I imagined this happening in my late twenties, exactly ten years after high school graduation. A few of us would meet in Taiwan. I had just received my first promotion and at dinner, I’d humblebrag to all my friends. Justin–who would be earning the most–would pay for drinks, then pass out in the car. A few of us would be married, most of us single. Instead, I found myself back in Taiwan with almost a hundred alumni, reliving experiences that were once my last. Lunar New Year, homecooked meals with grandparents, weekly Karaoke—the routines I’d given up when I crossed the Pacific. Read More
Brian Hioe interviewed Victor Cheng, who organized the Paradise parties starting in 1995. The Paradise parties were the first regularly-held LGBT-focused party series in Taiwan. The following article originally appeared on Electric Soul, a Hong Kong-based electronic music magazine and ticketing platform, on February 14th Read More
For a week she stood inside a room at the Taichung train station. There was something quietly defiant about her stance, left foot crossed over her right, the weight of her body slightly on the back foot, as if she were just about to take a small step forward. Her chin tilted up so that her eyes, not fully shut, received light and her eyelids were pearly and diaphanous. She held a soft gaze, not focusing on anything in particular, but able to take in everything Read More
Fashion is where Cèdric Alviani’s work shines in its commentary. The photographs were of outdoor fashion posters. Having been through the elements, the fashion statements the posters aimed to make look hollow. The superficiality associated with fashion photography in this context looks absurd. The colorful photographs scream out criticism of our contemporary consumerist world. This subversive commentary of our contemporary “fast fashion” culture is very self-aware, and in fact, is how the exhibition introduced itself Read More
As COVID-19 spreads throughout Taiwan as part of the current outbreak, what may be particularly of note is the degree to which the outbreak has interfaced with personal behavior Read More
Minister of Culture Lee Yung-te made comments at the recent National Culture Congress earlier this month that might strike as somewhat unusual Read More
At a time in which calls to remove authoritarian symbols have more often led to proposals for the removal of the Chiang Kai-shek statue in the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial, pan-Green legislators have recently called for the removal of the Sun Yat-sen portrait in the legislature Read More
The latest online blow-up by authoritarian leftists–commonly referred to as tankies–proves a bizarre one Read More
Pingtung County recently began offering cash rewards for local residents that bring in an invasive vine, as part of an effort to prevent its spread. The vine, Mikania micrantha, is among the world’s 100 most invasive species, and is known for its ability to rapidly spread, even from branchlings, and it smothers native species by blocking access to sunlight Read More
Although most discussion of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to Taiwan has been about the geopolitical implications, a bizarre undertext to the visit was the frequent times that food came up as part of political attacks Read More
This past weekend, BDSM Company hosted four performances of “Kinky Community Musical 2.0" at the Huashan 1914 Creative Park. Written by Della Wang and directed by Hsiao-I Lu, "Kinky Community Musical 2.0” is a revised version of Wang’s first “Kinky Community Musical,” which debuted in late April 2019 just weeks before the legalization of same-sex marriage in Taiwan. Featuring mesmerizing rope-binding scenes, catchy tunes in the form of twelve original songs, and gripping script writing, the play tells an intertwined love story of four main characters that pushes the boundaries of tongzhi politics to further incorporate Taiwan’s BDSM, asexual, and polyamory communities Read More