David on Formosa

The Taipei International Book Exhibition opened yesterday. I visited the exhibition today at the Taipei World Trade Centre to see what was new this year. This year’s special guest exhibitor is France. Francophones will be sure to enjoy the large range of French literature on display. There is also a selection of French films screening [...]

I saw the short film Msgamil: Once Upon a Time (泰雅千年) while visiting Smangus in August last year. I then saw Through Thousands Years* (走過千年) at the Ethnographic Film Festival. Msgamil is a short film produced by Chen Wen-bin (陳文彬) about the historical migration of the Atayal. Through Thousands Years, by the Atayal director Pilin [...]

Austronesian Taiwan: Linguistics, History, Ethnology, Prehistory was first published in 2000 and has been out of print for past few years. A new edition of the book was published to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Shung Ye Museum and the exhibition of artifacts from Japan’s National Museum of Ethnology. The new edition was edited [...]

It might seem hard to imagine now but 20 years ago there were many similarities between the political situation in Taiwan and China. Both countries had an authoritarian polity with strict controls on freedom of speech. On university campuses the party-state (KMT or CCP) maintained tight control over student organisations and political activities. The situation [...]

The Taipei International Book Exhibition (台北國際書展) is now on at the Taipei World Trade Centre. It opened for the trade yesterday and to the public today. The exhibition features a huge range of books from Taiwanese and international publishers.

Framing the Bride: Globalizing Beauty and Romance in Taiwan‘s Bridal Industry by Bonnie Adrian is a fascinating anthropological study of Taiwan’s wedding photo industry. It also takes a broader look at the rites associated with marriage in contemporary Taiwan and the roles of women in society. The author first became interested in the bridal photos [...]

Democracy’s Dharma: Religious Renaissance and Political Development in Taiwan is a new book by Richard Madsen. Madsen was formerly ordained in the Maryknoll Order which brought him to Taiwan in the late 1960s. He later left the order for an academic career. He is currently Professor of Sociology at the University of California. Democracy’s Dharma [...]