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
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
Data leaks continue to be a matter of significant concern in Taiwan, with concerns raised by civil society groups about popular online ecommerce platform Shopee and a widely reported data leak by iRent, a service for sharing motorcycles and cars or renting vehicles Read More
Tuan Tuan, one of four giant pandas displayed in the Taipei Zoo, has become ill with brain lesions. MRI imagery from late September shows that Tuan Tuan has local large-scale necrosis and edema on the left-side of his brain. There is local small-scale edema on the right side of his brain. Read More
News reports indicate that Taiwanese actor Wu Mu-hsuen was made to sign a pledge of agreement with China’s territorial claims over Taiwan. Details of this pledge were disclosed by Wu’s agent, Chen Hsiao-chih Read More
A number of recent incidents in Taiwanese society involve influencers behaving badly, in faking incidents of violent crime for hits Read More
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
Over 4,000 have signed a petition against development plans by National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University for the campus of its College of Hakka Studies, which is located in Zhubei 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
The pan-Blue camp experienced another strange controversy regarding English-language messaging earlier this week when it came to the attention of the Taiwanese public that the website for Ko Wen-je’s TPP featured a slogan that read “Vote White, Vote Right.” Subsequently, podcast program Bailinguo, which focuses on international affairs, honed in on the bizarre optics of the website, which could be interpreted as expressing support for white supremacy 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
“Walking the Crack” sets out to be a “walk-able” exhibition in some form, citing Michel de Certeau in its abstract. Read More