Minister Yiong recalled that, when he was a college student, Chiu’s hit song “It’s Tonight (就在今夜)” was sweeping the campus in the 1980s. Yiong’s first contact with Chiu was in 1988, when Yiong was the executive editor of “Hakka Affairs Monthly Magazine (客家風雲雜誌)” and participated in the preparation work of the Dec. 28 “Return Our Mother Tongue” march, a campaign for which Chiu wrote a song.
Born in 1949 in Taichung’s Dongshi Township (now Dognshi District), Chiu Chen, whose real name is Chiu Hsien-jung (邱憲榮), created many popular campus folk songs when he was in college. After he graduated from National Chengchi University with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Chiu worked at a newspaper. Later, he quit his job and formed a rock band called “Chiu Chiu (丘丘合唱團)” in 1981. In addition to “It’s Tonight,” Chiu’s representative works include “Little Jasmine (小茉莉),” “The Wind Tells Me Something (風告訴我),” and “Why I’ve a Dream of Him (為何夢見他).”
Chiu moved back to his hometown after the Sept. 21, 1999 Earthquake which severely devastated the Hakka settlement, putting in considerable effort to rebuild the place where he was born. During that time, Chiu wrote the song “Love Story of Long’an Bridge (龍安橋之戀)” in his mother tongue—the Dapu-accented Hakka language—for his beloved hometown.
To pay tribute to the music luminary, HAC will give Chiu the Hakka Affairs Professional Medal and certificate as a posthumous commendation for his dedication to Hakka language and culture.