Day after day, the eyes of the whole world are turned towards the Atlanta Olympic Games, where athletes of every nation are competing together to be the best in world, while also celebrating of the centenary of the modern Olympiad. This should have been the world's most joyous event of the year, but from the very moment the games opened they have been marred by a series of unfortunate incidents. First, there was the deadly bomb attack at the Olympic Centennial Park, the perpetrators of which are still at large. Then police at an Olympic venue arrested, and may prosecute, two students from Taiwan who were waving ROC flags while cheering on our table tennis player Chen Jing. This incident aroused public indignation in Taiwan, and the ROC government has intervened in the hope of procuring a reasonable outcome.
These events stand in ironic contrast to the music of an Olympic promotional video clip which not long before had attracted much attention in Taiwan, and which before the formal opening of the Olympic Games was heard in all the countries of the IOC, and constantly broadcast in TV sports programs in the runup to the games-the "Song of Joy," sung by Ami aboriginals from Taiwan. With politics rearing its head on the pure soil of sport in such blatant and violent fashion, our much-bemoaned failure to "strike gold" in Atlanta does not seem so important, for what we should really hope for is the sound development of sport for the whole nation, and improvement in our citizens' physical health, rather than just the highly concentrated training of a few natural talents to win medals in the international sporting arena.
In fact the reason for the choice, from among several other "spiritual, timeless" pieces of music, of the best-selling "Return to Innocence" (made from "Song of Joy" by the British pop group Enigma) for the Olympic promotional clip was very subjective-the title and the natural, soaring voices of the original singers Difag (Kuo Ying-nan) and Igay (Kuo Hsiu-chu) were simply felt to match the majestic Olympic spirit of fair play, peace and unity. But regrettably, the owners of these moving voices, which seem to spring from the depths of souls in harmony with nature, were not informed, and naturally received no remuneration whatsoever. In fact the IOC itself was not to blame-the committee is very concerned to protect copyrights, and to enable the media in Taiwan to use the Olympic centenary logo without difficulty, it arranged for lawyers in Taipei to handle related matters. Furthermore, as a non-profit organization, the IOC does not make any charge for usage rights. But just how was it that Difag's and Igay's voices came to be used repeatedly for commercial gain? Just what rights do Difag and Igay have? And how should we view the whole affair?
This affair also throws up another issue worth pondering. "Song of Joy" is a song of the Ami tribe of Taitung County which is sung in their leisure hours or at social gatherings. It has been passed down through many generations, but can also be sung with all kinds of improvisations. When such singing, full of warmth and romance, runs up against the rules laid down by mainstream commercial culture, one simply doesn't know how to respond. Is this not also a reflection of the condition of aboriginal culture in Taiwan today? Although aboriginal culture has attracted the attention of mainstream culture in various ways, and there are many cultural workers striving to record and disseminate it in written form and through the audio-visual media, the real conditions for aborigines' ethnic survival and development in terms of living standards, education and employment still give little cause for optimism.
In this rich and diverse world, all kinds of different cultures can observe and learn from each other, and the disappearance of any one is a tragedy and irreparable loss for the whole human race. In particular, the cultures of Taiwan's aboriginal peoples were born of the island's special geographical environment. The cultures of the Pingpu (plains) aborigines are already little more than distant memories, but through the efforts of tribe members to preserve them, and with the awakening consciousness of Han Chinese, the distinct cultures of the nine Kaoshan (mountain) tribes are vibrant. To do our best to understand and appreciate different cultures, whichever community they belong to, and thus to support the individuals and groups involved in this work, should be the least we can do. This is also the reason why we quickly compiled this cover story, after feeling on the one hand proud that the sound of Ami singing had risen up over the Olympic Games, but on the other hand bewildered and resentful over the question of Difag and Igay's intellectual property rights. When the affair was first reported in the newspapers, our senior writer Jackie Chen, who wrote our cover story, immediately asked: "What can we do for them? Write letters of support? Donate money for them to hire a lawyer?" I am sure that in this feature we can not only see the full story of this affair and the beauty of the culture expressed in "Song of Joy," but also the concern and sympathy of the writer.
Of course, there are many other subjects of concern which we touch upon in this month's issue. In the story of the Taiwan yew we can see the changing environment of our high mountain areas, and the hard work of silviculturists and biochemists; in the restoration of Paoankung Temple, we can see the cohesion of a community and the vision and spirit of the main instigators of the project; in the National Award given to the founder of Biographical Literature, we can see the dedication of someone who has worked unstintingly for decades to preserve and popularize history; and in our story on the prevalence of birth by Cesarean section in Taiwan, we can see an expression of the conflict in our society between traditional values and modern technology.
Also, in the second month after the change in Sinorama's format, we are still feeling our way forward, and hope that readers will not hesitate to write with opinions and suggestions to help us together create a magazine which belongs to us all.
