A moment of levity. A Taiwan Halloween, 1997.
Protests in Taiwan
First, watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2XyhLbWKOw Then read some of these articles, if you're still interested: Taiwanese Occupy Legislature Over China Pact Student protesters repel police, hold Legislative chamber Occupy the legislature: is it the only way? Importance of Social Movements in Taiwan Smear Tactics and Taiwan's Compliant Media I've been glued to coverage and wandering about…Read more Protests in Taiwan
The end of Chinese religion?
After two weeks in Beijing in 2012, I finally realized why I felt the city seemed so lifeless, even as it teemed with millions of people and their very real, full lives. Where were the temples? Where were the markers of a neighborhood like Tudi Gong shrines? Where were the folding tables full of offerings…Read more The end of Chinese religion?
Those lucky southerners!
In 1919, families in 大稻城 (Dadaocheng, Tōa-tiū-tiâⁿ), which lay north of the Taipei City wall, sponsored a troupe of actors from China to come perform in Taiwan for a few months. With what seemed like great excitement, the tour was announced on August 2nd in the Taiwan Nichi Nichi Shinpo 台灣日日新聞, the most widely circulated…Read more Those lucky southerners!
Recommended read: Reflections on 228
Recommended read: Reflections on 228 People in Taiwan had Friday off as a national holiday, not one of celebration but of national memorial. Whether the 228 Massacre and the remembering of it weighs heavy in your heart each year, or if this is the first you've heard of it, the short article at Taiwaneseamerican.org …Read more Recommended read: Reflections on 228
A people and their stories
I'm on my second time through Boxers & Saints and still bowled over by how good it is. A modified version of the tale of Princess Miaoshan, which existed most popularly in the form of a baojuan, interrupts the plot of Boxers with a moment of peace and hope before the final battle. That enough…Read more A people and their stories
Out in China with Mrs. Archibald Little
Ever since I read Heathen Chinese's post about Boxers & Saints by Gene Luen Yang, I've been waiting for our library to make them available. I loved his American Born Chinese and I anticipate loving these books even more. And now I have them! But I'm saving them as a reward for whenever it is…Read more Out in China with Mrs. Archibald Little
Pray consult the story related in the following chapter
Sixty-three years ago, David Tod Roy was, as the New York Times puts it, "a 16-year-old American missionary kid looking for a dirty book" at a used book store in Nanjing, China. The book? The Chin P'ing Mei (金瓶梅), a 100-chapter vernacular novel from 16th century China. It relates the intricate details of daily life…Read more Pray consult the story related in the following chapter
On Writing
From the editorial preface to Mackay's From Far Formosa: "To a man of his ardent temperament and active habits prolonged literary work is the most irksome drudgery. He would rather face a heathen mob that write a chapter for a book." (4) -J. A. MacDonald While I haven't faced any mobs lately, there's plenty I'd…Read more On Writing
The glamor of graduate study
When taking my comprehensive exams years ago, at one of the many moments when I lost sight of the forest of Chinese literature for the trees of individual pieces of scholarship on it all, my advisor suggested I go back to the sources themselves. It was just what I needed, although I still managed to…Read more The glamor of graduate study
Far From Formosa 