Whispers from after the war Will tomorrow be a better day? The deafening noise of firecrackers and drums heard on August 15, 1945—the day that Japan’s colonial dominion over Taiwan ended and Taiwan returned to Chinese rule—suggest that Taiwanese then believed the answer to be yes. But did the years that followed live up to the heady optimism of that day? Taiwanese folk songs such as “Mending a Broken Net,” “Come Back Soon” and “Autumn Winds, Evening Rains” indicate otherwise. Taiwanese songs from the post-war period are frequently laments, perhaps reflecting the frustrated hopes of the composers. The melancholy melodies and unfulfilled ambitions described by the lyrics are as painful as the cruel circumstances in which Taiwanese found themselves, circumstances that cut like a knife at the heart of the Taiwanese people. Times were as tough after the war as they had been under Japanese rule. The 2-28 Incident massacres, the White Terror, rampant inflation and hard times for business— the seemingly endless troubles experienced by the people of Taiwan after the war clearly influenced the fatalism of the sorrowful Taiwanese folk songs of the day.