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Based on a project on Chinese Malaysians' educational mobility across the Chinese-speaking world, this paper highlights their reasons for attending university in Taiwan while examining their subjective formations as ethnic Chinese vis-à-vis transnational processes. Resulting from ethnographic and interview-based research conducted in 2019–2021, the findings demonstrate that the students' choices for higher education are, to a great extent, culturally driven and historically contingent. Thus they provide an alternative view to the dominant paradigm of international student mobility that emphasises economic and future career incentives. By focusing on three factors—state racism, historical connections, and Sinophone cultural consumption—that motivated them to leave Malaysia and go to Taiwan, this paper moreover draws attention to the transnational infrastructures (e.g. policy, media, interpersonal networks) that have continually reproduced and transformed a long-existing migration pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mass formal education is a feature of modern societies all too often taken for granted or overlooked in mainstream sociological analysis. In this respect, the field of Taiwan studies is no exception. This introductory essay sets the three papers of this topical section in historical and comparative perspective, particularly in relation to East Asia. The papers show how education policy in contemporary Taiwan has evolved in a context of vibrant democracy, economic transition, demographic squeeze, and, looming over all, the threat from the Chinese mainland. Our focus falls especially on higher education and language instruction, and their involvement in debates over economic prosperity, security, identity, and Taiwan's place in the world. A central theme of this introductory essay is the way in which educational debate in Taiwan is conditioned by awareness of insecurity—at individual, familial and societal levels. The intensely competitive, human capital-oriented approach to education that predominates there is bound up in complex ways with the insecurities of life on this island. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes a historical anthropological approach to charting the intricate relationships between the industry of peiyin (dubbing, voice-over), the state institutions, and the public in shaping Taiwan's sociolinguistic soundscape since 1945. Grounded in multi-year ethnographic research with the peiyin industry and archival sources, this paper discerns three stages—industrialisation, popularisation, and diversification—through which the industry not only facilitated the state in establishing the Mandarin monopoly, but also contributed to the disestablishment of that very monopoly by introducing Sinitic polypoly to the public over time. In so doing, this article contributes to the anthropological and sociolinguistic literature on Mandarin in Taiwan with a dynamic account of peiyin both as a sociolinguistic practice and a social force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper surveys developments in language politics and policy in Taiwan under Tsai Ing-wen's presidency (2016–present). Drawing on historical-institutionalist premises, it shows that recent language policy developments were path-dependent and built upon initiatives proposed under Chen Shui-bian's presidency (2000–2008). The paper argues that the comparative success of Tsai's initiatives owed not only to her party forming a legislative majority, but also to a broad sociopolitical consensus on transitional and historical justice, and to an incrementalist strategy that consisted in legislating on minority languages before laying out a comprehensive multilingual legal framework. Although recent language developments do fall within the purview of identity politics, these factors have enabled the Tsai administration to justify and legitimise measures towards language recognition and revitalisation as intrinsic to Taiwan's democratic consolidation, rather than as tools for identity building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How are we to understand China's decades-long sovereignty claim over Taiwan? One assumption upheld by many international relations scholars is that state behaviour will change according to a variance of polarity in the international system. Yet while China can flexibly manage its territorial issues elsewhere, its goal of unification with Taiwan has not changed despite multiple structural changes in the international system over the decades. This paper argues that historical and nationalist approaches alone do not explain China's unswaying obsession with this island. Geopolitics plays a far more prominent role in the minds of Chinese leaders than scholars have previously acknowledged. Since 1949, China has viewed Taiwan as a geopolitical buffer protecting the security of Chinese coastal areas. China's buffer thinking towards Taiwan was a significant factor in China's decisions to launch military action against Taiwan in 1954, 1958, and 1996. