The Anthem of Mt. Alishan's Mysterious Origins

There are many versions of the song "Gāo Shān Qīng" (高山青) which literally means "High Green Mountain". The Taiwan Panorama website also shares this detail of the anthem of Mt. Alishan:

Though the Tsou don't actually live within the Alishan Forest Recreation Area, the CFDO had little choice but to build a cultural scene for Alishan on the basis of the old song Gao Shan Qing to satisfy visitors' imagined expectations of Alishan. The Tsou folk singing and dancing had stopped during the recent tourism downturn, but the Alishan National Scenic Area Administration held tryouts in 2008, for which the winning troupe won the opportunity to perform at the Alishan Forest Recreation Area entrance.

"Tall green mountains, deep blue waters; the girls of Alishan are lovely as the waters; the men of Alishan are strong as the mountains...": Gao Shan Qing has pretty much become the anthem of Alishan.

Gao Shan Qing was the theme song for the 1950 film Happenings in Ali Shan, the first Mandarin-language film to be produced in Taiwan. Some say the melody was adapted from a Tsou folk song, while others say it was penned by renowned composers Teng Yu-ping and Chow Laam Ping. The original singer of the song was Cheung Sai Sai, who played the heroine of the film, but it was later popularized by (the late) Teresa Teng, transforming it into a beloved classic. Many mainland Chinese people know about Alishan and Taiwan because of this song. But locals tell us that, due to the poor lighting conditions in Alishan's deep, dense forests, the film was shot in the mountain districts of Hualien and many of the actors were Amis.

Some versions of the song include aboriginal words like "Nalowanto" and "Puwasata puwasata". It's pretty much a background chanting which I enjoy. Maybe, a Malaysian, Indonesian, or an Ifugao will be able to decode it. Not me, I'm just sharing my thoughts on the anthem of Mt. Alishan. Alternatively, the song has been titled "Girl of Mt. Alishan". Alishan in itself is an aboriginal name.

I believe in the speculation that the melody came from a Tsou folk song. I want to think that somewhere in Taiwan--the natives of Mt. Alishan may have a version of the wrong purely in an aboriginal language. The song's mixture of Mandarin and aboriginal language may sound like an Ifugao song mixing Tagalog and the Ifugao dialect.

There's always the curiosity about how this song came to be. If the people of Mt. Alishan have been singing it--it's possible that the tune was theirs and used with permission for the movie. I guess I'll never be able to see the film as I want to. If it's a historical film then I'd want to grab it.

What's the Use of Complaining About Celebrities and Political Dynasties Running for Politics While DEFENDING Presidential and Rejecting Parliamentary?

2025 is just around the corner for the midterm elections . People keep emphasizing the need to "defend the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines" for any amendments whatsoever. If that were true then we really need to remove Article XVII entirely if the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines was meant to be set in stone (read here ). Several camps whether it's PDP-Laban supporters, Liberal Party of the Philippines supporters, Uniteam supporters, etc.--I can expect social media mudslinging at its finest . I keep talking about the need to amend or even replace the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines. However, they keep acting like it's the best constitution in the world, they cite Atty. Hilario G. Davide Jr. (and others like the Monsods) to idolatrous levels , and when I talk about the parliamentary system--I can expect the whole, "Boohoo! It will never work because we already tried it under Marcos! The proof was Cesar Virata!" However, I wrote a refute on that ...

The EDSA Revolution of 1986 Would've Never Happened if People were Stuck in Nostalgia

It's something that I read crybaby comments online where people are saying, "Making EDSA a special working day is making us forget the glory of EDSA." Please, let me remind people that even 10 years later , neither the late Lee Kuan Yew's birthday nor his death anniversary has become a national holiday in Singapore! Singapore simply honored LKY's birthday by working on that day. I was laughing at the toxic Facebook page called We Are Millennials. What truly made me think that these people are stuck in nostalgia is that EDSA 1986 would never have been possible if the Filipinos were stuck in nostalgia . I remember talks about how the first Marcos administration was built on these two pillars. The first pillar was information control . The other pillar was toxic positivity. I remember back in 1995 when the social studies teacher talked about how he thought that Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. was a "good president" due to the long holidays. However, the holidays ...

30 Years of Flor Contemplacion Crybabies Spreading Fake News

Liza Maza Facebook Page It's 30 years since Flor Contemplacion was executed in Singapore. My memories was how some people felt hatred for Singapore, how we were told that "Filipinos are always oppressed." in both values education and civics classes, and how Flor should be regarded as a heroine. The Buwan Ng Wika program came and Flor's execution was also highlighted in the song "Kuko Ng Agila" (Claws of the Eagle). Flor was always romanticized as innocent, a martyr, and even some decent Filipinos bought it once. However, I soon accepted Flor's execution to be what it is-- Singaporean justice . Some people are still continuing to commemorate Flor--as if she was some kind of Catholic saint or martyr. I could remember rallies year after year, commemorating Flor's "martyrdom". What was also ironic was, at that time, the Vizconde Massacre (read here ) happened and the wrong people were arrested. The public demanded the blood of Hubert Jeffry P....

[OPINION] Why Do Some Filipino Boomers Insist that the Marcos Years Were Under a "Parliamentary System"

This is a screenshot I got on Facebook. The Tweet is courtesy of Raissa Espinosa-Robles, who I hear is a marites or a gossiper. I'm not denying that there are some truths in what she said. It's true that the Marcos Years have their well-documented human rights abuses. However, Mrs. Robles still continues to insist in the myth of a parliamentary system under Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr.'s regime. It's not just Mrs. Robles but also some Filipino boomers who keep saying, "Are you crazy? We had a parliamentary system under Marcos." I could show them some evidence like Marcos' severe lack of legitimacy to disprove the parliamentary systme. I even wrote about the snap elections because Marcos was a president with powers (read here ). Under a parliamentary system, the president is purely ceremonial. The president is just a door opener and credentials receiver! Benigno Simeon A. Aquino Jr. and Salvador "Doy" Laurel both challenged the legitimacy of Marcos...

Hip Old Man Dances to Aborigine Dance "High Green Mountain"

Here's a video of an old man dancing to the Taiwanese folk song "High Green Mountain". This is one of my favorite versions. The song ends with an aboriginal chant--something that sounds like an Ifugao beat from Nueva Ecija.

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