[A story inspired by the copyright dispute over “Li Bai”] In 2012, popular singer Lin Yue was boycotted across the internet after covering an original song without permission, and her career hit rock bottom. At a concert where more than 70 percent of tickets had been refunded, she tearfully began singing “The Wandering Songstress.” But as she reached the line “searching, searching for a kindred soul,” she transmigrated to Shanghai in 1937 and became Zhou Xiaoxuan, a newly debuted songstress.
In an era with no awareness of copyright, Lin Yue witnessed firsthand the brutal reality of creators being plundered at will: songwriters were forced to sell their original lyrics and music to their bosses for a pittance, while the painstaking work of musical geniuses was cheaply snapped up by capital. This time, awakened to the importance of rules thanks to her modern perspective, she refused to run away. Using her gift of a “golden voice,” Lin Yue joined forces with composer He Lüting to plant the first seed in this barren land of copyright.
Time flowed in a wondrous crisscross: whenever she sang “The Wandering Songstress” in the Republican era, she could return to the modern day. The long years she experienced in the past amounted to just a moment in reality. Using this “borrowed time,” she founded the Mingyue Writers' Association in 1937 to speak up for the vulnerable, and established the Creators' Light Foundation in 2012 to restore the industry's bottom line.
“Being good to listen to is no excuse. Respect is what matters.”
This is more than a comeback across time and space. It is a redemption story about music and dignity. She borrows a stretch of time in 1937 to hear the voices history erased, and to truly understand that song eighty years later.
Genres: Time-Space Fantasy / Love of Music / Women's Growth / Showbiz
Core message: Rules aren't shackles; they're protection.
