The Taiwan Gazette translates and publishes original reporting from Taiwan, Hong Kong and China. Our goal with the platform is simple: We want original reporting from the Sinosphere to have a wider impact on global civil society.
All in Translations
The 1950s Taiwan was commonly known as an era of political suppression. Yet, elements of Taiwanese culture flourished during this period, paving the way for the growth of Taiwan’s entertainment industry. This article considers the role of radio and magazine in giving a “voice” to Taiwanese society under martial law.
On April 2, 2021, a Taroko express train operated by the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) derailed at the Qingshui Tunnel in Hualien, resulting in 49 casualties. Due to the collision severity, most of the victims’ bodies were severely disfigured. A group of volunteer mortuary cosmetologists from the 76 Monks – a non-profit organization which has assisted with many large-scale disasters – were immediately dispatched to assist in the reconstruction of the corpses with the intent of protecting the dignity of those who perished. The Reporter visited the restoration site of the Hualien City Funeral Home over several days and learned that the cosmetologists are willing to overcome all difficulties and come to serve from all over Taiwan. How did cosmetologists from the 76 Monks go about fixing the wounds of the deceased and heal the grief of the living with their bare hands?
During the 1960s and 1970s, Keelung was famous for its indent store business, a trade that specializes in consigning goods for sale or purchasing imported goods. How should we understand the rise and fall of the "indent store" business in relation to the historical formation of Keelung city?
Though short-lived for just less than four years, the Ren Jian (Human World) magazine, founded in 1985, was like a legend, shedding light on countless dark corners of Taiwanese society and revealing the wounds of the land in Taiwan before and after the lifting of martial law. With its powerful photographs and writings, it defines the core of in-depth investigative reportage. For more than 30 years, Ren Jian has been mentioned every now and then, commemorated through various exhibitions, conferences, or awards, including the Outstanding Contribution Award bestowed by the 2021 Taiwan International Documentary Festival (TIDF). The Reporter meets with former Ren Jian employees and interviews them about their personal perspective of what the magazine means for their lives and for the era.
Taiwanese businessmen in China have enjoyed the spoils of China’s economic reform and political development after Tiananmen. Doing business in China could be risky, however. It is easily affected by the profound instability of business-political relationship in China, the shifting balance of global power, and other factors. As the Chinese Communist Party celebrated its centennial in 2021, what might be the fate of Taiwanese businessmen in China?
“Taiwan literature can be conceived of as every single mode of literary expression that has left an existential trace on Taiwan,” said Dr. Shuo-bin Su (蘇碩斌), director of the National Museum of Taiwan Literature. The research, preservation, and promotion of such modes of expression, however, either failed to receive organized institutional support or was subsumed under a China-centered historiographical perspective before the lifting of martial law in Taiwan. The establishment of Taiwan literature as a field of academic inquiry became possible thanks to the political liberalization of Taiwanese society and the emergence of a “Taiwan consciousness” since the 1980s. What might be the challenges and possibilities facing the field of Taiwan literature, then and now? What might be the new directions of the field? This interview features as part of our special issue: Encountering Everyday Life: Taiwan in Museums.
Before the lifting of martial law in 1987, the research, preservation, and promotion of Taiwan literature in Taiwan either failed to receive organized institutional support or was subsumed under a China-centered historiographical perspective. The establishment of Taiwan literature as a field of academic inquiry became possible thanks to the political liberalization of Taiwanese society and the emergence of a “Taiwan consciousness” since the 1980s. What might be the challenges and possibilities facing the field of Taiwan literature, then and now? What might be the new directions of the field? This interview features as part of our special issue: Encountering Everyday Life: Taiwan in Museums.
Wheaten foods play an important role in the everyday life of Taiwanese people. However, the mass introduction of wheaten foods to Taiwan and even Taiwan’s own domestic production of flour are fairly recent phenomena. Why did Taiwanese begin integrating large quantities of wheaten foods into their diet? The answer to this question is intimately linked to U.S. aid. A story of food culture and U.S. Cold War cultural policy in Asia, this article features as part of our special issue: Encountering Everyday Life: Taiwan in Museums.
