Lord of Thunder, Mother of Lightning

Maybe I've been working with low cost 19th century woodblock editions of books for too long, but the truth is that I love their illustrations, probably much more than virtuoso paintings from the same era. Here, again from the Illustrated Stories of Twenty Four Filial Women , 1872 edition, are the Lord of Thunder (雷公)…Read more Lord of Thunder, Mother of Lightning

Filial modern women buy our towels!

I've included pictures from Yu Zhi's Illustrated Stories of Twenty Four Filial Women here before. Those illustrations come from the 1872 woodblock print edition, available via Google Books*. The University of Chicago library also has two editions of the text, with illustrations purportedly redrawn by none other than Wu Youru, the famous Shanghai lithographic print…Read more Filial modern women buy our towels!

The Black Bearded Barbarian

I've been thinking about this photo lately, of G.L. Mackay and his family, which I found in The Black Bearded Barbarian by Marian Keith, published in 1912. I wouldn't recommend reading it, mostly because it's written at a children's level with a few too many exclamation points, and also because, as Keith notes in the…Read more The Black Bearded Barbarian

Mother Gu Temple 辜婦媽廟 (2)

(1: Tainan local women, Taiwan local religion) Let's begin with Gu Fuma's story, since she's the center of a number of stories to follow. Surnamed Lin (林) with no given name on record, her husband Gu Tangchun (辜湯純) died when she was twenty two. Lin was left to manage his meager estate, consisting of his…Read more Mother Gu Temple 辜婦媽廟 (2)

Tainan local women, Taiwan local religion (1)

One of wonders of Tainan is how no matter what alley you walk down, you'll run into a temple. One day, I cut down an alley about a block away from the City God Temple and came across a mysterious (to me) little temple. Dedicated to Gu Fuma (辜婦媽) - Mother Gu, statues of three…Read more Tainan local women, Taiwan local religion (1)

Beyond Boundaries: What makes us Taiwanese?

Excited to share with you that my piece on Taiwaneseamerican.org has posted! What makes you Taiwanese? Is there an answer that’s more right than others? What terms make up that definition? I’m tempted to begin this article by listing what I feel qualifies me to claim Taiwanese identity, as if somewhere out there, there’s a…Read more Beyond Boundaries: What makes us Taiwanese?

Divinity and Femininity

Last week, I received word from my department that a course I proposed, called "Divinity and Femininity: Women’s Religious Lives in Pre-modern China" has been accepted and I get to teach it next year. This is particularly exciting news! The course abstract: This course focuses on the religious lives of women in pre-modern China, beginning…Read more Divinity and Femininity

My country?

This post started writing itself in my head in Chinese, rather than English, something that's never really happened before. I feel awkward and plodding when writing the language, but here goes. 「自己的國家，自己救。」 我非常喜歡這個口號，可是這個「自己的國家」對我這種怪怪的台灣人有點不配。 從318那天之後每天盡心察跟台灣有關的新聞、臉書、twitter、等等。找到的英文材料po給美國朋友看。有空就獻時間給文播組翻譯現場文字轉播。 如果我在台灣，也應該只能這樣做。拿外國籍參加台灣學生學運可能影響到居留證，下次不能回國，不能回家。 一天24小時都有消息。這有它的優點和缺點。整天為台灣想、煩惱，按照睡眠不好、不專心學業、覺得平時生活中該做的小事都很煩，因為都不像太陽花學運一樣重要。 自己覺得是自己的國家，然而不能救，那不是很無用嗎？ 今天早上，新聞、臉書、twitter 看累了。心煩意亂。 我把電腦給關閉。默默得坐著。想到芝加哥還這麼冷的天氣，強調我現在跟台灣的距離差很遠。太陽花也見不到。 但是我有鉤針，有毛線。鉤了一朵太陽花。手動著鉤針，慢慢靜心了。 至少自己的太陽花，自己能做。 ""My own country, saving it myself" I love this slogan, but that phrase,…Read more My country?