Chinese Name: 陳英
Date of Birth: 1933
Place of Birth: Hengchun Township, Pingtung County
Did You Know?
In 2015, Hengchun Folk Festival (恆春民謠節) hosted an event entitled "A Thousand Voices, A Yueqin Ensemble," setting a Guinness World Record for the most people singing and playing yueqin at once. Chen Ying, a skilled interpreter of the six main kinds of folk songs in Hengchun, served as the lead singer for this event. When she sings, Chen sings with the voice of Hengchun, weaving appealing tales to the simple accompaniment of the traditional yueqin. In 2020, she was honored by being named a Preserver of an Important Traditional Performing Art by the Ministry of Culture.
Chen Ying’s father was a good friend of Chen Da (陳達), an icon in the world of Hengchun folk songs and known as an "unmanufactured poet-minstrel" and "gem of Taiwanese folk music," she had the good fortune to often hear Chen Da singing in her home during her childhood, and she herself began learning to sing folk songs at the age of 18. In her early years, she was busy with farm work and housework, and only sang with her partners at work, when she was homesick, and when she was sad. Singing folk songs served as a way for her to let her emotions out. When she was in her 60s, she began learning yueqin from artist Xu Tian (許天), as well as taking guidance from veterans such as Zhang Xin-chuan (張新傳) and Zhang Wen-jie (張文傑), helping her explore her interest and tell her story through folk music. Hengchun folk songs have free rhythms and long melodies. With Chen Ying's singing, the music is always rich and powerful.
Chen Ying was born in 1933 and received a Japanese education from an early age until sixth grade, when air raids on Hengchun as part of the Pacific Theater of World War II interrupted her studies. After that, she did not continue her education, leaving her illiterate. However, this did nothing to dull her love for folk songs. On the contrary, Chen Ying, who is good at compiling lyrics, can sing both long narrative tales and short impromptu works. She can paint pictures of scenery, love, and enlightenment thanks to the hundreds of lyrics she has stored in her head. After winning many awards in competitions, Chen Ying realized that she was quite talented at playing yueqin and singing, and through constant practice, she became a folk artist with skills across areas like folk education, promotion, playing, singing, interpretation, and creating.
She has spared no effort in keeping Hengchun's ancient folk music alive and pass it on to future generations. In addition to getting involved with temple fairs, community activities, and teaching at schools, she also participates in the Hengchun Folk Promotion Association (思想起民謠促進會) and Taiwan Hengchun Folk Songs Singing Club. She has toured Taiwan with her performances, participating in the stage show "The Chants of Motherland Sagas (半島風聲相放伴)" at the Pingtung Peninsula Folk Festival (屏東半島歌謠祭), working with the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra, and even leading a group to Chicago and to perform at the Yamagata Hanagasa Festival in Japan. Chen was even invited by the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in the UK to perform online, so that the world could hear her classic Hengchun folk songs.
In 2019, Chen Ying won the Art Education Contribution Award from the Ministry of Education, and the following year, she was registered by the Ministry of Culture as a Preserver of an Important Traditional Performing Art for her efforts to keep Hengchun folk music alive. This also made her the peninsula's third "living national treasure." Chen Ying insists on singing of the joys and vicissitudes of life through thousands of songs, passing on the ancient tunes of Hengchun and playing the yueqin. She has said that her wish is to take things even further so that everyone can have the chance to hear traditional yueqin music, because traditional yueqin and folk songs are the most representative voices of Hengchun.
The Hengchun Peninsula, surrounded on three sides by the ocean, is located in the far south of Taiwan. In the past, it has played home to many indigenous peoples, including the Paiwan, Amis, Pinuyumayan, and various lowlands peoples. In the late 19th century, the Chinese Qing government formally established Hengchun County, giving it its name for its "eternal spring" (heng chun) climate year-round. People began to immigrate there to claim farmland, and a distinctive folk culture began to develop.
The folk songs of Hengchun are rich in the people's deep emotional connection to the land and in their shared memories of their home, recording the thoughts and feelings of the ordinary folk. Because Hengchun’s residents are a combination of Hoklo, Hakka, and Indigenous peoples, these songs are characterized by a particularly multicultural flavor, and their lyrics and tunes reflect the lives of their ancestors, often revealing feelings of helplessness and hardship. All of this combines to make the folk music of Hengchun unique.