Farewell to Zheng Huajuan with tears

Zheng Huajuan (1963-2024) passed away in Germany. When I received the news, I was heartbroken and in disbelief.

When I met Hua Juan, I was still a college student. At that time, she and American Tim (Cunningham) co-hosted the evening "Music Box" program of "China Broadcasting Youth Network", which was extremely popular. Those DJs were all young people in their twenties and thirties, full of energy and ideas. My mother, Tao Xiaoqing, was the director of the radio station and was only in her forties. She was like a class teacher with a group of naughty kids. We all had a good relationship and often played together. I, a little kid, also joined in a lot of fun. Hua Juan sometimes comes to my house to chat and drink tea. Her witty words are like pearls, her hahaha laughter is as bright and crisp as her singing voice, and her smart eyes move around when she tells stories. Gee, if she had been born ten years earlier, I would have wanted to pursue her.

In 1996, my mother and I traveled to France, where we met Hua Juan and her old husband. Hua Juan is the best travel companion. Her enthusiasm, cheerfulness and curiosity can always infect everyone. Looking back on that trip, there are always scenes of everyone laughing. She repeatedly invited us to go to Germany to play with her. Later, every time we thought of Germany, we thought of Huajuan there. We might go to see her one day, but we never did.

The last time we met was in 2018, when Hua Juan returned to Taiwan for the New Year, and I asked her to record an in-depth radio interview. She invited me to visit Yangmingshan first, where I ate at a restaurant and drank her coffee at her home (she is a Viennese barista with the highest professional license), and then went to the radio station to record. I also met her mother and sister that day, and everyone was very happy. Who knew that within a few years, my mother died of illness, my sister died in a car accident, and now she is gone too. The old house, which had been restored with great effort and had a beautiful garden, lost its owner again.

That was the most profound and profound meeting I had with Hua Juan, and I got to know her serious side - she was extremely knowledgeable when talking in private (once she decided to devote herself to something, she would never delve into it to the extreme). Never give up), criticizing public affairs and social phenomena sharply and relentlessly. Regarding many things in the world, she has a stubborn and unchallengeable bottom line. I would even describe this part of her as "severe".

Therefore, her most impressive talent may be the balance between rationality and sensibility - Hua Juan's songs are not only uniquely poetic, but also have a kind of intellectual transparency.

She is a classical major, specializing in cello. She is conscious of the structure and layout of her music compositions, but she also goes out of her way from time to time to write songs without chorus riffs, or melodies that do not follow the rules but are incredibly beautiful. . She writes lyrics with clear narrative rhythms and layers, and the twists and turns of the plot and thoughts are hidden in the flowing sentences, which are delicate and full of aftertaste. She is one of the rare professional composers in the contemporary Chinese pop music circle who can handle both lyrics and music. Guangwang According to statistics from music fans on the road, there are nearly 300 works, and the actual number is definitely more than that. But numbers are nothing. Her works are classic and exquisite, which is really astonishing.

But she is not at all complacent with her past works. On the contrary: during that meeting, she said that she was studying jazz piano with a young musician who had played Bach since childhood, and was re-constructing her musical cognition. She said calmly: Listening to the songs she wrote before again, "I don't think it's interesting."

Wait a minute, she said "it's not interesting", it's Sylvia Chang's "The Box" and "747 Flying to a Foreign Land", Pan Yueyun's "Thank You for Loving Me Once" and "The Road of Love", Chen Shuhua's "Smart Confused Heart" and " "Girl in the City", Zheng Yi "Paradise", Youke Li Lin "Youth Travel", Lin Zhixuan "Mona Lisa's Tears", Su Huilun "Girl in Love with Birds", Zhang Qingfang "California Sunshine" and "Men's Talk", Jiang Hui's "Come Back to Ruan" and "The Gloom of the Falling Rain", Wan Fang's "Childlike" and "Slow Train", Karen Mok's "Single Room with Double Bed"... I played the demo version of "Youth Travel" that I cherished so much, which she played and sang in her kitchen. She was moved, but she said, "Do I have to play the whole song? The lyrics are written in a long and elegant way, and they are really too literary. Hahaha."

For her, pop music is probably not a life-or-death career. If you like to write and sing, and many people like to listen to it, that’s fine. After all, there are still many things worth pursuing in life.

If I were asked to use one word to describe Zheng Huajuan's song, it could only be "ice and snow smart". At the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, the pop music scene was often colorful and noisy, but she rarely wrote sentimental, life-or-death tragic love songs. Even if she sings about sadness and loss, she can always make you feel that you will eventually find a bright place to go. She loves traveling and is always looking around with curious eyes. There are too many interesting things in the world, and there is no time to feel sorry for yourself. So listening to her songs is like being in a road movie. She tells you in various ways: Go on the road, see with your own eyes, and use your own body and heart to welcome joy and pain. Even if you get hurt, don't be afraid. Those pains, like happiness, are gifts of growth.

Her songs gave many girls, like her, the courage to go on a road trip in the early days of national tourism. At a time when society still had many stereotypes and restrictions on female roles, they dared to listen to their inner voices and move towards a broader world. While listening to Hua Juan's song, they picked up their bags and got on a 747 flying to a foreign land. In their suitcases, there may be a Datong electric cooker and a tape of "Flying Solo to the End of the World" - they are indispensable companions when they are homesick.

How many years have passed, that song of youth is still deeply imprinted in my mind:

Waiting is for reunion. The dreams of the past and the future turn into a beautiful rainbow at the end of the horizon.

(Written to "Financial News")