A number of recent incidents in Taiwanese society involve influencers behaving badly, in faking incidents of violent crime for hits Read More
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FoxConn founder Terry Gou is at it again. After having announced his 2020 presidential bid with the claim that Mazu, Taiwan’s patron sea goddess, came to him in a dream, Gou claimed earlier in the month that Mazu and war god Guanyu had expressed approval of another presidential run by him. Gou claimed this after visiting temples over the Lunar New Year to ask the gods about his potential run Read More
Recent comments by former President US Donald Trump on Fox News lashed out at Taiwan Read More
Several right-leaning foreign national YouTubers have found an audience in Taiwan. They often purport to “explain” the culture of their home countries or Taiwan. Some promote vapid consumerism, an American lifestyle, and play heavily on shock value by making a spectacle of cultural differences. Few, however, are as dangerous as American YouTuber Sona Eyambe (伊恩貝). Eyambe pretends to be impartial and to do “tons of research,” but instead his videos present common far right-wing conservative arguments Read More
No Man is an Island presents a political cartoon on China's recent claims over Taiwan after the earthquake earlier this month Read More
The proverbial value that youth have a responsibility to respect and provide continuous care for elderly members of our communities even into their old age—a notion commonly known as ‘Filial Piety’—is an idea that is intertwined with contentious discourse surrounding ‘Chinese’ identity. But for all the stereotypes surrounding filiality regarding treatment of our elderly, I do genuinely wonder if that’s just the way people rhetorically pat themselves on the back while ignoring the bleaker reality of how society continues to be largely apathetic and dehumanizing towards senior citizens. One vivid memory I have of such apathy was during a summer abroad language exchange during my undergraduate years: I was running late for a facial appointment that a relative of mine—one of many extremely conservative aunts in my family who policed my apparent ‘lack of femininity’ as an adolescent woman at every given chance—had scheduled for me in an old apartment in Yau Ma Tei. Some self-owned businesses operated out of cheaply rented buildings in the area, and my facial spa was just one of many Read More
When I went to the gallery at Ho Sng House (about a 10-15 minute walk from Guting station) to see Peng Hsiung Hsu’s Sexca-paint (一邊打砲，一邊畫畫) exhibition, the artist was there in person to offer a guided tour. I was handed a lollipop as part of the experience: “The lollipop is part of the exhibition.” Read More
New Bloom/No Man is an Island editor Brian Hioe interviewed Lance and Stuart Chen-Hayes, who recently published 兩個爸爸. This follows up on an interview conducted following the publication of Double Dads One Teen in English in 2019. Lance is Taiwan’s first out gay dad and their nonbinary teen, Kalani, became the first Taiwanese citizen with two father’s names on both an international birth certificate and an international marriage license Read More
Internet personality Joeman was arrested on drug charges earlier this month. Though hardly the first time that a celebrity has come under public scrutiny for a drug-related arrest, the arrest has struck a chord with the public at large Read More
Several incidents in August involved Taiwanese musicians who faced restrictions or otherwise came under scrutiny while touring in China. Read More
Taiwan has been plagued by egg shortages as of late, resulting in a significant increase in egg prices. However, at the same time, there have been warnings from the Tsai administration that Chinese cognitive warfare and disinformation efforts have been leveraging this egg shortage as a particular fault of the Tsai administration. In the meantime, the KMT has been attacking the Tsai administration over the issue Read More
New Bloom/No Man is an Island's Brian Hioe spoke to South Korean writer and photographer Minsik Jung about the art project "Monday Without a Wheelchair", detailing the lived experiences of Filipino migrant workers in Taiwan Read More