The mandopop counter-invasion

Abstract

Marc L. Moskowitz, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of South Carolina, provides valuable insight into notions of gender in Taiwan and East Asia generally, in his book `Cries of Joy, Songs of Sorrow: Chinese Pop Music and Its Cultural Connotations`. Moskowitz`s research for the book comprised mostly of interviews in Taipei and Shanghai of both laypeople and music industry professionals. Despite all of Shanghai`s history and contemporary modernity, Taiwanese Mandopop plays a vitally important role for the mainland`s most cosmopolitan city. Moskowitz gives a perceptive analysis of the role of pirated music in the mainland, where illegal copying can be seen as a creative act, a means to circumvent state censorship. Cries of Joy, Songs of Sorrow traces the recent history of popular music in Taiwan, but also points to the possibility of Taiwan`s further influence on the mainland in matters of culture and society.