Summer Tide Magazine Founded

Source: Hsia Chao
From: Encyclopedia of Taiwan
Date: September 24, 2009Author: Chang Li-hsuan

A critical journal that proclaimed itself “rural, social, and literary.” Hsia Chao (Summer Tide) magazine was founded on February 28, 1976, with Cheng Han-min as publisher. After the fourth issue in July of that year, Su Ching-li took over as editor-in-chief and relaunched the magazine, steering its content toward anti-imperialism, anti-capitalism, and opposition to the established historical and educational culture — launching a left-wing intellectual discourse movement. Committed to nationalism and critical of imperialism and modernism, the journal expanded its scope of discussion from literature and the arts to society, economics, and history. It ran for thirty-five issues before being banned and shut down by the Taiwan Garrison Command in February 1979. Some members — Su Ching-li, Chen Ku-ying, Wang To, and Huang Shun-hsing — subsequently joined the staff of Formosa magazine, launched in August 1979.

Pop music scholar Chang Chao-wei noted in his book Who Is Over There Singing Their Own Songs that in the discourse surrounding the 1970s folk song movement, Hsia Chao argued that modern folk songs should be connected to society, to social service work, and to the working class. The journal adopted a critical stance toward “academic” and “serious music” approaches to folk composition. Chang Chao-wei referred to those who held this position — commentators and folk song creators alike — as the “Tamkang–Hsia Chao line.”

 

Cover of the collected Hsia Chao volumes

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External Links

• Complete List of Hsia Chao Magazine Issues (Asia-Pacific / Cultural Studies Lab)
• The Chinese Complex in Nativist Discourse — The Nativist Literature Debate and Hsia Chao (Mountain Farming Cabin Blog)
• Hsia Chao: A Socialist Magazine (New Century Magazine)