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What’s in a Potato?

·May 2, 2023·2 min read

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

Bad Taiwan Takes: Danny Haiphong on US Troops in Taiwan, Chinese Troops in Puerto Rico

English Life

·April 29, 2023·3 min read

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

Lung Yingtai Op-Ed in the New York Times Disregards Voices of Taiwan’s Young

English Life

·April 19, 2023·5 min read

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

Navarro Podcast Proves a Bizarre Fever Dream About Taiwan’s Defense

English Life

·April 18, 2023·3 min read

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 Rally on Ketagalan Boulevard

English Events Life

·April 15, 2023·2 min read

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

Perhaps the Confusion is the Point: China’s Strategic Ambiguity in Drills

English Life

·April 13, 2023·3 min read

China continues to present mixed signals after the end of the three days of live-fire drills that it announced on Saturday Read More

Baboon Escape Saga Ends with Shooting Death, Criticisms of Zoo for Pinning Blame for Shooting on Indigenous Hunter

English Life

·March 28, 2023·2 min read

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

The Ingenious Nobuyoshi Araki Reenactments: Manbo Key, Transgression of Queer

Art English Events Life

·March 8, 2023·16 min read

Regarding Japanese photographer, contemporary artist Nobuyoshi Araki, I will discuss how the latecomers—Ren Hang, the Chinese photographer, and Manbo Key, Taiwanese photographer influenced by Araki, reenact his transgression but at the same time create something novel Read More

Terry Gou Stokes 2024 Speculation, Claiming to Have Approval of Not Only Sea Goddess but War God

English Life

·March 3, 2023·3 min read

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

Egg Shortages Honed in on by Chinese Disinformation?

English Life

·March 1, 2023·3 min read

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

From Cross-Strait Provocateur to Memelord?: Chen Shui-bian’s Recent Memes

Art English Life

·February 24, 2023·4 min read

Chen Shui-bian has gone from a perceived cross-strait provocateur to memelord, as of late, with a series of viral images posted by Chen on Instagram and Facebook Read More

Series of Data Leaks Raise Concerns About Information Being Used by Scammers, China

English Life

·February 11, 2023·3 min read

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