In 1979, he worked in Yunnan, a southwestern Province of China bordering Vietnam, when he heard radio Australia for the first time in his life.
One night, the 17-year-old was on night shift when he suddenly saw a group of his co-workers fiddling with radio equipment in the back of a truck. His first thought was that his colleagues might be deciphering enemy signals, but as he approached, he realized that everyone was listening to the radio program. The radio station listened to was Radio Australia International, which at that time was identified as an "enemy station". "During that time, the so-called enemy stations included almost all the stations outside China's territory, the largest of which were the US VOA, the Taiwan Province VFC and Australia Radio International," he said. ”
Because he was very talented in art, he was selected by the company to work as a secretary. On weekdays, in addition to drawing some propaganda posters, he was also responsible for taking care of the apparatus and communication equipment such as radios, which was a special privilege.
He was not entitled to use the equipment he cared for and was afraid of breaking the rules, but his curiosity grew as he watched his boss listen to Radio Australia.
One night, alone in the house, he turned on the radio. Due to the adjacent frequency interference, it took a while for him to find the correct frequency. At that moment, he suddenly heard Radio Australia and heard that life-changing song. He said: "The radio station is playing Teresa Teresa's 'The Moon Represents My Heart', and we only learned that there is this kind of music in the world. ”
In the 1970s, Teresa was very popular in Taiwan Province, Japan and Southeast Asia, but her songs were banned in Chinese mainland because they were all mesmerizing. At that time, many people were listening to her songs in private, but he went a step further.
Infected by the music, he used a recorder to record almost every song of Teresa Teresa. On a Mid-Autumn Festival night, he played his privately recorded tapes in public for the first time. He said: "A lot of my colleagues have just left work and are very homesick. The company slaughtered a pig and prepared good wine for us, but everyone looked depressed and troubled. The company leaders enlivened us and asked me if I could get everyone to sing a few revolutionary songs together, but I thought that wouldn't help. So, I suggested playing Teresa's song, but the leader refused. I said aloud to the leader, 'If something goes wrong, it's my fault and has nothing to do with you', so the leader agreed."
As soon as the music came out, everyone was instantly quiet, and when the song "The Moon Represents My Heart" was played, all my colleagues sang along. He said: "Some people wept, some people really cried. Many years later, whenever I talked to my friends about it, we felt that people at that time were too stressed, and once they found a way to vent, emotions gushed out."
Many elderly radio enthusiasts have mentioned that they are in the bed at night, sneaking to listen to Teresa Teng's songs, and the soft whispers and song swallows seem to soften the bones. Dear readers, have you ever had a similar experience? Please leave a comment in the comments section!
Text: Kai Feng Translation: Radio Commentary Translation Source: abc.net.au