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taiwan was one of the places most affected by SARS in 2003—but one of the least affected by COVID-19 in the first year of the pandemic. Taiwan deployed a centralised approach and has been able to effectively eliminate the threat of the spread of COVID-19 through swift decisions and effective action. This paper compares and evaluates the Taiwanese government's emergency responses to two health crises: SARS in 2003 and COVID-19 in 2020. The policy responses to both are mapped out on easily comprehensible timelines. The study also explores how one crisis governance influences another—how the mishandling of the SARS outbreak influenced early governmental responses to COVID-19. These are described in more detail, divided into thematic sections, and accompanied by illustrative images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do Taiwanese officials view democracy and culture and how do they plan to utilise these two soft power resources as part of advancing the island's international position? Based primarily on interviews conducted with state officials in Taiwan, this paper analyses Taiwan's soft power repositioning in the regional and global soft power competition and examines its advantages and disadvantages. It discusses the institutional and geopolitical constraints Taiwan faces when trying to implement its soft power policy and addresses the internal disagreements over utilising its cultural and democratic achievements. It concludes that despite the utility of soft power in pursuing its foreign policy agenda, Taiwan faces a few major institutional and conceptual obstacles, keeping Taiwanese diplomacy in a transitional period from old thinking about culture and diplomacy while hesitantly evaluating its soft power resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only brought considerable challenges to public health, but also diffusions of fake news on social media platforms, taking on the moniker of "infodemic". To have a better understanding of the infodemic, this research takes 580 pandemic-related fake news stories from two Taiwanese fact-checking platforms and 180,000 real news articles from four major newspapers in Taiwan spanning from January 2020 to August 2021. The paper presents lexical usages and discourses of fake news from the perspective of corpus-assisted discourse study. Keyword comparison and collocational network analysis are adopted as the major analytic framework to identify keyness keywords and to uncover the discourses embedded in COVID-19 fake news. Results suggest that pandemic-related fake news tend to emphasize the themes of virus, vaccine, and immunity regarding the content keywords. Personal pronouns that differentiate us and them, conjunctions used to construct causal explanations, time-frames that denote a confirmed social fact in false stories are also prominent lexical usages in COVID-19 fake news. Notably, verbs related to promoting action and expressions of polite requests are often fabricated in fake news messages. Collocational network reveals five main themes in pandemic-related fake news: virus, vaccine and vaccination, symptom, food and drink, caution and warning and mask wearing. This paper concludes that more than simply differentiating between true and false, fake news involve miscellaneous discursive constructions of existing political, social, and cultural dimensions within alternative and unverified reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of Chinese communities abroad has become increasingly significant in Beijing's public diplomacy strategy. This is not only the case for Overseas Chinese communities, but also for people who migrate between China and Taiwan. This paper will explore how a group of Chinese migrant women, the mothers, wives and daughters-in-law of Taiwanese citizens, have become a target of Beijing in its cross-Strait diplomacy and how they have responded to Beijing's initiatives. This paper gives a timely account of Beijing's non-traditional diplomacy in the context of cross-Strait relations, as a constructed and gendered process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article combines the study of Taiwan's New Southbound Policy with a case study of Taiwan–Myanmar relations from a perspective of political relations, economic cooperation, and Taiwan's (un)recognisability in Myanmar—i.e. Taiwan's soft power in Myanmar. The first part of the paper introduces the policy and compares it with the previous ones, and sheds light on Taiwan's motivation to engage with Myanmar. It considers the ongoing trade war between the United States and China, due to which investment relocation from China is expected to sharply increase. The second part of the paper provides an insight into the relationship between Taiwan and Myanmar after Myanmar's state-led political transformation from military rule and economic liberalisation since approximately 2010. It explains the main aspects and determinants of the relationship between two countries that share a neighbouring potential hegemon which they both wish to balance against. