Arts and Culture

Of Course The Gay Has To Die: Why The Liberal White Audience Doesn’t Get The Wound

Flair Donglai Shi
The much-anticipated South African film of the year, The Wound, was officially released on the 27th of April, 2018, in the UK. The film was much anticipated because it is indeed one of the very few films that deal with aspects of homoeroticism and homosexuality in traditional African communities. But what to make of the film and reactions to it among white, liberal audiences?... Read More
Arts and CultureEnglishFilm and TelevisionMay 20180 Comments 021 min read

Review: Motherland

Brian Hioe
"Motherland" directed by Ramona S. Diaz, would be an examination of the lives of pregnant women at Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital, the so-called “baby factory” of the Philippines. In this sense, the film is a look at the overpopulation crisis of the Philippines at the very human level of the conditions faced by the pregnant women living in conditions of poverty who give birth at the Fabella Memorial Hospital... Read More
Arts and CultureEnglishFilm and TelevisionOctober 20170 Comments 05 min read

Review: Path Of Destiny (不得不上路)

Brian Hioe
Yang Chun-Kai's “Path of Destiny” would be a deft evocation of the challenges facing preservation of indigenous tradition in Taiwan. Namely, even in those rare cases in which young people actively aim to participate in traditions which may soon be lost, the trend may be irreversible. And given inescapable social tensions between modernity and tradition, adherence to tradition demands great personal sacrifice.... Read More
Arts and CultureEnglishFilm and TelevisionSeptember 20170 Comments 05 min read

Continued Debates Over The Role Of Classical Chinese In Taiwan

Brian Hioe
The defeat of a recent push by language and literature scholars to reform the teaching of Chinese in Taiwan has had surprising implications. Namely, despite the defeat of a push by the Association for Taiwan Literature to reduce the amount of classical Chinese currently taught in Taiwanese, this drew comment from high-ranking Chinese government officials including An Fengshan of the Taiwan Affairs Office. It seems, then, that the debate over the teaching of classical Chinese in Taiwan has become significant enough to draw attention from China... Read More
Arts and CultureEnglishLiterature and PoetrySeptember 20170 Comments 06 min read

Recent Debates About Teaching Of Classical Chinese In Taiwan

Brian Hioe
A recent statement by the Association for Taiwan Literature calling on the Ministry of Education to change the education curriculum in Taiwan to focus less on traditional Chinese classics and instead to draw on materials more suitable to contemporary Taiwan is the end result of a series of debates in past months about differences between Taiwanese and Chinese literature, as well as language learning in Taiwan... Read More
Arts and CultureAugust 2017EnglishLiterature and Poetry0 Comments 08 min read