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Taiwanese Celebrities Come Under Fire from Chinese Netizens for Congratulating Olympics Athletes

·August 3, 2021·4 min read

Singer-songwriter Jolin Tsai and television host Xiao S, whose real name is Dee Hsu, are among the Taiwanese celebrities to have come under fire after expressing support for Taiwanese athletes at the Olympics. This proves the latest sporting incident in which identity issues between Taiwan and China have been flagged, with scrutiny occurring over posts on platforms banned in China Read More

Best Taiwanese Indie Albums of 2021

English Music

·January 7, 2022·6 min read

New Bloom members Peter Freestone and Brian Hioe pick some of their favorite indie albums from 2021, mainly focusing on bands from Taiwan. This is the fourth in a series of Best Album lists compiled by New Bloom Read More

Best Indie EPs of 2021

English Music

·January 28, 2022·5 min read

New Bloom members Peter Freestone and Brian Hioe pick some of their favorite indie EPs from 2021, focusing on bands from Taiwan. This is one of a series of Best Album lists compiled by New Bloom Read More

Emotionally Gripping, if Didactic: A Review of Revolution of Our Times

English Film

·March 1, 2022·3 min read

Revolution of Our Times is not a particularly artful film, if it is often a moving one. And it is one that is highly successful on these merits. The Hong Kong protest documentary by Kiwi Chow made its debut at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival through a secretly arranged screening and started a theatrical run in Taiwan on February 25th, having won Best Documentary at the Golden Horse Film Festival Read More

Rainie Yang Controversy Prompts Netizens to React by Posting Photos of Seafood on Social Media

English Life

·September 6, 2022·4 min read

A recent scandal involved singer Rainie Yang claiming not to be Taiwanese, but a “Guangdong person that grew up in Taiwan” on a Chinese program. Yang claimed this despite being born in Taipei in 1984 Read More

The KMT Enters the Metaverse…With Chiang Kai-shek NFTs

English Life

·January 18, 2022·3 min read

The latest of the KMT’s desperate attempts to appeal to people proves a funny one–Chiang Kai-Shek NFTs. More specifically, a recent initiative of the KMT to try and raise funds for the party has been turning a decorative saber owned by Chiang Kai-shek into an NFT Read More

Best Club EPs of 2021

English Music

·December 30, 2021·6 min read

New Bloom member Peter Freestone picks some of his favorite club EPs from 2021, mainly focusing on music producers from East Asia. This is the second in a series of Best Album lists compiled by New Bloom Read More

A Look Back at 2021: Ten Highlights from Electric Soul’s Last Year

English Music

·January 4, 2022·3 min read

Look back on the past year of Asian electronic music with the top ten articles from our partner publication Electric Soul! Electric Soul is a Hong Kong-based electronic music platform and publication Read More

A Beat Ahead or Behind of the World

English Film

·July 9, 2021·3 min read

My Missing Valentine surprised in 2020 when it swept the Golden Horse Awards, Taiwan’s top film awards. The movie took home not only Best Feature Film, but also Best Original Screenplay and Best Director. The film’s two leads, Liu Kuan Ting and Patty Lee, were nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress, respectively, but did not win Read More

An Elegaic Tale of the Cold War Past in Taiwan: A Review of Lily Narcissus

Books English

·December 17, 2022·3 min read

Jonathan Lerner's Lily Narcissus is an elegiac novel, reflecting on a period of history long gone Read More

“My Best Friend’s Breakfast” Teases Originality but Falls Back onto Flawed Formulae

English Film

·July 30, 2022·2 min read

2022’s top Taiwanese romance blockbuster "My Best Friend’s Breakfast" will probably appeal to genre fans, but fails to innovate enough beyond established tropes for anyone else to enjoy Read More

The Many Repetitions of Hong Kong History

English Film

·April 22, 2022·2 min read

There are few words fit to describe Blue Island, apart from “masterpiece.” The film stands out as an example of its genre, while also managing to be highly powerful and personal Read More