Taiwan Insight

Creating Artworks with Experience: An Interview with an Artist-Teacher Shao-Gang Wang

31 July 2023 Yu-Chen

Written by Yi-Cheng Sun; translated by Yi-Yu Lai. In 2022, at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum’s “Taipei Art Awards” exhibition, artist Shao-Gang Wang was honoured with the Excellence Award for his artwork titled “The Bird’s Still Singing.” This piece continues his collaboration with young actors that began in 2019 with the works “AppleGreen” and “DeepBlue.”

The Director-Sensei of Shadow Puppetry: An Interview with an Artist-Teacher Yun-Hsuan Kao

28 July 2023 Yu-Chen

Written by Yi-Cheng Sun; translated by Yi-Yu Lai. The night following the conclusion of the 2022 National Creative Drama Competition, residents of the Ciwidiyan community (Shuilian village) learned that their representative troupe had won the Modern Shadow Puppetry Excellence Award of the Elementary School Division. The community members prepared drinks and delicacies to celebrate, eagerly awaiting the return of the students and teachers from Shuilian Elementary School. The fried chicken cutlets cooked long ago turned cold, and the elders holding congratulatory red envelopes were also a bit weary. Only when the firecrackers along the way burst into loud noises did the delight in the air, with flying paper scraps both inside and outside the houses, seem to repeatedly congratulate: “Finally, it’s here!”

Art Education for the Real World: An Interview with an Artist-Teacher Pin-Hsuan Tseng

26 July 2023 Yu-Chen

Written by Yi-Cheng Sun; translated by Yi-Yu Lai. Pin-Hsuan Tseng taught art at Gongliao Junior High School in New Taipei City from 2012 to 2022. Besides being an art teacher, she is well-known for her 2017 initiative called the “Ordering Dishes to End Discrimination” movement. This gentle movement embedded in everyday life aimed to restore the proper name of “Fushan lettuce,” which is commonly referred to as “mainland girl”, with underlying discrimination against females from China. Regarding nationality and gender, Taiwanese media once used “mainland girl” to refer to Chinese prostitutes who arrived illegally in Taiwan, while the smooth appearance of Fushan lettuce was thought to correspond with this image.

For Molecular Archipelagic Thinking

24 July 2023 drmarkm

It is a privilege to present this insightful piece ‘For Molecular Archipelagic Thinking’ from Professor Chun-Mei Chuang, a respected figure in the field of Sociology from Soochow University, Taipei. Professor Chuang’s work is marked by her interests in feminist theories, postcolonial discourse, ecology, and animal studies. In this contribution, she graciously shares her experiences and reflections on teaching sociology in Taiwan, providing a rare glimpse into her unique approach and the broader sociological landscape in Taiwan.Chun-Mei Chuang is a Professor in the Department of Sociology at Soochow University in Taipei, Taiwan. Her research interests include feminist theories, postcolonial discourse, ecology and animal studies.

Unveiling Contemporary Taiwan Identity: What Lesson can we Learn from Dcard’s Responses on the Hong Kong Immigration Wave?

21 July 2023 Chee-Hann Wu

Written by Cheuk Kwan Lau. In January 2023, a BBC news article brought attention to the challenges faced by Hong Kongers who migrated to Taiwan. The news pointed out that Hong Kongers who migrated to Taiwan face institutional obstacles when applying for citizenship. Immigration laws in Taiwan were claimed to be outdated. The migrated Hong Kongers could legally inhabit Taiwan, yet they did not enjoy citizenship and civil rights.

Instead of exploring the various institutional obstacles they face, this article takes a unique approach by examining the perceptions of the Taiwanese young generation regarding the influx of Hong Kong immigrants. It aims to uncover the contemporary Taiwanese identity constructed by this demographic, previously seen as a strong ally of Hong Kong protestors during the 2019 Anti-Extradition Law Movement.

Ethno-culture in national identity formation: what lesson can we learn from Taiwan?

