Taiwan re-elects Pres. Tsai Ing-wen — by another landslide!

Tsai’s entire career trajectory could be described as a ‘Rampage of Firsts’, shattering glass ceilings as she rose through the ranks of Taiwan society By Trista di Genova-CHANG, The Wild East magazine Foreign observers & Taiwanese alike view Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen as a BIG POSITIVE! That must be why

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George Psalmanazar: Taiwan’s first diplomat!

By Sean Kaiteri / Culture Vulture for The Wild East In 1703, England received her first ever exotic traveler from Formosa (Now Taiwan): a charming man who enjoyed telling everyone all the crazy and foreign things he and his “people” did from the faraway land. One problem? That man was

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Prof. Scott Simon to speak on Seediq Bale @ Academia Sinica

Anthropologist Scott Simon will be speaking at Academia Sinica in Taipei on May 6 at 2:30pm, on the topic “Sadyaq Balae! State and Indigeneity on Formosa” in Room B202, RCHSS Academia Sinica (map) Like indigenous peoples around the globe, the Austronesian peoples of Formosa (Taiwan) have lost their sovereignty because

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‘Formosan Odyssey’ by John Ross: BOOK REVIEW

Formosan Odyssey: Taiwan, Past and Present by John Ross. RATING: 4.5 stars **** Paperback, 285 pages Published 2002 by Taiwan Adventure Publications ISBN 9869995160 I recently re-read this book, and thoroughly enjoyed it again, perhaps even more than the first time. This is probably because this time around, I knew

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The strange history of the sweet potato

By Trista di Genova The following is my interview with my Taiwanese friend, the famous guy, WuBai, about a mysterious vegetable that is central to Taiwanese identity and consciousness (台灣意識 Taiwan yishi), as well as a staple in their diet since time immemorial – the sweet potato. WuBai: We have

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Mapping Taiwan: A journey through history

By Kwangyin Liu / Taiwan Today Taiwan may be Asia’s most vibrant democracy, but this lofty status masks a colonial past that continues to impact local society and the identity of the people. For Jerome F. Keating, a U.S.-born academic, documenting the island’s history through the cartographic lens is a

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'Why Taiwan Matters': A Book Review

By Owain Mckimm, Special to The Wild East Why Taiwan Matters: Small Island, Global Powerhouse. Shelly Rigger Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (29 April 2011) ISBN: 978-1442204799 Pages 232 (Hardcover) Why Taiwan Matters is a strange title for a book. No one would write a book called Why America Matters, because

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THE SOCIAL ORIGINS OF THE TAIWAN DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT: THE MAKING OF FORMOSA MAGAZINE, 1979

THE SOCIAL ORIGINS OF THE TAIWAN DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT: THE MAKING OF FORMOSA MAGAZINE, 1979 by Linda Gail Arrigo original July 1981; revised March 1992 PREFACE This article was completed in July 1981, and is reproduced here slightly abridged but unaltered in substance. Written for a Taiwanese-American audience that idolized the

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FROM DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT TO BOURGEOIS DEMOCRACY: INTERNAL POLITICS OF TAIWAN’S DPP (1991)

by Linda Gail Arrigo (Originally published March 1992) INTRODUCTION Taiwan is awash with money. It has the highest foreign currency reserves in the world, per capita. Its GNP per capita is soaring and may soon surpass US$ 10,000; it is the Taiwan miracle, proof of the export industrialization strategy [1].

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Taiwan’s Unsung Hero: A Tribute to Linda Arrigo

One of the most underappreciated intellectuals around, for decades Linda Gail Arrigo has stuck to her guns and stood up for human rights in Taiwan. She should be thanked for always being a truth-teller, and providing authorities with at times a much-needed cattleprod to their conscience [Note:Other publications have declined

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