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Something about the Plain Faced Rhymes

Fang Wenshan, also known as Vincent Fang, is a young Taiwanese rhythm and blues (R&B) lyricist who has written more than 160 songs and who has won many best lyricist awards during the past eight years. His latest hit, “Chrysanthemum Flower Bed” (“Juhua tai”), is the end credit’s song for director Zhang Yimou’s movie Curse of the Golden Flower. While the movie is seeking critical acclaim, the song has become popular.

The lines: “Who is in the attic / The ice-cold hopelessness / The deathly pale curved moon / Hooked to the past / The dream / Is in the distance / Changes into a trace of fragrance / With the wind dispersing / Your appearance” epitomize Fang’s style, which combines traditional Chinese scenes such as standing on a high promontory waiting for a moonrise, with feelings and emotions of present day young people.

Fang’s new book, Something about the Plain-Faced Rhymes, is a collection of 106 of his poems. Something about Plain-Faced Rhymes, according to Fang, is written in a treasured style that he often uses.

In traditional Chinese, a “plain face” means a clean face without any make-up. Fang uses its symbolic meaning to stand for pure Chinese characters. All his poems are written in Chinese characters only, with no punctuation, numbers, figures, foreign words, graphics, logos or anything that might compromise or decorate the purity of Chinese. He calls his poems plain-faced Chinese characters, all natural materials that need no make-up or additives.

The book has been greatly recommended by many singers for its strong rhymes. “Being an R&B lyricist,” writes the author, “I am no doubt affected by lyrical structures and insist on the rhymes of reading when I write poems.” The poems in the book are about love, but they are also expressions of musical ideas and writing passions.

“The emotion beyond poetry can certainly be organized gracefully.”