The rescue of 19 individuals from a religious cult by authorities last month after a police raid points to a larger problem in Taiwanese society—that of religious groups or other organizations which are effectively cults that have been allowed to operate with little oversight from authorities...
Concerns have been raised regarding the reconstruction of the Losheng Sanatorium by activists, with demonstrations by residents and supportive activists earlier this month. Demonstrations to date have included attaching banners to the construction site of the sanatorium, protesting outside of the Executive Yuan, as well as protesting at the Golden Melody Awards while president Tsai Ing-wen was in attendance at the awards ceremony...
Intensive protests took place across Hong Kong today, marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, also known as Chinese National Day. Police violence took place on a scale likely unprecedented in demonstrations to date, with one protester shot with a live round, making him the first demonstrator shot with live ammunition during demonstrations in Hong Kong over the past eighteen weeks...
Violent scenes have taken place across Hong Kong in the last two days, in the lead-up to Chinese National Day on October 1st. It is expected that Chinese National Day will see intensive protests in Hong Kong, seeing as National Day is a significant anniversary for the People’s Republic of China...
Tens of thousands marched through the streets of Taipei in support of Hong Kong today, despite heavy rain. Organizers claimed that over 100,000 participated...
Two recent incidents of Chinese students attacking Hong Kong students in Taiwan over Lennon Walls have met with relative inaction by university authorities. This should be of little surprise, seeing as Taiwan is already a place in which attacks from pro-unification advocates take place to few, if any response, from the authorities...
As part of an international week of actions taking place from September 20th to September 27th worldwide, Taipei's iteration of the Global Climate Strike took place today in spite of rainy weather...
Demonstrations have continued over the past week in Hong Kong, frequently involving clashes with police. Last weekend marked the sixteenth consecutive week of protests. Looming over demonstrations at present is Chinese National Day commemorations set to take place on October 1, which will commemorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China...
Kiribati broke ties with Taiwan in favor of establishing diplomatic relations with China last week, making it the second diplomatic ally to break ties with Taiwan in a week...
The Megaport Music Festival, likely Taiwan’s largest indie rock festival, announced earlier this month that the festival would be coming to an end after sixteen years. It is widely known that the festival, which is traditionally held in Kaohsiung, is shutting down due to pressure from Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu of the KMT...
Brian Hioe is one of the founding editors of New Bloom. He is a freelance journalist, as well as a translator. A New York native and Taiwanese-American, he has an MA in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University and graduated from New York University with majors in History, East Asian Studies, and English Literature. He was Democracy and Human Rights Service Fellow at the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy from 2017 to 2018 and is currently a Non-Resident Fellow at the University of Nottingham's Taiwan Studies Programme.