More than Education, Not Quite Foreign: The Politics of Taiwan’s Overseas Chinese Students

Written by Chiao-Yuan Jo Ko. Taiwan’s category of ‘overseas Chinese student’ may appear administrative, but it reflects a much longer political history. Tracing the system from the Cold War era to Taiwan’s democratisation, this article explores how education became tied to the ROC’s nation-building project, US geopolitical strategy, and shifting ideas of Chinese identity.

Continue reading

Learning Otherwise: Indigenous Experimental Education and Plural Pathways in Taiwan

Written by Tuyuq Rabay. This article examines Indigenous Experimental Education in Taiwan through an ethnographic vignette of an Atayal school’s pslkotas ritual. It argues that such programmes re-centre indigenous epistemologies through embodied, place-based, and spiritual pedagogy, while also revealing ongoing tensions with state curricula, structural inequalities, and settler-colonial legacies that shape education and identity.

Continue reading

From ‘China’s Last Frontier’ to ‘Ghost Nation’: Rethinking Taiwan Across Three Decades of Change

Written by Ming-Yeh T. Rawnsley. The article compares Simon Long’s 1991 book, Taiwan: China’s Last Frontier and Chris Horton’s recent publication, Ghost Nation: The Story of Taiwan and Its Struggle for Survival (2025). The author traces Taiwan’s transformation from an authoritarian frontier within a China-centric framework to a democratic, identity-driven political subject central to global geopolitics, yet still diplomatically constrained. By examining the two frameworks, the author reveals both profound change and enduring discourse on Taiwan’s self-determination and the limits of international recognition.

Continue reading

1 2 3 … 280