19 July 2023 Chee-Hann Wu

Written by Olga Daksueva. The Russia-Ukraine war brought back discussions on national identity and how it is formed. National identity consists of two components: ethnocultural and political. Ethno-culture is often viewed as “the core of a nation and national identity,” which includes language, history, culture, and religion. It is argued to become the passé and to be replaced by the political component, which is designed through state sovereignty and territorial boundaries, delimiting the extent of nations and, by doing so, forming commonalities within the nations. However, the fact that we share a common territory is insufficient to get attached to the country. States also utilise various means to shape salient national identity through “rediscovery, reinterpretation and regeneration of [national] community.”

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.

Has Taiwan Escaped Nostalgia for Authoritarian Times? Taiwan and Regional Comparisons

14 July 2023 Adrian Chiu

Written by Brian Hioe. Contemporary Taiwan is often hailed as a beacon of democracy in the region. Namely, Taiwan today holds free and fair elections after transitioning from its authoritarian past, which saw a history of one-party rule by the KMT. In various indexes of democracy, Taiwan usually scores highly regarding freedom of the press, speech, and expression. Part of the reason why Taiwan scores highly in contemporary indexes of democracy may be to differentiate Taiwan from China at a time of rising tensions between Western powers and China, raising questions about whether this proves a way that the Cold War framing of “free China” has subtly made a comeback. The underlying pressure to differentiate Taiwan from China has always been a substrate of Taiwan’s modern politics, whether in the present or in authoritarian times.

Taiwan Studies in Europe in 20 years: Looking forward to another 20 years

12 July 2023 Adrian Chiu

Written by Isabelle Cockel and Chun-yi Lee. The 20th Annual Conference of the European Association of Taiwan Studies (EATS) was held at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, on 26th – 28th June 2023. More than 120 participants joined this intellectual festival. A fire drill flushing out all the participants from the SOAS Main Building on the second day added a memorable highlight to the otherwise smooth proceeding of a panel-packed conference. Taiwan Insight featured four conference papers from the 3rd to the 12th of July as part of the celebration. This postface reflected upon the steady growth of Taiwan Studies, as demonstrated by them, in the past twenty years in Europe and beyond.

Energy transition in Taiwan: Generating electricity with love, or inclusive public engagement?

10 July 2023 Adrian Chiu

Written by Anthony H. F. Li. A stable electricity supply is vital for national security, economic development as well as the everyday lives of citizens in Taiwan. Since the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) pursued an ambitious policy to decarbonise the electricity sector with renewable energies and to phase out nuclear energy by 2025, the discussion on whether Taiwan is facing a shortage of electricity amidst the process of energy transition emerges on the social agenda from time to time.

Staging and Restaging Taiwan at the Centre Pompidou: Taiwanese Art on Display 2020 to Present

7 July 2023 Yi Yu Lai

Written by Gabriela-Alexandra Banica. In the third decade of the 21st century, Taiwanese artists and exhibitions have appeared at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and Metz, and this could serve as a compelling case study of Taiwan’s pursuit of international recognition through arts. Through this exploration, this article aims to address the gaps in the current scholarship related to curatorial practices concerning art from contested territories while enriching the field of France-Taiwan curatorial practices. By analysing the current subject of interest, it is hoped that art from more disputed territories can be made accessible to audiences in France, Europe, and around the globe.

The Development of Taiwan Studies at Roma Tre University

5 July 2023 Adrian Chiu

Written by Rosa Lombardi and Silvia Schiavi. Since 2012, Roma Tre University carried out a series of activities to promote the knowledge and dissemination of Taiwanese culture and literature, contributing to the development of Taiwan studies in Italy. Before that, there was very little or no space devoted to Taiwanese literature in Italian universities, and courses in modern and contemporary Chinese literature mainly still deal with Chinese mainland literary production. Given this scarcity of studies on Taiwan in Italy, Prof. Rosa Lombardi and Dr Silvia Schiavi have promoted and implemented a series of events to raise awareness about the island and foster a better understanding of the Sinophone world through the introduction of Taiwan’s rich culture, history and literature to the students and the general public.

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