Taiwan Scene reviews Joyce Bergvelt’s Lord of Formosa, a sweeping historical novel about Taiwan’s Dutch colonial period and the life of Admiral Koxinga.
Read More
All articles filed in History
Remembering Taiwan’s Kinkaseki POW Camp on Tomb Sweeping Day
ost people visiting the northernmost tip of Taiwan come to see Jiufen or Jinguashi, two of the area’s most popular tourist destinations. Few take the time to visit the monument lying just a few minute’s walk from Jinguashi marking the site of Kinkaseki, one of the most notorious Japanese POW camps of WW2.
Read More
From the Island of Women to #MeToo
Not long ago, when news of rich and powerful men finally being called to account – dethroned as a comeuppance for sexually predatory behavior – was still rolling in, my friend Darice Dan Chang wrote about how the movement had barely touched Taiwan. Although I’m usually upbeat about life in Taiwan as a woman compared to the rest of Asia, she had a point.
Read More
Guanyin, Snakes & History’s Ghosts: An Afternoon on Turtle Island
Though the form for which the island is named is readily apparent from angles further north and south, from Toucheng pier due west, Turtle Island looks more slug-like than terrapin-shaped. A small and curving rock covered in green, the island – like all points on the horizon – grows larger and more distinctive as our boat draws closer. There are about sixty people on the Blue Whale, all wearing bright orange life jackets and hoping to catch a glimpse of the dolphins sometimes spotted frolicking around the island. The boat takes its time along the island’s southern end, a steep hill dotted with carved outcroppings.
Read More
Kinmen – Garden Built on a Granite Fortress
Everyone in Taiwan knows of the Golden Gate. No, not the bridge. Taiwan has its very own Golden Gate, an archipelago directly off the China mainland. For historical reasons the official transliteration of the “golden gate” characters is “Kinmen,” rather than the standard-use Hanyu Pinyin “Jinmen.”
Read More
Where Taiwan Is Not Quite Itself The Remote, Rugged, and Very Different Matsu Islands
Matsu is far to the north, Taiwan’s northernmost possession, across from a north Fujian area called east Fujian in recognition of its distinctive dialect and cultural traditions.
Read More
The Old Taipei – Introducing the City’s Dadaocheng Area
If you want to know more in general about a foreign place, you want to ask a local. If you want to know more about the culture and history of a foreign place, you want to ask a local expert. Travel in Taiwan recently did just this, paying local historian Zhuang Yong-ming a visit to learn more about one of Taipei City’s oldest districts, Dadaocheng, before going on an exploration tour of the area.
Read More
The Southwest Coast – Step Back into the Days and Ways of Taiwan’s Past
Pack your bags! We’re taking you on a multi-day excursion to a region of oyster farms, fish farms, old temples and old-time religion, and distinctive ecology. The plan: a leisurely “drive of discovery” from Tainan City’s coastal Anping District, perhaps Taiwan’s richest historical neighborhood, north to the rustic old fishing-port towns of Beimen and Budai, and on to the Hukou Wetlands in Yunlin County. Don’t forget your camera … or your appetite, for adventure and for seafood.
Read More
Old Industry, Natural Wetland, Strong Liquor, Religious Center-Riding the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle Dashu Line
“Drink the water of Dashu,” goes an old Taiwanese saying, “and you’ll ever be thin and beautiful” – a fine reason, if any were needed, to visit this pleasant riverside Kaohsiung City suburban area in southern Taiwan.
Read More
Keelung: Seaport City of Deep Character
Keelung (基隆; pronounced “jee-long”), Taiwan’s second-busiest seaport after Kaohsiung, combines frenetic energy, distinctive local color, and great seafood with a long and fascinating history.
Read More