When Kuomintang leader Lien Chan visited the mainland, the theme of his trip was summed up in the slogan: 'Journey of peace.' Now, People First Party leader James Soong Chu-yu has gone one step further - his visit has a theme tune: the Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel classic Bridge Over Troubled Water. During his trip, Mr Soong has repeatedly quoted from the song, the title track of the duo's 1970 album, as a metaphor for the situation in the Taiwan Strait. 'The People First Party will continue to be the bridge to the mainland,' he said yesterday in Shanghai. 'We will be the bridge of peace, bridge of understanding and bridge of harmony.' Quoting from the lyrics of the song, Mr Soong said 'pain is all around' because of tense relations with the mainland, and offered to 'lay me down' to attempt a breakthrough. During a speech to a business delegation, Mr Soong altered the line 'I will lay me down' to 'I will not let you down', which prompted cheers from the Taiwanese executives.
