Written by Meiyuan Kou. This article traces the history of the Kinmen Association (Fuji Temple) in Saigon-Cholon, established in the early 1970s as both a religious hub for Kinmen migrants and a channel of Taiwan’s soft diplomacy in South Vietnam. It examines how this small community institution fostered transnational ties, cultural continuity, and identity preservation across shifting political landscapes before and after 1975.
Category: Culture and society
Of Swallows and Nests: The Migration Trajectories of Kinmen’s Wartime Generation and Their Return Home
Written by Junbin Tan. This article traces the Lin family’s multigenerational migration from wartime Kinmen Island to Southeast Asia and beyond. Anchored in an ethnographic encounter with Grandma Lin and her family, the author follows the Lins’ migratory trajectories of departure, separation and eventual return, revealing how Kinmenese mobility was shaped by political restriction, economic necessity, and the moral economies of kinship.
Taiwan’s Food Culture as a Cure for Overtourism
Written by Gita T. This article argues that Taiwan has a chance to avoid overtourism and achieve ESG goals by leveraging its food culture. Taiwan’s snack-based dining offers a natural way to spread visitors beyond overcrowded sites. This could include gamified snack trails, an authentic cultural experience, and curated insider routes for continuity travellers.
NATSA 2025 Conference Note: A Cross-Cultural Literary Dialogue Against the Mainstream
Written by Yun-Pu Tu. This article reflects on the “Otherwise Literature: Against the Mainstream” panel, a collaboration between NATSA and the National Museum of Taiwan Literature, which explored how storytelling bridges cultures and challenges dominant narratives. Featuring writers and translators including Shawna Yang Ryan, Lya Shaffer Osborn, and Yung-ta Chien, the event highlighted the power of words and storytelling to connect communities and imagine Taiwan otherwise.
Island Research and Archipelagic Thinking in and beyond Taiwan
Written by Yi-Yu Lai. This article examines how a roundtable at the 2025 NATSA rethinks Taiwan through the lens of Island Studies. Drawing on case studies from Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Palau, Lanyu, and Batanes, it explores how islandness complicates questions of identity, scale, and connection within and beyond Taiwan.
The Unresolved Housing Problem in Taiwan
Written by Yi-Ling Chen. This article traces Taiwan’s housing transformation, arguing that the state’s role remains central, and that its interventions have facilitated commodification, speculation, and inequality in Taiwan’s housing sector. It calls for restoring housing’s use value and reimagining it as a basic necessity.
Why Taiwan’s Family Businesses Still Rule and Why It Matters
Written by Zong-Rong Lee. As part of the Taiwan Insight–IJTS special issue on the Topical Section “Transitions and Challenges in Taiwan’s Economy and Society,” this article presents Zong-Rong Lee’s study on Taiwan’s enduring family capitalism. It traces how political patronage, kinship networks, and market reforms sustained family dominance, raising concerns about competition and long-term adaptability.
Introduction to The Topical Section on ‘Transitions and Challenges in Taiwan’s Economy and Society’
Written by Zong-Rong Lee and Thung-Hong Lin. This article introduces the Taiwan Insight–IJTS special issue on the Topical Section “Transitions and Challenges in Taiwan’s Economy and Society.” Initiated as an open invitation to scholars worldwide, the Topical Section reflects on Taiwan’s economic transformation, convening debate on structural shifts, their consequences, and the pressing challenges shaping Taiwan’s future.
Decolonial Art as a Form of Truth Telling and Indigenous Resistance
Written by Choesang Scholer. Despite the pressures of external forces on Indigenous land and domain, Indigenous community members utilise art as a medium for political protest to amplify their concerns when their government fails to do so. This article explores the way in which identity-building expression appears through various forms of art.
Rosettating Between Minoritised Languages: How Taiwanese Readers Respond to Intermediated Translation
Written by Naomi Sím. The article introduces “rosettation,” a method of translating between minoritised languages like Tâigí and Gaelic via dominant ones. The Tâigael project explores linguistic solidarity, reader responses, and political tensions. Rosettation emerges as both a pragmatic strategy and a literary experiment, which enables new forms of intercultural dialogue despite inherent compromises.
Orchids in the Wild
Written by Lisa LacDonald. This article reflects on orchids in Scotland and Taiwan as metaphors for translation. While Scottish orchids evoke resilience, Taiwanese orchids embody richness and locality. The author highlights the difficulty of conveying cultural nuance across languages, framing translation as both interpretation and resistance, balancing fidelity, accessibility, and the preservation of linguistic diversity.
Grandmother Islands: Oral Memory, Mother Tongues, and Literary Kinship between Taiwan and Scotland
Written by Elissa Hunter-Dorans. This article reflects on how maternal and grandmaternal figures embody the preservation of Taiwanese and Gaelic. Through Tâigael, the author explores oral traditions, familial intimacy, and the “mother tongue” as both metaphor and surrogate caregiver, showing how literature sustains endangered languages and fosters cross-cultural kinship.
Taiwan Insight 