Silenced Sunrise: Taiwan’s Music vs. The China Factor is a 30-minute documentary co-directed by Charlotte Sawyer and Chen-Yu Lin. It reveals how the Chinese government pressures popular Taiwanese musicians to succumb to its demands to downplay Taiwanese sovereignty in return for reaching huge audiences in that country.
Toronto TAIWANfest, TaiwanPlus, and Cardiff University will co-present a free screening of Silenced Sunrise at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday (August 23) in the Studio Theatre at Harbourfront Centre.
Lin is also the producer and cinematographer, as well as a researcher and lecturer in the School of Journalism, Media and Culture at Cardiff University. She comments on the film in the following Q&A with the Toronto Spark.
Toronto Spark: Why did you feel the need to make Silenced Sunrise: Taiwan’s Music vs. The China Factor? What is it about this particular point in history that makes this film so timely?
Chen-Yu Lin: I have been researching Chinese censorship and its impact on Taiwan’s musicians for some time. In recent years, the pressure has grown more visible. Musicians are not only expected to avoid sensitive topics but, in many cases, to actively declare loyalty to Chinese identities and national roots. This became particularly striking in 2024, when the case of Mayday attracted attention not only in the Chinese-speaking world but also across international media.
My interviews with music industry workers have been ongoing for more than three years, while my conversations with audiences aware of censorship date back over a decade. The film is therefore timely, reflecting not just Taiwan’s situation but also the broader global tension between authoritarian regimes and liberal democracies. These clashes play out in trade, culture, and everyday life, shaping the pressures that artists and ordinary people face.
While the geopolitical and economic stakes are significant, my focus is on the people caught in the middle. This documentary aims to capture the lived details of these struggles from the ground up. I hope it offers insights into the challenges creatives face, and the difficult decisions they must make as they navigate their careers under such conditions.
Toronto Spark: Can you take us back to the Sunflower Movement in 2014? What role did musicians play in galvanizing the movement of young people against the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement?
Chen-Yu Lin: During the 2014 Sunflower Movement, music played a vital role in the protests both inside and outside the Legislative Yuan, which was occupied for 23 days. Performances spanned multiple genres, from the Anti-Nuclear Electronic Music Front to live shows featuring artists such as Kou Chou Ching, Lin Sheng-xiang, and Chen Ming-chang. Fire EX.’s “Island’s Sunrise” emerged as the anthem of the movement, symbolizing hope and resistance.
Musicians across genres expressed their support, but this solidarity also carried risks. In the years that followed, some artists reportedly saw their concerts or activities in China cancelled, allegedly due to their public expressions of support for the movement on social media.
Fire EX.’s “Island’s Sunrise” became the Sunflower Movement’s anthem.
Toronto Spark: Some think that the Sunflower Movement laid the foundation for the election of DPP president Tsai Ing-wen in 2016. When it comes to Taiwanese arts and culture, what has been China’s response?
Chen-Yu Lin: Compared to earlier times, the pressure on artists performing or releasing music in the Chinese market has clearly intensified. Applications for concerts or tours must now pass approval by local authorities, and artists face stricter scrutiny. Lyrics are examined line by line, and social media profiles are carefully checked. These processes—and the uncertainties they create—bring significant risks, often pushing artists toward deeper self-censorship.
The rise of streaming platforms, alongside the decline of online piracy in China, has also reshaped the dynamics of censorship. Today, musicians and producers can be blacklisted directly by platforms, with their work detected and removed almost automatically. Several such cases have already been reported. In addition, artists are increasingly expected to demonstrate loyalty not just to the market but to the nation itself.
Together, these developments highlight the growing control over cultural production and the shifting red lines that define what is permissible.
Toronto Spark: How have the biggest Taiwanese music acts, like Mayday and Jolin Tsai, responded to pressure from Beijing?
Chen-Yu Lin: As shown in the film, both artists expressed associations with Chinese culture or identity in indirect ways. Even so, these gestures sparked criticism—particularly in the case of Mayday, whose earlier image as a Taiwanese Hokkien-singing band was widely seen as pro-Taiwan.
Toronto Spark: Why did you focus so much attention on Fire EX. in your film?
Chen-Yu Lin: Director Charlotte Sawyer and I wanted to trace the journey of “Island’s Sunrise”—a song born out of the movement, later banned in China, and one that shaped the career trajectory of its band Fire EX. A decade on, the song resurfaced on the streets as an anthem for another protest.
Through this story, we aimed to explore how censorship impacts musicians from different backgrounds, and how one song can carry a “life and afterlife” that continues to resonate. To me, this makes “Island’s Sunrise” a particularly compelling case to follow. Through the journey of the song, we also follow the paths of musicians who went to work in China—a theme brought to life in the animated section of the film.
Toronto Spark: We’re seeing more Taiwanese musicians singing in Hokkien, Hakka, and Indigenous languages. What does this tell you about the music scene in Taiwan?
Chen-Yu Lin: The music scenes in Taiwan are becoming increasingly diverse, both linguistically and stylistically. This shift is not only driven by the rise of independent music practices but also by changes in Taiwan’s language and cultural policies. More grants have been made available at both central and local government levels to support music production in Taiwanese Hokkien, Hakka, and Indigenous languages. This policy shift is also reflected in the evolving categories of the Golden Melody Awards, presented by the Ministry of Culture. Clearly, policymakers have played an active role in shaping this changing musical landscape.
Toronto Spark: Authoritarianism is on the rise in many countries, including the United States. Many Canadian musicians perform in the United States. What lessons can these Canadian musicians draw from your film?
Chen-Yu Lin: This question is truly close to my heart—it touches on how political and economic pressures weigh on creatives and cultural workers. As shown in the film, I am deeply aware that many artists face challenges of a similar nature.
Many of us are fortunate to have been born, raised, and able to build our careers in liberal democracies where certain freedoms are protected. We may not live with the daily fear of persecution or suppression that many others endure. Yet powerful markets such as the United States and China still exert significant control over artistic careers far beyond their borders.
When we talk about censorship and control, we need to move beyond the traditional top-down model—where the state acts directly on its own citizens—and recognize a far more subtle and complex system. It is one embedded in transnational economic and cultural flows, deeply shaped by geopolitics.
The freedoms available to Taiwanese and Canadian artists, for example, are often compromised and complex, inevitably shaping what can and cannot be expressed artistically. My hope is that the film will encourage academics, artists, and organizations to speak out together—to exchange ideas, build alliances, and support one another. On one hand, we may at least help the next generation of artists better understand these complexities, preparing them to navigate such threats. On the other, by standing together as allies, perhaps we can imagine a future where artists are less reliant on restrictive markets and freer to create on their own terms.
It may be a long shot—but it is a vision worth beginning to think about now.
Toronto TAIWANfest, TaiwanPlus, and Cardiff University will co-present a free screening of Silenced Sunrise: Taiwan’s Music vs. The China Factor at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday (August 23) in the Studio Theatre at Harbourfront Centre. For more information, visit the Toronto TAIWANfest website. Learn more about the communities that make up Canada on the Toronto Spark website. Find the Toronto Spark is on Bluesky @torontospark.bsky.social.
