Stories about Taiwan (ROC) from June, 2010
Taiwan: Fly, Wen Gui Hospital, Fly!
Have you ever seen the Pixar/Disney animation “UP”? See the real version in Tainan County, Taiwan(zht) when students from Tainan National University of the Arts tried to save the old Wen Gui(文貴) Hospital(photos) , a historic building which is scheduled to be demolished on June 30.
Taiwan: Don't call Rendy Lu “Glory of Taiwan”
“Do not always praise these national athletes ‘Glory of Taiwan’ loudly only after they strived hard to glorify themselves!” argues Klairelee(zht), who blames Taiwanese government and media that are always eager to consume their achievement but paid no attention to many striving Taiwanese athletes-including Taiwanese tennis player Rendy(Yen Hsun) Lu who just beat Andy Roddick at Wimbleton...
Worldwide: The oil spills that don't make the news
The tragic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has the world's attention on the devastation that badly managed oil extraction can bring. However, in some places around the world, people live with toxic spills such as these and through videos people try to bring the world's attention to their plight.
Taiwan: “When the Excavators Came to the Rice Fields”
Now occupying only 1.8% of total GDP in Taiwan, no one can deny that local agriculture has lost its once highly-respected status and is almost dying under many political decisions that are not in favor of agriculture. Or we can say that farming is no longer regarded as important and...
Taiwan: The Chiang Kai-shek personality cult
Michael Turton analyses a paper by Jeremy Taylor which looks at how a personality cult was built around Chiang Kai-shek in Taiwan and China.
Taiwan: Where is the mainland?
Tim Maddog at Taiwan Matters discusses the use of the word “mainland” by people in Taiwan to refer to China. He argues it is part of an indoctrination effort by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). He has translated an article which discusses how the use of the word affects people's...
China: Post 80s rural worker
A recent wave of labour strike in China has attracted local and foreign media's attention. While local media has been harmonized by the propaganda department in order to stop workers from copying each others’ spontaneous protests, foreign media, such as The New York Times, believe that it is a beginning...
Taiwan: The Chinese nation meme
Letters from Taiwan writes about the Chinese nation meme and how this is used by President Ma Ying-jeou to imply that both Taiwan and China are part of the Chinese Nation. However, this meme is just one of two competing memes about national identity in Taiwan.
Taiwan: Indigenous conference brings together Austronesian speakers
Life in Taiwan reports on an international conference for indigenous peoples held in Taiwan. The conference brought together people from Austronesian-speaking countries to discuss issues such as health, education and endangered languages. Austronesian languages are spoken in the islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans and parts of Southeast Asia.
Taiwan: An open letter to Japanese architect Tadao Ando
Architect and blogger Sun De-hong(孫德鴻), in his open letter, asks Tadao Ando, the famous Japanese architect “What is social responsibility?“(zht). Sun questions Tadao Ando–who always talks about “architects’ social responsibility” in speeches–whether it is socially responsible to build his new “Church of Earth” on the precious and diminishing farmland in...
Taiwan: Chiayi Sound Project
“Chiayi Sound Project initiated from 2008. It mainly focuses on field recording in southern Taiwan – Chiayi, the recording topics include oral history, nature environment, folk music, industry, religion and local events.” Check the project's latest recording of Mayasvi, one of the two most important rituals of Tsou indigenous people.