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a critical review of the study of masculinity among overseas Chinese. Rather than turning to Confucianism which has been deployed as the "deep structure" for explaining Chinese masculinity, this paper argues that attention should be directed to the Chinese kinship ideology, which will prove to be a more helpful tool in conceptualizing Chinese masculinity. Through ethnographic cases in Taiwan and Hong Kong, I will show how Chinese masculinity has derived from the Chinese kinship system, on the one hand, and how men in Taiwan and Hong Kong ended up expressing Chinese masculinity differently because of the different geopolitics on the other. This paper concludes that the nature and character of Chinese masculinity overseas, after all, hinges upon another two contexts: geopolitics and its relationship with femininity. It follows that Chinese masculinity cannot be studied in isolation but must be considered in relation to contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the argument that the practice of modern theatre constitutes a crucial method for reorienting the particular traumas of the Chinese diaspora in contemporary Taiwan. In particular, it offers a close reading of Far Away from Home (西出陽關, Xichu yangguan , 1988) by Taiwanese playwright Lee Kuohsiu (李國修, 1955‒2013) and its performance archive of 2004. Lee deploys theatre as a negotiating space in which to reflect the social formations, identities, and history of Taiwan in the late 1980s—a period that saw Taiwan's complicated relationship with China become the subject of intense scrutiny as the Cold War came to an end and the pressures of rapid globalisation mounted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue concerns agency and negotiation in the context of the hierarchical relations between the People's Republic of China (PRC), a global superpower, and Taiwan, a subordinated actor often relegated to a marginal position in contemporary global geopolitics. By exploring how Taiwan opposes, interrupts and re-creates its subordinate position vis-à-vis China, the authors of this special issue will shed light on the complexities of the ongoing Taiwan experience, shaped by different, often opposing, interests, positions and perspectives regarding its relationship with China. Yet, by exploring the experience of Taiwan with reference to its Chinese legacies, this special issue will also allow important reflections on China, not only in its hegemonic role regionally and globally, but also in its weaknesses when it deals with subordinated actors. This is a timely and important piece, which will allow alternative interpretations of contemporary events not only in Taiwan, for instance the recent national elections and related political developments, but also in the region, such as the protests which have been occurring in Hong Kong during the last four months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of postcolonial Taiwanese literature, a literary tradition that an author follows often consists in contextualising issues of political identity, historical representation or social struggle via the narrative account of a human protagonist. This paper examines Wu Ming-yi's postcolonial ecological novels, Shuimian de hangxian 睡眠的航線 [Routes in a Dream] (2007) and Danche shiqieji 單車失竊記 [The Stolen Bicycle] (2015), which not only break with this literary norm, but further invite readers to pay attention to the involvement of non-human agents in Taiwan's colonial history. With an ecocritical reading of Wu's works, the paper investigates the significant role of these non-human agents—including butterflies, elephants, a bird, fish–men and a bamboo forest—and further demonstrates that a non-anthropocentric narrative offered by these non-humans is also powerful in the shaping of historical representations and political identities of Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) is the Protestant denomination with the longest tradition in the country. The central theological position of the church began to change in the late 1960s, and over the following decade the church became increasingly politically active and vocal in its support for human rights, minority rights, and democratization. This paper addresses the issue of human rights as narrated within the PCT, which explained its involvement in human rights with reference to its Christian beliefs. One outcome of the church's endeavors was that the people of Taiwan accepted the struggle initiated by the church and began to ask for free elections. Using the PCT as an example, the paper shows that religious bodies have the potential to be a positive force for change in society and that a Christian perspective on human rights can contribute to secular discourse on the topic. 