One of Sarah Chen's most mysterious releases is Lunar New Year Special. Issued by EMI in 1985/1986, it contains ten traditional holiday songs and was originally marketed only in Singapore and Malaysia. 

The circumstances behind Lunar New Year Special remain unclear, though it may have been produced as a stopgap release. The album arrived during a transitional period in Chen's career. Her long-time producer, Tan Jian-Chang, had just left EMI, and the label was ending its partnership with Four-Oceans in Taiwan without yet securing another local partner. Warner Music Singapore reissued the album in 2012, adding two tracks with markedly better sound quality (Four-Season Flowers and New Year Happiness). 

It is on this album that Sarah Chen stepped into Teresa Teng's repertoire, recording three songs that Teng had previously sung: Congratulations to Everyone, Congratulations, and Ten-Thousand Years of Prosperity. Heard side by side, their styles are notably different. New Year with Teresa Teng is bright and chirpy — pure joy, like drinking from a pitcher of lemonade. New Year with Sarah Chen is warm and cozy, celebration with a little reflection, like sipping old wine. Chen's music may not be for everyone, but for those addicted to her, there's no putting her down. 

陈淑桦最神秘的专辑之一是《贺年》专辑，由百代唱片在1985年末/1986年初在新加坡和马来西亚推出。这张专辑制作背景不明，但它也许起到了暂时稳定陈淑桦产量的作用。

这张唱片发行于陈淑桦事业的转折点。那时谭健常刚离开百代，同时百代终止了与四海唱片在台湾的代理合作，但还没有找到新的代理商。《贺年》由郑江中制作，最初只有十首歌，伴奏音质欠佳。2012年新加坡华纳唱片重新发行了这张专辑，并添加了两首音质更好的歌（「四季花开」和「新年喜洋洋」）。

陈淑桦在这张专辑里录制了三首邓丽君也演唱过的歌：「大家恭喜」，「恭喜恭喜」，和「万年红」。摆在一起，她俩的风格明显不同。邓丽君的新年歌欢快轻松，跟喝一杯柠檬汁一样清新爽快。陈淑桦的新年歌是温暖的祝福，庆祝中带着一丝反思，像陈年老酒一样醇厚。陈淑桦的音乐没有邓丽君的那么大众化，但一旦你爱上了她的演唱，你可真放不下她的作品。

Four-Season Flowers is a 1940s folk song. It describes a young woman's first love as she invites her beloved to four seasonal activities, ending with a Lunar New Year's family visit. It is a popular song covered by many artists, adaptable to drastically different styles. Sarah Chen's rendition, a later addition to her New Year album, was likely recorded when she was in her early 20s, judging by how young she sounds. 

Before encountering Chen's version, I had known this song for years, but nothing prepared me for the punch her version landed. No, she wasn't being dramatic – quite the opposite. Unlike many more dramatized versions, Chen sings normally and quietly, repeating the tune almost mechanically four times. Yet this minimalistic style, where the singer nearly disappears, best captures the song's essence: a love song from someone who wants to both show and hide her feelings. You can hear shyness beside boldness, reluctance beside eagerness, and pleading beside tenderness. 

Some of that comes through in how Chen shifts the stress around "Little Ge-Ge" (young man), creating a repeated pattern of irregularity to which the listener's brain cannot quite adapt. Weeks on repeat, I still can't imitate it. 

As Sarah Chen disappears into the performance, she brings the best out of the song, revealing an emotional landscape that I once couldn't imagine.

「四季花开」是一首四十年代的民歌，描述一个年轻女子的初恋：她在歌中邀请恋人和她一起参加四个季节的活动，最后一段是春节去拜年。许多歌手和合唱团都演唱过这首歌，风格各异。陈淑桦的版本是后来添加到《贺年》专辑里的，录制时间不明。但从她的歌声中听起来，也许歌曲是在二十岁出头录制的。

在接触陈淑桦版本前，我对这首歌已经非常熟悉，却没意料到她的演唱带来的冲击力。陈淑桦的版本乍听没什么特色。恰恰相反，和许多更炫耀的版本相比，陈淑桦的演唱平淡无奇，她静悄悄地把曲调重复了四遍。而正是这种不张扬的演唱方式，当歌手从歌中消失时，你才听出这首歌的精髓：年轻女子既要显示又想隐藏她的爱意。从陈淑桦的版本里，你可以同时听到羞涩和大胆，回避和期盼，恳求和温柔。

