creatures to it, using allusions and analogies in half classical and half vernacular language to satirize and criticize present issues in Chinese society, and to question the human condition. It is resonating with many fans around the globe, and has attracted a lot of attention from the public.

Alice Weidel, the leader of the Alternative for Germany political party, learned Chinese for 6 years as a doctoral student. Ms Weidel even played the song in the German parliament, and commented that “Raksha Haishi“ is a satirical song full of wit and wisdom—and could be applied to German society as well.

In the album’s introduction, it’s written that: “The theme and concept of this album combine Liaozhai texts and folk tunes after ‘Tanci Huaben’ [Daolang’s earlier album, released in 2020]. This series attempts to build a music ecology where popular music and traditional folk culture can co-exist and grow together.”

The melodies of the songs in the album are based on folk tunes from western and central China, mixed with elements of pop, rock, and jazz, and are quite catchy and unique.

Social Critique

The song has not only performed amazingly well on online music streaming platforms, but has also become a hot topic on social media, with a huge number of posts to discuss, interpret, and comment on its social references and significance.

Some of the most talked about allusions are the ruling creatures, all animals, in Raksha kingdom—which are believed to refer to the “big four,” or the 4 most influential pop singers in the mainland Chinese music industry. The big four are backed by state institutions and propaganda organizations, and monopolize the music scene. The song also satirizes the ugly and corrupt music and entertainment industry, which is controlled by the communist regime in mainland China.

The songs also stem from Daolang’s own experience as an independent grassroots musician. In 2004, Daolang released his first album “The First Snow in 2002,” which incorporated Uyghur music and central Asian tunes with pop music. It made him a household name in the country, with sales volumes of 2.7 million genuine copies and tens of millions of pirated copies surpassing mainstream singers supported by the state.

However, his talent and success were ridiculed and suppressed by “authoritative figures” in the Chinese music industry, such as the “big four” alluded to in his song. He was even publicly named and criticized at the 2007 symposium on “Resisting the Vulgarity of Online Songs” held by the state-backed Chinese music industry. He had virtually disappeared from the mainstream music scene in China for almost 20 years.

A visitor stands in Taklamakan Desert near Yutian county, Xinjiang Region, China on Oct. 12, 2006. Guang Niu/Getty Images

The Epoch Times columnist Jin Yan wrote on Aug. 1: “Daolang uses pop music to interpret ancient novels and classics to comment on the real phenomenon of today’s Chinese society, and thus to be a voice for countless ordinary people. His art rises to the level of philosophy, using metaphors to denounce the fake, the evil, and the ugly, and to pursue truth, goodness and beauty!”

Some netizens pointed out that in the lyrics, the direction was altered from “west” to “east,” as in the line “26,000 li east of the Raksha Kingdom”—which clearly points to mainland China.

One netizen posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Everyone knows where the Raksha Kingdom refers to, where black and white are reversed, where ugliness is considered beautiful, and mice are regarded as ducks [referring to recent news of a mouse head found in food served in a Chinese school cafeteria—whereupon the staff claimed it was part of a duck]. It has torn off the ‘painted skin’ [a disguise to look like human beings, a reference from Liaozhai] worn by the party state’s demons and ghosts!”

Distraction From CCP’s Recent Scandals

Mr. Li, a mainland intellectual who declined to give his full name for safety reasons, told The Epoch Times on July 30 that this “Raksha Haishi” phenomenon is a concentrated outbreak of the Chinese people’s deep dissatisfaction with reality, “because there have been too many things that have been reversed in terms of right and wrong in recent years and that have accumulated over the past few decades—especially the regime’s draconian three-year COVID-19 restrictions. Many disasters continue to happen, and the government tries to cover up as much as possible, while accusing the common people of spreading rumors. Everything is for maintaining the regime’s stability. Against this background, many people can see that the song is actually a kind of satire [of Chinese society] on a larger scale.”

Wu Zuolai, a Chinese writer based in the United States, said that whether this song will be banned by the regime depends on whether someone will bring it to the political level. “For example, those who were indirectly criticized by him in the song, if they complain to the related governmental departments, or if it turns into a force of opposition against the government, the authorities may ban it,” Mr. Wu said.

Chinese state media CCTV and “Beijing News” have, unusually, praised Daolang and “Raksha Haishi” recently.

Wu said that the CCP’s propaganda department was happy to see the popularity of the song, “because Foreign Minister Qin Gang was removed recently and is missing, and rumors of corruption in China’s Rocket Force leadership are rampant. The authorities are trying to shift the public focus from these scandals, and the popularity of “Raksha Haishi“ has saved them. The Propaganda Department of the CCP has now even turned a blind eye to the satirical lyrics, and decided not to ban it. They might even encourage more clicks of the song for the sensation, in order to continue to replace the focus on the CCP’s scandals.”

Ning Haizhong and Luo Ya contributed to this report.