摘要: 台灣基督長老教會是台灣歷史最為悠久的新教教派。長老教會的神學立場從上世紀 60年代晚期開始發生變化，在此後的幾十年中，教會在人權、少數群體權益和民主 化方面變得尤為政治活躍。本文探討了基督長老教會內部的人權敘事變化，這解釋 了長老教會在基督信仰體系下的人權活動參與。教會努力的結果之一是台灣人民接 受了教會發起的抗爭，開始要求自由選舉。以基督長老教會為例，本文表明宗教 團體有可能成為社會變革的積極力量，基督教對人權的看法可以促進有關該主題的世 俗討論。 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted research communities and agendas worldwide, including Taiwan studies. Consequently, the largest conferences for Taiwan studies in both North America and Europe were cancelled in 2020. In response, the North American Taiwan Studies Association, the European Association of Taiwan Studies, the Japan Association for Taiwan Studies, and the International Journal of Taiwan Studies jointly organised a series of online forums that aimed to encompass transnational and interdisciplinary approaches to Taiwan studies in the context of envisioning a post-COVID world. This report summarises the first event, on 'COVID and Governance: Global and Social Solidarity', which speaks directly to a moment of chaos, frustration, and yet hopefulness for Taiwan. It presents the papers of three discussants—Drs Ya-Wen Yang, Harry Yi-Jui Wu, and Wen Liu—who identified and explored the theoretical potential and limits of different 'keywords' popularised during the pandemic period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, many of Taiwan's New Southbound Policy reports show that Taiwan's primary motivations are to cooperate with Southeast Asia, the Asia-Pacific, and South Asia to decrease their dependence on mainland China. Taiwan's government aims to leverage Taiwan's assets to enhance regional integration with these countries. However, there is still a lack of research on the purpose behind the policy. Why is Taiwan now seemingly using a policy of confrontation instead of avoidance? This paper argues that the policy intent behind the New Southbound Policy is not to directly confront mainland China, despite Beijing's pressure on Taiwan. This hypothesis will be explored by analysing and comparing the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and the New Southbound Policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the utility of membership in international organisations for states with specific status within the international community, focusing on Taiwan's surprisingly neglected involvement in the World Organisation for Animal Health or OIE (Office International des Épizooties). The paper shows that in addition to its contribution to the legitimisation of Taiwan's identities, such participation has also enabled Taiwan to shape international norms in the field of animal health, increase international cooperation opportunities, strengthen domestic and global health security, and facilitate the trade of animal health-related products. Additionally, it has contributed to the domestic implementation of international animal health norms and helped increase the accountability of Taiwanese authorities in the domain of animal health management. Despite tremendous challenges, Taiwan still has plenty of opportunities to enhance its participation in global health governance through its membership in OIE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Articulating and implementing national development plans (NDP s) has been a popular approach taken by most governments in the world in response to the opportunities and challenges occurring in domestic and international spheres. Since the 2000s the Taiwanese government has launched a series of NDP s with different goals, foci, and tactical approaches. This paper adopts a retrospective lens to examine how English language education has been strategically situated in the NDP s of Taiwan and reflects on both the alignments and misalignments between the unveiled goals of the NDP s and the policies pertaining to English language education of the nation over the last two decades. In the pursuit of the goals of the contemporary NDP of the nation, strategic remodelling of teacher education programmes is needed through: (1) expanding bilingual/all-English programmes within departments; (2) advocating departmental interaction within/across teacher training institutes; and (3) optimising training and teaching opportunities for foreign students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two parasitic copepods, Lateracanthus quadripedis Kabata & Gusev, 1966 and Parabrachiella annulata (Markevich, 1940) (Lernaeopodidae), were found on a deep-sea rudis rattail, Coryphaenoides rudi s Günther, 1878 (Macrouridae) collected from the Xingang fishing port in Chenggong Town, Taitung County, in south-eastern Taiwan. Lateracanthus quadripedis was found attached to the walls of the branchial cavity of the fish, whereas P. annulata was collected from the body surface. This paper also provides a full description of these two copepod species to elucidate possible geographical variations in their morphology. Remarkably, our specimens of both copepods are more similar to those from the