taiwan

For the first time in a decade, I will travel one way. I have no clue how long I would stay, and what it meant for the life I had built in the States.

New Bloom members Peter Freestone and Brian Hioe pick some of their favorite indie albums from 2021, focusing on bands from Taiwan. ​This is the fourth in a series of Best Album lists compiled by New Bloom.

Brian Hioe spoke to Levin Lo, or DJ Rainbowchild, a veteran of the queer party scene in Taiwan. Among other things, Rainbowchild was the DJ that played at the wedding banquet party that celebrated the legalization of gay marriage in Taiwan in May 2019, as the first place in Asia to legalize gay marriage.

Some anchor or host might ask, in tense, worried tones, about what people are thinking or feeling on the ground in Taiwan, and I’m just like, “Uhhhhhhh, people are calm. Nobody is freaking out. Life goes on.”

The design of the sneakers suggests not having actually spoken to Taiwanese local voices about the symbolism.

Elderly politicians bust a move

Su Beng, considered one of the significant founding figures of Taiwanese independence, is best known for his four-volume magnum opus, Taiwan’s Four Hundred Year History. Born during the Japanese colonial period as Shih Chao-hui and having converted to left-wing political views while studying abroad in Japan, Su traveled to China to act as a spy for the CCP.

Where Taiwanese politics are concerned, pants have sometimes been figured as a symbol of…masculinity. This is not just pan-Blue. Pan-green Taiwanese independence activist Koo Kwang-ming once lashed out at President Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s first female president, by claiming that he could not stomach a skirt-wearing woman leading the ROC military.

"Deliberative Democracy in Taiwan: A Deliberate Systems Perspective" by Mei-Fang Fan is a useful look at contemporary democracy in the Taiwanese context.

For how long had I been doing this? A hundred days, or 10,000 years?

With Covid-19 having finally arrived in Taiwan over the summer, I guess I’m finally realizing what the rest of the world went through over the past year.

Conspiracy theories are apparently a side effect of the Delta variant in Taiwan

What happens when "Fifty Shades of Grey" meets Taiwan-Japan relations? Well, probably something like "Hotel Iris," a Taiwan-Japan co-production that just premiered at the 2021 Osaka Asian Film Festival.