This book fills in an important lacuna in research in the study of Chinese popular music. Asian popular music studies has seen a gradual rise over the past decade, with the biannual conferences of the inter-Asia popular music studies group as its academic highlight. When we look at academic studies that are published in English, we see a strong bias towards the PRC, privileging studies on rock music, folk music, and ethnic music. Mandopop that is produced in Taiwan has received little attention; yet, this is the music that has taken over Cantopop and become the most popular among Chinese audiences worldwide. As Moskowitz notes, since 2002, 80 per cent of the Chinese language music sales consist of Mandopop (p. 2). Despite its staggering popularity, Mandopop is in general downplayed by listeners from the West as cheesy love songs; but, as Moskowitz rightly claims, if it attracts such a large audience, it must appeal to an important sensibility. Instead of dismissing it as silly love songs, we should take this sensibility seriously, which is what this book does. Or, as the author astutely writes, rather than asking “why are they getting it wrong,” Western observers may better ask themselves: “what are we missing here?” (p. 115). This book ventures in this largely uncharted terrain. It is unique in its meticulous account of how Mandopop negotiates gender roles, how it opens up new avenues for the expression of individuality and has produced a complex transnational web of sonic flows.

Moskowitz starts with analysing the overwhelmingly one-way cultural flow of Mandopop from Taiwan to mainland China, and positions this flow in the context of a changing music industry and political and cultural developments. This paves the way for lucid analysis of the multiple meanings and cultural complexity of Mandopop. The second chapter shows, after presenting a brief history of music in mainland China, how a hyper-masculine ethos of musical trends in China, most notable in rock and xibeifeng, tried to counter the soft and apolitical voices of Gang-Tai pop – to no avail, as the latter succeeds in reaching a much wider public. The following chapter presents an excellent history of popular music in Taiwan, in which he draws particular reference to the difference between Mandopop and Taiyupop, a difference that resonates with, and thus helps perform, dichotomies such as young vs. old, urban vs. rural, global vs. local. The contemporary form of Mandopop is, Moskowitz argues, profoundly cosmopolitan, integrating influences from different localities, including the West and Japan, and thus the product of a transnational process of hybridization. In his view, it is primarily the language (and the lyrics) that makes Mandopop a unique music style.

Based on numerous interviews with young people in Taipei and Shanghai, Moskowitz then shows how they use the music to negotiate feelings of loneliness, sorrow and heartbreak, feelings that, according to Moskowitz, are otherwise difficult to express in Chinese culture. The sound of Mandopop is gendered, playing out a female sensibility vis-à-vis the masculinity of mainland sounds – with the female being in the end victorious. In his analysis of the masculinity in Mandopop, Moskowitz shows how the androgynous roles being played out articulate alternative masculine voices in both music and culture. Having mapped out the cultural, emotional, and gendered sensibilities of Mandopop, Moskowitz forcefully debunks, in the final chapter, the culturally bound criticisms of this genre. Whereas critiques from the mainland are often fuelled by a strong nationalism and cultural protectionism, critiques from the West reflect a hegemonic attitude. Often, the value of music seems to lie in the degree to which is enters a Western market. Yet, as Moskowitz writes, “The fact that Taiwan is one of the centers of music for one of the largest populations of the world is ignored here, and the West is exalted as setting the standard for musical success” (p. 107).

Moskowitz's book is rich in detail, and its inclusion of the voice of audiences is innovative and important. Sometimes the author tends to read Mandopop as expressing or reflecting Chinese culture, relating the gender roles to cultural values from Buddhism and Confucianism and to conceptions of yin/yang. But would, for example, a reference to endurance and forgiveness be necessarily Buddhist, Confucian and thus Chinese? Such readings tend to set Taiwan, or Chinese culture, apart as a different cultural box, with its own intricate history, which runs the danger of sliding towards an uncomfortable cultural essentialism. The latter, fortunately, is forestalled by the author's constant emphasis on the transnational character of Mandopop. At the same time, the fruitful stress on lyrics and its interpretations by audiences makes one wonder if more inclusion of sound and image – think of the spectacular performances with all the outrageous outfits – would have thickened the analysis even more.

All in all, Cries of Joy, Songs of Sorrow is a unique entry into the world of Chinese popular music; it treats the personal, affective and emotional uses of music seriously, as it lucidly critiques the Western arrogance that all too easily downplays Mandopop as cheap and silly. It shows how popular culture can be an important force in cross-Strait relations, and as such this book is indispensable reading for anyone interested in what popular culture does, not only in the everyday life of the Chinese, but indeed in our lives as well, with our share of joy and sorrow. If only we, Western audiences, would listen with more care.