Jiang Wenye was born in 1910 near Tamsui in northern Taiwan and educated in Japan, where he first trained in engineering before his overwhelming gift for music took over his life. He studied composition under leading teachers in Tokyo and began as a singer before emerging as one of the most original composers of his generation in the Japanese music world. In 1936 his orchestral Formosan Dance won an honourable mention in the art competitions of the Berlin Olympics, carrying the name of Taiwan onto a world stage. Drawn to explore his Chinese roots, he moved to Beijing in the late 1930s to teach and compose, immersing himself in Confucian ritual music and Chinese themes. That choice left him stranded by history: cut off from Taiwan and Japan, he endured decades of political hardship in China and was persecuted during the Cultural Revolution. He died in Beijing in 1983, his music long forgotten on the island of his birth. Only later was Jiang Wenye rediscovered and celebrated as one of the first Taiwanese composers to win genuine international acclaim.

• Formosan Dance honoured at the 1936 Berlin Olympics art competition

• Moved to Beijing to teach and compose in the late 1930s