History Archive

The complexities of two worlds colliding (review of Ken Chih-Yan Sun’s ‘Time and Migration’ for Global Asia)

The following review appeared in the June issue of Global Asia. Time has become such a preoccupation of migration studies in recent years that the “temporal turn” the field has taken has itself become a research topic. What makes Ken Chih-Yan Sun’s approach in Time and Migration conspicuously different is not so much the longitudinal […]
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The master of small things

The following feature appeared in today’s Taipei Times: But for a banana, I wouldn’t have met Chuang Hsin-li (莊新利). En route to the mountains of Yunlin County, I stop for sustenance at a fruit truck in Gukeng Township (古坑). It’s the second day of Lunar New Year; the vehicle is sparsely stocked: sprigs of lycees […]
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In Trump we trust

The following feature appeared in today’s Taipei Times: Taipei rally sees eclectic gathering united in support of outgoing US president Things get off to strange start as the gathering on Ketagalan Boulevard takes shape from 1:30pm on Saturday. A gathering of pro-Taiwan independence groups and activists marching in support of outgoing US President Donald Trump […]
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End of an era: Cartier-Bresson and the cross-strait diaspora

The following essay appeared in the December issue of University of California Press’ Afterimage magazine. The pdf is embedded here as the piece is behind a paywall online. (Use the scroll bar on the right-hand side to flick through the pages).
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Seeing past Taiwan’s identity politics: a review of ‘The Great Exodus’ for Global Asia

The following article appeared in the December issue of Global Asia magazine: Many China watchers see it as only a matter of time before Xi Jinping makes his move against Taiwan. The Hong Kong crackdown, the coming Biden presidency and the distraction of the Covid-19 pandemic, not to mention Xi’s own statements on the matter: […]
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Finding compassion for refugees: a review of ‘The Global Exodus’ for Taipei Times

The following review appeared in today’s Taipei Times: With calls to grant political asylum to Hong Kong dissidents, Taiwan’s refugee law has been in the spotlight recently. Exhibitions, workshops and presentations on the issue have been organized by NGOs and activists. However, absent from the discussion has been an examination of the role of refugeeism […]
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Flight of the Aztec Eagles: When Mexico bombed Taiwan

An abridged version of the following article appeared in yesterday’s Taipei Times: “Stand up anyone who didn’t learn anything just now,” says Michael Hurst. Nobody moves from the seats they’ve been glued to for the past 90 minutes. “I certainly learned a whole lot,” says Hurst, director of the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society. “But […]
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The glorious contradictions of Lee Teng-hui

The following article was published in The Diplomat on August 18: “It was one of the few days in my life when I wore a suit,” remembers Hans Breuer. Back in 1996, Breuer, then a freelance translator, was contacted to work as an interpreter for German TV network ZDF, which was in Taiwan to cover […]
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Not quite Chinese (Taipei Times review of Russia’s Chinese Princess)

The following book review appeared in today’s Taipei Times: “Though Chiang was born in Siberia, she displayed the virtues of a traditional Chinese woman,” said then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) following the death of Chiang Fang-liang (蔣方良) in 2004. “She was a good mother and a good wife who always put her family first.” Leaving aside […]
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Shadows at Yangmingshan

The following article appeared in today’s Taipei Times: On the 45th anniversary of his death, Chiang Kai-shek’s footprints can be found all over Taipei’s national park Nowhere are the effects of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) postwar Sinification campaign more visible than in the toponymic revisions that the regime undertook after assuming power. Taipei’s streets […]
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