Putting Down Roots in Taiwan

In this issue we bring you stories of people from different countries and different professions who have chosen to make Taiwan their home. For example, we see how love brought semiconductor technology expert Hitoshi Mizunuma to our island, where his work underpins cooperation between the Taiwanese and Japanese electronics industries; and how artist Pascal van der Graaf, a winner of the Netherlands’ Royal Award for Modern Painting, has assimilated into local life and found his “true colors.”

We also reveal how internationally renowned particle physicist Stathes Paganis views Taiwan’s academic environment, and what strengths of Taiwan attracted him to live here; as well as what drew the well-­traveled cloud computing expert Tom Fifield to settle in Taiwan and make his life here. And we tell the wonderful story of how 88-year-old Jesuit priest Fr. Luis Gutheinz has devoted his life to Taiwan. All of these are featured in this month’s cover story.

Do migrant workers and long-term immigrants still encounter overt discrimination in Taiwanese society? Or suffer the effects of attitudes that may be hidden below the surface, but emerge consciously or unconsciously in our words and deeds? Professor Ted Tsai, an ethnomusicologist who was bestowed the rank of prince in Java, helps us analyze the current state of Southeast-Asian performance arts in Taiwan and the difficulties they face.

We bring you a first-hand report on wildlife rescue in Taiwan from the Wild­One Wildlife Hospital, which opened in 2020 in Taitung’s Chishang Township as the nation’s first ever non-profit center for the veterinary treatment and rehabilitation of wild animals. And we present a selection of photographs of old markets, as well as a story on Taiwan’s “Little Burma”—Huaxin Street in Zhonghe—where many ethnic Chinese from Myanmar have settled. We also visit Maling in Keelung’s Qidu District, which has become a popular local tourist destination in recent years.

Modeling by the International Renewable Energy Agency predicts that by 2050, the world will be generating more than 900 million metric tons of photovoltaic panel waste per year. However, a research team from the National University of Tainan is develop­ing a world-leading recycling system to deal with these discarded solar panels. We explore how they are turning trash into gold, thereby driving the development of an entire industrial chain.

Another “enlightening” Taiwanese invention is the world’s first “candlelight OLED” table lamp, which emits no blue light. Professor Jou Jwo-huei of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at National Tsing Hua University tells us about its advantages for our health and for the natural environment.