这些复杂的情感部分来自陈淑桦对「小哥哥」音节重音的转移，造成既重复又变化的模式，使得听众不能完全捕捉重点到底在哪里。我循环播放了这首歌好多遍，还是没学会她的唱法。

当陈淑桦消失在她的演唱中时，她衬托出了歌中最美的意境，一个我曾经想象不到的感情境界。

The heroes of Project Restoration are long-time fans of Sarah Chen who, in Chen's 30-year absence, have kept memories and documents about her. The 1986 Malaysia Concert is at the center of this project; without it, we simply would not have gained access to contemporaneous materials that are central to documenting Sarah Chen's career and legacy.

I first "met" a special Sarah Chen fan on the Sarah Chen Memory Gate YouTube channel, when we covered Chen's long-lost song "Tossing Copper Coins," a song performed live at the 1986 Lunar New Year's Malaysia Concert. She left a comment about her experience at the concert, recalling how Sarah Chen and her mother had warmly received them backstage. She even knew the exact dates and title of the concert and had taken photos of the event. The revelation was stunning: suddenly, we had an eyewitness to Sarah Chen's rare concert, and even more than that, to her character. 

When I first started writing about Sarah Chen, I relied on online sources. Some were interviews, but many were fragments, distorted memories, and rehashed old stories. I thought that was all there was, as the possibility of finding old magazines from the pre-digital era felt minuscule. And gaining the trust of long-time Sarah Chen fans seemed even less likely: as a newcomer and outsider without any credentials, I expected to be received with skepticism. 

But the shared love for Sarah Chen's music brought us together, and the shared goal of restoring her legacy overcame any skepticism. I am so grateful for the Malaysia concert that opened a brand-new, more truthful memory gate toward Chen's career than the one I started with.

When Sarah Chen promised at the concert that she would cherish the memory of her Malaysia fans, she probably didn't expect them to return her kindness after so many years. But you reap what you sow. And when Chen sowed love, humanity, and kindness, love and kindness grew.  

「陈淑桦音乐史复原计划」的幕后英雄是追随她多年的粉丝。在陈淑桦谢幕三十年来，她的歌迷保存了她的资料和记忆。「复原计划」的导火线是1986年马来西亚演唱会，若没有它，我们不会找到和陈淑桦同期的报刊资料。

大约一年前，我们在YouTube频道上播出「丢丢铜」的视频，那是陈淑桦在马来西亚演唱会上录制的现场演唱歌曲。在视频的留言里，我有幸遇到一位特别的歌友，她不仅参加了这场演唱会，还拍了现场照片，随后在后台受到陈淑桦和她的母亲亲切的会面。这段留言改变了我们工作的性质：我们不再是纸上谈兵，而是遇到陈淑桦生涯的一手证人，甚至是她性情的见证者。

「记忆的门」工作的早期，我们接触的只是网上可寻的信息。其中有一些当年的采访，但大多数资料是残存的片段，扭曲的记忆，和不可信的陈年老调。陈淑桦的职业在互联网普及之前，能找到当年报刊资料的可能性几乎是零。要得到她长年歌迷的信任更难，毕竟我是个来历不明的外人，又是全新的歌迷，也许只是一时兴起。

但对陈淑桦音乐的喜爱最终将新老歌迷连起来，而我们共同的愿望——探寻陈淑桦的音乐贡献和她应得的荣誉——克服了对我的怀疑。我很感谢马来西亚演唱会：它开启了另一扇门，一扇比我最初打开的门更真实和可信的「陈淑桦记忆的门」。

四十年前，当陈淑桦在演唱会上对歌友说「我会永远记得你们」时，她也许没有想到这么多年后，他们将回报她的友善。但种豆得豆，种瓜得瓜。陈淑桦种的是关爱、人情、和友善，她收回的自然也是尊爱和关怀。

Legendary or ordinary, by plane or by dreams, we all find our way back home.

无论是名人还是普通人，归途万里还是梦回故里，我们终会找到归家之路。