Mekong Review

Category: Taiwan

Cybercrime unchained

Nick J. Freeman

Cybercrime is a big business, and some of its leading perpetrators are playing a cat-and-mouse game with the authorities in Southeast Asia.

The ‘desert book’

Nat Ty

Attempting to rebuild their relationship after her coming out, a daughter finds a momentary connection with her mother over Sanmao’s Stories of the Sahara.

Architecture in context

Troels Steenholdt Heiredal

Shifting Horizons: The Generation of Emancipatory Architecture in Taiwan is a unique exhibition including the many aspects that make up architectural production and attempting to locate the formation of contemporary Taiwanese architecture.

The mystery of the Little People

James Baron

Few who encounter Pas-ta’ai, the ritual to the “little people”, and the complex, sometimes contradictory, folklore associated with it are unmoved. Some even become obsessed with unravelling the ceremony’s mysterious origins.

Forging identity

Martin Laflamme

Many Taiwanese have developed a new sense of self, proud of the island’s unique history, and Lee Teng-hui played a key role in that process.

Dictatorial power

Martin Laflamme

Chiang Kai-shek might have put in place measures that eventually led to Taiwan’s economic miracle, but political freedom for the Taiwanese was the last thing on his mind.

To the left

Erin Hale

‘Tò-uat’ means ‘turn left’ in Taiwanese Hokkien—a signal of political orientation rather than literal direction—and the bookstore’s website describes itself as “Taiwan’s only social movement–focused bookstore”.

Identity on Huaxin Street

Liang Liang

The neighbourhood around Huaxin Street in Taipei is known as Little Burma. Multiple generations have sunk their roots into this neighbourhood. It’s not a question of assimilation, but a mix of everything to create a new and complex political identity.

Letting go

Ducky Tse

Ducky Tse was an established photographer in Hong Kong when, at the age of fifty, he decided to uproot and relocate to Taiwan. He bought a van and refurbished it, driving it around the country. Through his photographs, he reflects on a new chapter of his life.

Mandarin class

Esther Kim

A diary kept by Esther Kim to document her early months in Taipei, and her interactions with people from different backgrounds who have gathered to learn Mandarin.