An Initial Exploration of the Transmission of Anciently Adapted Poems in Taiwan - Focusing on the Topic of “Poems Recorded for Mao Zedong”

This paper explores the formation and dissemination of the recordings of “Poems Recorded for Mao Zedong” from 1975, as described in the autobiographies of Yue Meiti and Cai Yaoxi. With the publication of the Kunqu Art Encyclopedia Audio-Visual Collection, scholars now have greater opportunities to personally listen to these highly pleasant poetry recordings.The “Kunqu Art Compendium Audio-Visual Collection” includes a set of recordings of lyrics and songs produced by relevant central departments for Mao Zedong. Many of the original scores were derived from the “Jiugong Dacheng Southern and Northern Ci Score” and the “Suijin Ci Score”. These recordings were performed by renowned actors such as Yue Meiti, Cai Yaoxian, and Li Yuanhua in 1975-1976. Later, Li Yuanhua and Cai Yaoxian included many of the poems and lyrics they learned at that time in their individual albums. These recordings eventually made their way through Hong Kong to Taiwan, where they were sung in university competitions under the “University Joint Poetry Recitations” from the 1980s to the early 2000s. Some pieces are still performed today, becoming classic songs passed down orally among poetry societies at various universities in Taiwan.