New Bloom’s Brian Hioe spoke to Jean-Aurel Maurice, the founder of the Xaragua Arts Center in Haiti, and Jean-Paul Weaver, Administrative Director and organizer of the fundraiser for the Xaragua Arts Center in Taipei next month, Danse Pou Xaragua. The fundraiser will include authentic Haitian food, live performances, and a Konpa dance workshop, taking place at the Exotica Bar and Grill in Tianmu on June 3rd from 6 PM to 10 PM. Tickets will cost 1,500 NT. All proceeds go towards supporting their Dance Passport program 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
A recent petition by Code Pink sees fit to ventriloquize the people of Taiwan, claiming that the people of Taiwan do not want war with China–certainly true–but then claiming that the people of Taiwan do not hope for support for the US against China. The petition goes on to cite polling by Academia Sinica Read More
A strange moment of political convergence occurred with former Trump administration official Elbridge Colby retweeting tankie influencer Carl Zha Read More
FoxConn founder Terry Gou raised eyebrows the other day, with a promise to fund an army of 80,000 robots to defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion. Gou claimed that he would accomplish this within three years Read More
Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung was questioned last month over Taiwanese education textbooks that used 土豆, the PRC word for “potato”, to describe the vegetable instead of the more commonly used 馬鈴薯. By contrast, 土豆 refers to “peanut” in a Taiwanese context Read More
A recent tweet by tankie influencer Danny Haiphong reacted against news that the US currently has 200 military advisors in Taiwan. Haiphong suggested that China was justified in its outrage, while advocating that if the US is allowed to station troops in Taiwan, China should be allowed to station troops in Puerto Rico Read More
An op-ed in the New York Times today by the former Ma administration Minister of Culture Lung Yingtai proves typical in its delusion. After all, despite a history of criticizing the KMT’s authoritarian rule as a writer during the authoritarian period, Lung later saw fit to join an administration led by that same party–never mind the party’s refusal to make amends for the tens of thousands it killed during the White Terror and its contemporary aims to trade off Taiwan’s democratic freedoms to China, at the expense of the futures of its young people Read More
A recent podcast by former Trump administration official Peter Navarro about Taiwan, entitled “How Taiwan Must Prepare for War, Imperial China Prepares Pearl Harbor 2.0”, proves a bizarre example of how MAGA Republicans imagine war scenarios between Taiwan and China. The podcast was released for Navarro’s regular podcast, “Taking Back Trump’s America" Read More
Cannabis decriminalization advocates held a demonstration and fair on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building today. Organizers claimed 2,000 were in attendance. While the demonstration was to mark 420, the rally took place instead today because of the weekend. This is the fifth time such a demonstration has been held in Taiwan, with last year’s demonstration called off due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic Read More
China continues to present mixed signals after the end of the three days of live-fire drills that it announced on Saturday Read More
The saga of a baboon spotted variously in the past few weeks in Pingjhen District in Taoyuan came to a dramatic end yesterday after the animal was tranquilized by authorities in the afternoon. Subsequently, however, the baboon was reported as having been discovered to have gunshot wounds Read More