Galápagos Islands than to those from the Aleutian-Deep or Japan. Résumé: Deux copépodes parasites, Lateracanthus quadripedis Kabata & Gusev, 1966 et Parabrachiella annulata (Markevich, 1940) (Lernaeopodidae), ont été trouvés sur un grenadier profond, grenadier rugueux, Coryphaenoides rudi s Günther, 1878 (Macrouridae) collecté à Xingang le port de pêche de la ville de Chenggong, comté de Taitung, au sud-est de Taiwan. Lateracanthus quadripedis était fixé aux parois de la cavité branchiale du poisson tandis que P. annulata a été collecté à la surface du corps. Ce travail fournit une description complète de ces deux espèces de copépodes afin d'élucider de possibles variations géographiques dans leur morphologie. De façon remarquable, les spécimens des deux copépodes sont plus similaires à ceux des Îles Galapagos qu'à ceux de la fosse des Aléoutiennes ou du Japon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the concentration of people and industries, cities are the main human habitats where residents can create opportunities for flourishing economic, political and social lives. However, these diverse anthropogenic activities also create flows of material and energy within cities that are inevitably produced and wasted. In order to investigate how cities can better reduce and repurpose the flows of material and energy, this paper adopts the urban metabolism approach to frame cities as a complex socio-ecological system where natural and human systems co-produce the environment the urban population depends on. To illustrate urban metabolism at work, we have selected Thaklong municipality in Thailand and Pingtung county in Taiwan as case studies to compare different innovative measures taken by university departments to reduce organic waste through action research oriented repurposing experiments. Although the size of the cities, the type of targeted organic waste varies and local culture differs, the case studies of Thaklong and Pingtung show that the university departments as change agents and the stakeholders as recipients of proposed change face similar opportunities and challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The significant ideological and cultural role of public museums in shaping national identity is widely acknowledged. This paper focuses on the roles of Taiwan's public art museums in generating nationalist narratives that privilege notions of cultural distinctiveness and authenticity in the visual representation of art from Taiwan. Two exhibitions of contemporary Indigenous art provide a platform for critical analysis of the impact of identity politics on the selection, display, and promotion of Taiwanese Indigenous art. Questions of artistic agency are also explored in this paper, demonstrating how Indigenous artists in Taiwan are increasingly interrogating and contesting systems of museological representation which seek to locate or "frame" Indigenous art within an Austronesian nationalist identity narrative. These exhibitions and the artists' works and observations offer an insight into the complex and shifting interrelationship between national identity politics and the museological representation of art in Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To narrate India-Nationalist China (or Republic of China; ROC) relations is a deceptively complicated task. First, there were territorial disputes between India and China, and while Nehru regarded those "frontier tracts" as undoubtedly belonging to India, he was realistic enough to understand that the issue must be settled diplomatically, which would require a stable and representative Chinese regime to negotiate with. "The Nationalist Government has been in a process of disintegration and are really in no position to insist on anything."[20] Nehru predicted that within a few months the communists would be able to occupy all of China, and the KMT might form a government in Canton, "but", he added, "this is hardly likely to achieve anything.". [Extracted from the article]

This paper concentrates on the censorship in translating swear words in The Catcher in the Rye. Shi Xianrong and Sun Zhongxu's Chinese translations are used for the analysis. The text analysis and statistics indicate that more changes were made in Shi's version, which appeared in the forms of deletion, attenuation, and modulation. These changes, on the one hand, resulted from the censorships imposed by the legal and administrative requirements on publishing and editing. On the other hand, the peculiar sociocultural context of misogynistic homophobia in the People's Republic of China (prc) in the late 1980s was also normative and decisive to translators' choices, especially when a swear word was related to homosexuality or sexual content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how Taiwan is studied in the research of US-based speech communication and journalism. Specifically, Taiwan-related journal articles published by major US-based communication and journalism associations