identity – Page 6 – Taiwan Insight

Colonial Nostalgia and the Delegitimisation of Pro-democracy Forces in Hong Kong and Taiwan

17 July 2023 Adrian Chiu

Written by Zeng Ee Liew. The term ‘colonial nostalgia’, or 戀殖 (lian zhi), has appeared more and more since the 2000s in the discourse used by Mainland China to describe the politicians or activists who advocate for democracy or even independence in both Taiwan and Hong Kong. Very often, those democracy or independence activists will be described as ‘traitors’ who still harbour lingering love or affection and pander to the former Western or Japanese colonial power and fail to show full patriotic love to the motherland. The use of such discourse can be seen from the lens of a broader effort by the Chinese government to delegitimise those pro-democracy activists, which will be explored further in this article.

Han-Heterosexual-Male Supremacy across the Pacific? A Critique of The Taiwanese Reminiscence Acrobatic Show

22 June 2023

Written by Mark Hsiang-Yu Feng. Busy as usual was Highway number eighty, but Mother’s Day made downtown San Jose unexpectedly quiet. However, in front of the California Theatre, lively chat sounded out of the silence, marking this celebratory moment for the twentieth anniversary of the Taiwanese American Center of Northern California during Asian and Pacific Islander heritage month. Families came to fill most of the seats, and three languages—Hoklo Taiwanese, Taiwanese Mandarin, and English—were spoken to express the identity of these participants. To honour the culture of Taiwanese and Taiwanese Americans, the overall narrative of Taiwanese Reminiscence contextualises a mixture of stunts, acrobatic movements, and dance into a condensed representation of the twentieth history of Taiwan.

Triangulating the Taiwanese Spirit in Southern California: Colonial Hauntings at the 228 Commemorative Concert

21 June 2023

Written by Chun Chia Tai. In February, I saw a text message in a Taiwanese group chat promoting a concert commemorating the 228 massacre caused by the Kuomintang dictatorship in Taiwan on February 28th, 1947. The concert was called The Spiritual Day of Taiwan: 2-28 76th Commemorative Concert and was hosted by two Taiwanese American organisations: the Taiwanese United Foundation and the Taiwan Elite Alliance, since 2007. The performers were mainly Taiwanese. Many of them were not professionals but members of local Taiwanese church choirs. Most of the audience was familiar with the songs being performed; therefore, they sang along with the performers.

Reflecting on the Laguna Woods Shooting Tragedy: One Year Later

20 June 2023

Written by Wayne Huang. On May 15, 2022, a fatal shooting occurred at the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, California. During a lunch reception, the gunman locked the doors and opened fire with approximately a hundred people present. The church has been recognised for its significant role in Taiwan’s democratisation and independence movements since the 1970s. It has led to the suspicion that this historical connection motivated the assailant to travel over a hundred miles from Las Vegas to target the church. The shooting resulted in six individuals being shot, including Dr John Cheng, who lost his life while attempting to disarm the gunman.

Beyond Chinese: The Evolution of Taiwanese-Canadian Identity in Canada

14 June 2023 Chee-Hann Wu

Written by Charlie Smith. At the height of the pandemic in 2020, a cultural producer generated considerable discussion within the Taiwanese diaspora in North America. It came when Charlie Wu wrote an article declaring: “I’m a Taiwanese Canadian, not a Chinese Canadian.” It was the managing director of the Asian-Canadian Special Events Association’s personal response to being constantly labelled as Chinese in his adopted country. In fact, Wu was even included in the list of the top 100 influential Chinese Canadians in British Columbia in a 2006 article in the Vancouver Sun.

Indigenous Storytelling in and Beyond the Classroom

5 June 2023

Written by Yi-Yu Lai. One afternoon in 2011, Hong-sui Lim visited a Kaxabu village due to his participation in an anthropological camp. This marked his first encounter with the Kaxabu people, one of the Plain Indigenous groups inhabiting the Puli Basins in central Taiwan. Lim was astonished by the small number of Kaxabu elders who still speak their mother tongue, as it is commonly believed that Plain Indigenous peoples have been assimilated by Han Chinese culture and have lost their own languages and traditions. As a result, Lim returned to the Kaxabu communities as an undergraduate student to learn more about their endangered cultural heritage and began collaborating with the Kaxabu people.

« 1 … 4 5 6 7 8 … 11 »