Luochahai City

"Luochahai City" is a single by Chinese singer-songwriter Dao Lang, released as part of his album There Are Few Folk Songs (2023). The song is inspired by The Raksha Country and the Sea Market, an allegorical story written by Chinese author Pu Songling. Described as Dao's "comeback anthem", it was streamed over 10 billion times within two months of its release, and attracted widespread speculation as to the meaning of its "cryptic" and "absurd" lyrics. It peaked at number 1 on the China TME UNI Chart.

Background
Dao Lang's debut album, The First Snows of 2002 (2004), was well-received critically and sold nearly six million copies (as of January 2005), making him the best-selling artist in the entire Mandarin Chinese market. Following his initial success, Dao experimented with folk music and soft rock influenced by Central Asian and Uyghur music, espousing life in western China. He was invited to perform at the premiere of House of Flying Daggers (2004), and appeared alongside Hong Kong singer Alan Tam at a concert.

Despite being received positively by the Taiwanese musical establishment, Dao struggled to gain the same professional recognition in Mainland China. In 2010, singer and jury chairwoman Na Ying vetoed his inclusion in the Top 10 Influential Artists of the Past 10 Years list, stating that he lacked "aesthetic sense". Subsequently, Dao withdrew from public view and took a long hiatus from producing music. He returned in 2020, releasing three new albums within the span of six months to little fanfare. According to the South China Morning Post, Dao seemed to be "past his best" when he released There Are Few Folk Songs in 2023.

Inspiration
"Luochahai City", like all other songs in There Are a Few Folk Songs, is named for and based on a Pu Songling story of the same name. In the first half of the original short story, Ma Ji, a handsome merchant, becomes stranded in the eponymous city where the denizens are ugly to outsiders. The ugliest people (who are beautiful by local standards) have the highest social status. Shunned by society, Ma decides to dirty his face, making career advances as a result. According to The Economist, the story is an allegory for hypocrisy.

Lyrics, interpretation and instrumentation
Generally regarded as satirical, the lyrics have been described as "cryptic"   and "absurd". The song features characters present in the original story. Additionally, it references chickens and donkeys, both derogatory terms in Chinese. In the final stanza, Dao mentions philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, and ends with the proclamation that "Ma Hu and 'you' bird / are the fundamental question of humanity!"  Throughout the course of the song, Dao uses several homonyms, metaphors, and visual puns with Chinese characters, such as using the characters for "horse" (马) and "household" (户) in succession to convey the compound ideograph for "donkey" (驴). It is generally acknowledged that the song mocks eminent figures in the Chinese music industry, including Na Ying, Gao Xiaosong, Wang Feng, and Yang Kun, for their earlier dismissal of Dao. Another interpretation, endorsed by Deng Yuwen, posits that the real subjects of the song are authoritarianism, abuse of power, and corruption under the Xi Jinping Administration. He cites the deployment of police to prevent potential unrest from the families of the victims of the 2023 Qiqihar school gymnasium collapse as an example of the behaviour being satirized. United Daily News believed that this song also reflects the "falsehoods and chaos everywhere" in Taiwan today. Other not very recognized readings draw parallels between the eponymous city and the United States, and involve US President Joe Biden, transgender public officials, and the Five Eyes intelligence alliance. Dao himself declined to comment, though a person familiar with him stated that the song was being overinterpreted.

Describing the song as reggae with a "jazzy instrumental overture", The China Project noted a "Western musical aspect that dominates throughout." The song is in 7/4 time, and uses rhythm and blues instruments such as a bass and synthesizers. It has been described as both folk and pop.

Reception and charts
The Economist described "Luochahai City" as Dao's "comeback anthem" after he produced little for a decade. Miles Yu of the Hudson Institute lauded the song for its wit, comparing Dao to Bob Dylan and stating that Dao had become "the powerful expression of a volcanic anti-establishment mentality." Singer Wang Feng, who is possibly lampooned in the lyrics, praised the song's synthesis of Western and Chinese musical styles. Noting its popularity, The Japan Times contrasted the oblique satirical lyrics of "Luochahai City" with that of the rap song "New Slave", which directly criticized Shanghai's COVID-19 lockdown and resulted in the song being quickly censored from the Chinese internet. What's on Weibo speculated that a significant percentage of the song's listeners did not enjoy the music, but were theorizing about the complex lyrics instead.

Commercial performance
The song has aggregated more than 10 billion views across various social media platforms as of August 2023 (including 6 billion on Douyin), possibly surpassing the record for most total impressions held by "Despacito", which has over 5 billion views on YouTube alone as of September 2023. It peaked at number 1 on the China TME UNI Chart, and as of December 29, 2023, it had stayed on the top 100 for 22 weeks.