A Broad and Ample Road

Dear all, Hello dear readers! Thanks to all who replied to our missive about a film portraying the last living Taiwanese prisoner-of-war in Siberian camps. Our next rec: we urge everyone who lives in Taiwan to see All Things to All《為一切人，成為一切》in the theater. It’s a beautiful documentary depicting Catholic priests who have worked in Hualien for over 50 years.

Late in the documentary Memories Frozen in Time (《冰封的記憶》), directed by Hsu Ming-chun (許明淳) and available to stream for free on Taiwan’s PTV+, the camera settles on Masao Go (吳正男). Born in 1927 in Douliu, then part of Tainan Prefecture, Go was a Taiwanese subject of the Japanese Empire. Like so many young men of his generation, he was drawn into the imperial machine. At sixteen, without his parents’ consent, he volunteered for the Japanese army and trained as a radio operator.

Plus, congratulations to Yáng Shuāngzǐ & Lin King, event this Thursday with Plain Law & Khí-Sū, and good links! We’re delighted to share a guest photo essay by a talented photographer Eric Hsu. But first a quick update: we have an event this Thursday evening, May 28th with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文運動) and Khí-Sū Culture Publishing Ltd. (挑興文化), where we’re discussing director Hsu Ming-chun’s beautiful documentary Memories Frozen in Time.

Part 2 of an interview with Kevin Wang, who talks about making a life in Taiwan, code-switching, translating Du Fu, and being Chinese American here; plus, little updates Dear all, Hello! We’re thinking of all of you. We’re back this week with an interview with Kevin Wang, who was born in China and migrated to the U.S. when he was nine years old. It’s been four years since he moved to Taiwan.

Hello dear readers, We’re so sorry we’ve been out of touch! We’ve felt an incredible sense of writer’s block because of all of the craziness in the world; we’ve been thinking of the senseless misery and violence in Iran and Lebanon. We’ve also had a busy few weeks of travel; Albert was at a conference in Boston on religious history and Michelle went to a conference in Chicago with the Taiwan Innocence Project, then onto a book fair in Bologna, where she shared books from Taiwan.

Hello everyone! We’re thinking of all of you during these turbulent times. This week, we’re reprinting a book review Michelle wrote of Taiwan Travelogue by Yang Shuang-zi, translated virtuostically by Lin King. Set in Japanese-rule Taiwan, the novel was recently longlisted for the Booker Prize.

Hello dear readers, Albert and Michelle here. Happy Lunar New Year! We last wrote about our deep sense of paralysis at our current moment. We still feel unmoored, as there’s been so much bad news: the absurd geopolitical standoff between the US and the EU over Greenland; the violent occupation of Minnesota; the crackdown in Iran that left thousands dead; and the relentless, simmering military tension right here in the Taiwan Strait.

Hello dear readers, We apologize for being out of touch. Partly it’s the continuation of the end-of-year crush that always feels so intense in Taiwan. (We’ve had mountains of work, as well as visitors in town amid our non-Western work schedule.) But we’ve felt agitated and sickened by the news, which is awful and relentless—Maduro’s abduction, the killings of thousands of protesters in Iran, and ICE’s murder of Renee Good and terrorizing of Minneapolis.

Hello dear readers, Michelle and Albert here. Sorry we’ve been out of touch—we’ve both had a really nasty bout of illness, and the end of the year in Taiwan is always a whirlwind of events. Plus! We went to Mexico for ten days to attend the FIL in Guadalajara, the biggest Spanish-speaking book fair. We had an amazing time and are still processing everything we learned. Today, Michelle reflects on revisiting Middlemarch, middle age, and marriage.

Albert and Michelle here. We were in Tainan over the weekend for a poignant 25-year anniversary of Lu Cheng’s execution. Organized by the Taiwan Innocence Project, it featured a screening of Tsai Tsung-Lung’s documentary Formosa Homicide Chronicle II: The Case of Lu Cheng (島國殺人紀事2), followed by speeches and a candlelight vigil. The Innocence Project also prepared a table of Lu’s favorite snacks for us to eat.