Reaching Out from Taiwan to the World

Taiwan has always been an active player on the global stage.

In this month’s cover story, we look at Taiwanese sharing their experience with the world, whether in the arts, medicine, Aboriginal affairs, or Internet technology.

Led by Tuhi Mar­tu­kaw, the LIMA Taiwan Indigenous Youth Working Group has become a voice on the world stage, speaking up for Aboriginal issues. Promoting international theatrical exchange, the NGO OISTAT was founded in the Czech Republic, but in 1997 moved its headquarters to Taiwan. This group of young local talent has set to building bridges between the Eastern and Western theatrical worlds.

Social media provider g0v.tw is built on a spirit of cooperation and autonomy, and in just four short years has found use among civil groups not only in Taiwan, but also in Hong Kong and Spain, becoming one of the world’s top three civic tech communities.

In recent years, the Taiwan Foundation for Rare Disorders has worked to improve the medical environment for patients, helping create a model that neighboring countries have begun to look toward. Whether in the medical, artistic, cultural, or tech worlds, Taiwan is always ready to contribute to the global community.

In the blood of today’s cross-generational artists seems to run an inherently rebellious element, something that makes them fearless trailblazers in the face of tradition.

Liu Kuo-sung, recipient of a 2017 National Cultural Award and known as the “father of modern ink painting,” has taken a traditional Eastern art form and infused it with Western elements to create a style uniquely his own. Other artists of the new generation, like Ho ­Ching ­Chwang, Kao I-min, and Kokia Lin, have taken the intoxicating beauty of Chinese characters and injected new ideas into the aesthetic, whether through poetry or design techniques.

Chiayi is home to the 14-year-old performance troupe Our Theater, who reinterpret Western classics in Taiwanese. The expectations of tradition did not limit these artists, but rather gave them an understanding of where they came from. As renowned film director Hou ­Hsiao-hsien has said, “limitations can become the foundation for new creativity.”

Wandering through Tai­pei’s narrow lanes, one finds elegant homes and gardens that have been witness to the city’s history. In Wan­hua, for example, stands the “U-mkt,” an old Jap­an­ese­-era market that has been renovated and revived. The horseshoe-shaped structure, with its brightly lit interior, is like a tunnel leading back eight decades in time, to when the original market was new and bustling.

Neighboring the babbling Bei­tou Creek is the Plum Garden, the house where renowned calligrapher Yu You-ren spent his twilight years. Amid a fusion of Western and Japanese styles, Yu’s calligraphy decorates the building, while in the garden, plum trees provide shade as we reflect on the life and tastes of the garden’s former master.

Our articles this month seek to highlight how artists and NGOs are using action and passion to protect our land, hoping to keep the fires of their wills burning.