Legendary 'Tian Mi Mi' lyricist dies

Zhuang Nu, the man who penned the lyrics of thousands of iconic Chinese songs including "Tian Mi Mi," has died, aged 95, in Chongqing on Tuesday morning. [File photo]

Zhuang Nu, the man who penned the lyrics of thousands of iconic Chinese songs including "Tian Mi Mi (Sweet as Honey)," died, aged 95, in Chongqing on Tuesday morning.

"My dear father has passed away peacefully and completed his wonderful life," his son Huang Haoran said in a statement, "Thank you everyone for your love, support and care.. When a song is good, it will have its listeners."

The legendary lyricist, whose real name is Wang Jingxi, was born in Beijing in 1921, and graduated from a Chinese college for journalism. In his youth he participated in China's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, migrating afterwards to Taiwan in 1949.

After arriving in Taiwan, he took on several jobs including as a journalist, editor, writer and even acting in a theater. But after having written the lyrics of "Green Island Serenade" in his spare time, which later became unexpectedly popular, he started to take up writing lyrics as a profession.

It is claimed Zhuang wrote more than 3,000 sets of lyrics spanning over five decades of his life. He is considered as one of "the three elites in Chinese lyrical writing," alongside Qiao Yu from the mainland and James Wong from Hong Kong.

He wrote the lyrics for classic Chinese songs sung by the late Chinese icon Teresa Teng, such as "Tian Mi Mi," "Story of the Small Town" and "See the Chimney Smoke Again."

Zhuang once recalled their first cooperation starting with "Tian Mi Mi." When he was invited to write the lyrics for a musical composition and was told the singer would be Teng, he saw her sweet image and heard her sweet voice, immediately the words "Sweet as Honey" jumped into his mind and he wrote the song in only five minutes.

In 1996, with the release of Peter Chan's film using the same Chinese title, the song became a hit again. Starring Leon Lai and Maggie Cheung, the film (English title: "Comrades: Almost a Love Story") is a romantic love story accompanied beginning to end with the song. 

Though some said Teng "owed her popularity to Zhuang," Zhuang said he never met Teng. However, he said he had always admired her and had connected with the singer's soul.

The lyricist also wrote lyrics for numerous other singers, in addition to theme songs for TV series and films,including the hugely popular song "A Fire in Winter" performed by Taiwan singer Kris Phillips (Fei Xiang).

Zhuang married a Chongqing resident, Zhou Lin, in 1992 and resided in the mainland city for the greater part of each year. In 2012, the Chongqing local government granted him the title of "Chongqing Municipality's Honorable Resident." Zhuang wrote more than 70 pieces of lyrics about Chongqing when he lived there.

Zhuang's memorial service will be held on Oct. 15, 2016.