Symbols and Melodies: Transnational Displacement, Cultural Metaphors, and Identity Construction in Lo Ta-yu’s “Orphan of Asia”

Abstract

Lo Ta-yu’s 1983 song “Orphan of Asia” has long circulated as a cultural text through which Taiwan’s histories of colonialism, authoritarianism, displacement, and contested political recognition can be heard. This article asks how the song uses lyrical metaphor and musical arrangement to bring political non-recognition, historical displacement, and cultural belonging into relation across distinct historical contexts. Using a qualitative interpretive approach, it combines close reading of lyrics and recorded sound with historical contextualization and analysis of the song’s later circulation. The article argues that the orphan metaphor remains productive precisely because it can travel among different histories while preserving their historical specificity. Its racialized color imagery connects bodily difference to Cold War politics and authoritarian memory, while the recording’s triple meter, changing vocal forces, military-style percussion, suona, repetition, and fading texture make unresolved belonging audible. By distinguishing political non-recognition from cultural identification, the article shows how popular music can mediate competing histories, memories, and attachments through an open-ended language of belonging.