Taiwanese singer Chen Ying-chieh dies at 72; "Hai Hai Ren Sheng" was penned by Leslie Cheung

Taiwanese singer Chen Ying-chieh, a beloved figure in the Mandopop and Hokkien music scenes, passed away last night at the age of 72 due to illness. Her iconic songs, "Hai Hai Ren Sheng" (A Life Full of Ups and Downs) and "Feng Fei Sha" (Windblown Sand), are etched in the memories of a generation of Taiwanese people.

Interestingly, the Cantonese original of "Hai Hai Ren Sheng" was composed by the legendary Hong Kong superstar Leslie Cheung. The song was later given Hokkien lyrics by renowned lyricist Wang Xia, and Chen Ying-chieh's rendition became a massive hit across Taiwan.

Cheung's original song, "Silence is Golden," co-written with Sam Hui, conveyed a message of maintaining composure and indifference in the face of gossip. Chen Ying-chieh, however, infused it with her own life experiences. Her husky, weathered voice delivered a sense of world-weariness, particularly in the lines, "Someone loves me, but I love another; how can this debt of love be measured in wins and losses?" These lyrics seemed to mirror her own life, where a past relationship led her to sign a promissory note for a singer boyfriend who later fled abroad, leaving her to shoulder a debt of tens of millions alone. Her deep emotional attachments, it seems, burdened her throughout her life.