The practice of physical training is not only an issue of individual choice but has always been intertwined with the political economy of nation-building. A story of civilization, wartime mobilization, and nationalism, this article on physical training features as part of our special issue: Encountering Everyday Life: Taiwan in Museums.
In the early stage of Japanese colonial governance, the Government-General of Taiwan encouraged the straw hat business—the growth of which not only brought Taiwan to the stage of international fashion, but also consolidated Japan’s colonial imaginary of Taiwan as a southern island, a strategic site from which the southward advance policy could be launched. A story about colonial modernity and imaginaries, this article features as part of our special issue: Encountering Everyday Life: Taiwan in Museums.
Taiwan’s sugar industry flourished during the Japanese colonial era, giving birth to the widely known chocolate brand: The Meiji Chocolate. A story about Japanese colonial modernity and anti-colonial resistance in Taiwan, this article on sugar features as part of our new special issue: Encountering Everyday Life: Taiwan in Museums.
In Taiwan, using a steam rice cooker is an everyday experience. However, up until the 1960s, the big stoves, briquette stoves, and kerosene stoves still enjoyed widespread popularity. How did the steam cooker eventually step into Taiwanese homes and become one of its essential kitchen appliances? This article will present a few facts about the steam rice cooker, examining the history of its growing popularity in Taiwan.
July 1, 2019 is the 2nd anniversary of the occupation of the Legislative Council in Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition Bill movement and the 1st anniversary of Taiwan’s investment of national resources in providing humanitarian aid to Hongkongers in exile. Two years after Taiwan’s assistance of Hong Kong, official relations between the two have seemingly ceased as the political situation in Hong Kong continues to deteriorate. Amid geopolitical uncertainties, how can Taiwan continue to help Hongkongers?
Huaxin Street, also known as Little Burma, is home to a large overseas Burmese-Chinese community in Taiwan. How did this community come to be? How did the overseas Chinese policies of “Free China”’ contribute to this rise of this community? What can we learn from this community’s relationship with its “homeland”?
Before Taiwan entered the COVID-19 Level 3 Alert this year, The Reporter visited a social worker who also works as a boxing coach in Sanxia, New Taipei City. How has he turned boxing into a tool to empower indigenous youths from disadvantaged backgrounds?
How do artists invite us to reexamine the changes in the Taiwanese identity? What methods do they use? In 2018, Liang-Pin Tsao opened an exhibition at TKG+ Projects examining the intertwined relationships between “identity” and “history”. Focusing on the images of the Martyrs’ Shrine, the exhibition asks: How does one become Taiwanese?
For decades, the Love River (愛河 Ai He) has always been a sparkling spot of Kaohsiung’s cityscape. In this article, readers will find out how the story of this beloved river intertwined with the city’s century-long history, from the Qing Dynasty, the Japanese colonial era, to the twenty-first century.
On July 12, 2021, Tokyo, the host city of the 2020 Summer Olympics, is entering another state of emergency to combat the spread of COVID-19. With COVID-19 still running rampant across the world, why is the Tokyo Olympics not cancelled or postponed?
In February 2020, the first physical diasporic Hongkonger magazine —Flow HK (如水), or “Be Water” in Chinese—was printed in Taiwan. In terms of its significance to the pro-democracy movement, this magazine is a living embodiment of an imagined Hong Kong community under the shadow of the Hong Kong National Security Law. The Reporter interviewed the editorial board of Flow HK to find out why they decided to publish in Taiwan and how they intended to keep the current of the Hong Kong protests flowing across borders.
On July 1, 2020, the UK announced the expansion of rights for BNO passport holders, arguing that the Hong Kong National Security Law is a “clear and serious” violation of the Sino-British Joint Declaration. For Hongkongers born before 1997, the BNO now offers a new "escape" route. What can the BNO inform us about the formation of Hongkonger identities and the geohistorical entanglements between Hong Kong, the UK, and China?
