Chinese Name: 賴碧霞
Born: October 31, 1932
Died: January 18, 2015
Birthplace: Hsinchu County (Northern Taiwan)

Lai Pi-hsia was a famous female Hakka mountain song and folk song singer. She was proficient in the Hakka and Minnan dialects, as well as Japanese, and even knew a little Atayal language. Lai had spent decades researching Hakka folk songs and was committed to preserving and promoting this traditional culture. Due to her outstanding achievements in this area, she won numerous awards including Golden Melody Awards, Hakka Contribution Award, and the National Award for Arts.

Lai grew up in the deep mountains near Shijialu in Wufeng Township, Hsinchu County, where the Atayal indigenous tribal people lived. When she reached the age of attending school, Lai had to live with her maternal grandmother on the plains of eastern Hsinchu because there was no school in the mountains. She only returned to her home in the mountains during winter and summer vacations.

One day on a journey back to the mountains to spend her vacation, Lai accidentally heard the workers humming mountain songs while they worked. For Lai, who was only familiar with Japanese and the Atayal language, it was the first time she heard songs that belonged to her native Hakka and culture. She felt that the lyrics were easy to understand, the rhythm beautiful, and there was an indescribable intimacy in the songs, so she became determined to understand them.

Ever since she was a child, Lai liked to sing and was gifted in singing. When she was 12 years old, her Japanese music teacher discovered her musical genius and helped her become an outstanding vocalist. The music teacher actively lobbied for her parents’ consent to let her take Lai to Japan for further studies and offered full financial support to groom her. Though Lai had to give up the opportunity to go to Japan due to her father’s firm opposition, the foundation laid by the Japanese teacher opened the way for her later music career.

At the age of 19, Lai learned to sing mountain songs from the hu qin (Chinese string instrument) master Guan Lo-cheng (官羅成) and learned to sing tea-picking drama songs from Lai Ting-han (賴廷漢). After she became a radio station presenter, she learned the singing method of Su Wan-song (蘇萬松) as well as various performers.

When Lai was 22, Morinaga milk came to Taiwan in early 1954, soliciting advertisement announcers who would promote the product from loudspeakers while traveling in a vehicle all over Taiwan. Lai was proficient in Mandarin, Minnan, Hakka and Japanese, which helped her easily get the job. She became the most famous advertisement announcer for the milk brand. Later, she also served as an advertising broadcast spokesperson for "Weiwang MSG."

A year later, Lai was employed on several radio stations as a producer and presenter, and performed Hakka ballads on her programs. Afterwards, she also began compiling some mimes, xiangsheng (a traditional Chinese comedic performing arts also known as crosstalk), and quanshan (dramas that persuade people to be good). The lyrics consist mainly of mountain songs and songs in a minor key. The content is based on current life events, and the songs were integrated into films such as movies and tea-picking dramas.

While recording records and writing drama scripts, Lai also completed the only Hakka-based movie at the time - “The Love Song of Tea Mountain (茶山情歌)” as well as the drama “Zhao Wu Niang (趙五娘)” which was sung by Lai.

After retiring in 1971, she set about organizing, classifying, and archiving Hakka songs collected in the past. She also offered free Hakka ballads singing classes and established the "Pi-Hsia Local Hakka Folk Theatre Troupe" in 1994 as a way to preserve Hakka culture.