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Cinema, Dream, Existence

With City of Sadness and The Puppetmaster, Hou Hsiao-Hsien established the landmarks of Taiwan’s New Cinema—distinguished by aesthetic distance and break with political taboo. Chen traces the origins of Hou’s achievement to a mixture of an apprenticeship in commercial film, a unique synthesis of islander and high-modern culture, and impartial sympathy for those caught up in history’s storm.

A Tale of Two Nationalisms

As tensions are ratcheted up across the Taiwan Strait, Wang Chaohua analyses the distinctive trajectory of national consciousness on the island. Contradictions of identity, as the legacies of KMT and Cold War confront local particularities and democratic impulses, and possibilities for an exit from the impasses of geography and history.

Tensions in Taiwan

Taiwanese artists, activists and intellectuals organize against the fanning of ethnic differences by DPP Greens and KMT Blues during the island’s 2004 election. Cultural identity and official ‘de-Sinicization’ in a fast-expanding East Asian context.