"Taiwan the Formosa" (Chinese: 台灣翠青, pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tâi-oân Chhùi-chhiⁿ), also "Taiwan the Green", is a poem written (conceived in 1977; finalized in 1993) by Taiwanese poet and clergyman Tīⁿ Jî-gio̍k (鄭兒玉; John Jyi-giokk Ti'n, Er-Yu Cheng),[1] set to music between 1988 and 1993 by neo-Romantic Taiwanese composer Tyzen Hsiao. An English metrical translation was provided by Boris and Clare Anderson. The text represents an early example of the popular verse that emerged from the Taiwanese literature movement in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1994 Hsiao used this hymn to conclude his 1947 Overture for soprano, choir and orchestra.[2]
The poem was originally written in pe̍h-ōe-jī. It has subsequently been translated into other languages, such as Hakka (by clergyman Hiû San-hiùng 邱善雄).
By Pacific’s western shore, beauteous isle, our green Taiwan.
Once suffered under alienrule, free at last to be its own.
Here’s the basis of our nation: four diverse groups in unity,
come to offer all their varied skills, for the good of all and a world at peace.[4]
In the beginning, God created the beautiful island of Taiwan, our favourite.
God gave it to our ancestors to inhabit and still looks over our nation. Christ being the Lord of our nation, the ideal state is our hope and aim.
We will work towards love and justice, so that our motherland will become as heaven on earth. (Amen.)