are selected and analysed in terms of their numbers, authorship, and themes. The results indicate that Taiwan studies is a marginalised subject in speech communication and journalism. However, there has been an increasing research interest in Taiwan in the last two decades. These journal articles also record the role of Taiwan in Cold War history, the legacy of 'Free China', and the establishment of two Chinese communication associations in the United States. They explain why the representation of Taiwan is often ambivalent in a 'cultural China' framework in speech communication and journalism. This investigation aims to begin a conversation about how speech communication and journalism research can be more engaged in Taiwan studies, and how research on Taiwan can be more integrated into these two disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the data from the World Value Survey, this paper uses a comparative lens to assess environmental philanthropy by focusing on four predominantly Chinese societies – mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, which contributes to the debate on whether culture can sufficiently explain cross-regional variation in civic engagement, particularly in the domain of environmental philanthropy. We find that residents in mainland China shared similar environmental concerns and beliefs with people from the other regions, but they are least likely to volunteer, donate, and demonstrate for these causes. After accounting for personal characteristics, the sizeable interregional gaps on pro-environmental behaviors remain. These findings are consistent with the argument that structural differences, particularly the developing nature of civil society in mainland China, hinders environmental civic engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'information cycle' is an evolutionary model of the processes of gene/culture maintenance and change. This paper reports the first naturalistic experimental study designed to collect information data that can illuminate the mechanisms of 'culture' production and sharing in information cycles. It is an analysis of conversation among university students in Taiwan. A junior class of 32 students utilized pencil and paper (P&P) diaries to record conversation topics over a three week period. It was expected that some topics of special interest would be shared widely as they were passed among speakers through repeated information cycles. This type of linear transmission did appear. However, of great interest, the majority of widely shared topics were initiated by larger scales of information cycles, it is argued, specifically popular media, education, social media, ritual, and legal scales, which triggered cascades of conversation sharing. This result indicates that the sharing of cultural information relies on statistical, not linear, transmission, in which topics are shared imprecisely but repeatedly, permitting the construction of shared knowledge. Further, it indicates that culture is shared in a hierarchy of transmission cycles, which differ in space, cycle time, input, and copy fidelity. Further, it indicates that culture must be maintained against depreciation by repeated cycling in information cycles. Cultural transmission is indeed a complex, statistical, multi-scaled process that requires a nested model of information cycles as I have proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buddhism is often said to be an environment-friendly religion, but this thesis is rarely investigated. In this paper, we employ a mixed-method approach to examine this thesis in the case of Taiwan. We use data from the Taiwan Social Change Survey (TSCS) and apply qualitative content analysis to examine practices among major Taiwanese Buddhist organizations. The findings suggest: (1) Buddhists in Taiwan engage significantly more in environment-friendly behavior than other religious members, and (2) members of different Buddhist organizations display similar levels of engagement in environment-related behavior. However, (3) Buddhist organizations engage very differently in environment-related activities. (4) Buddhist organizations engage more in nonpolitical environmental activities than they do in politically sensitive ones, and (5) among the four major Buddhist organizations, female-led Buddhist organizations show a higher level of environment-related practices than male-led organizations. 摘要: 在这篇文章中我们结合定性与定量的研究方法检验了一个流行的看法，即佛教是个对环境友善的宗教。我们使用了台湾社会变迁基本调查(TSCS)的调查数据以及收集了台湾主要佛教团体的环保实践与论述。本研究发现：(1)台湾佛教徒相对于其他宗教成员参与更多环境友善的行为;（2）不同佛教团体的成员呈现参与环境相关行为的不同；（3）不同佛教团体参与非常不同类型的环境相关活动；（4）佛教团体参与非政治的环境活动多于政治敏感类环境活动；（5）台湾四大佛教团体里，女性领导的佛教团体参与环境相关活动多过男性领导的佛教团体。 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Naricolax holinorum sp. nov. is described based on specimens of both sexes recovered from the nasal cavity of Acanthopagrus schlegelii (Bleeker, 1854) (Pisces, Sparidae) in Japan. This species was erroneously redescribed first as N. atypicus Ho, Do & Kasahara, 1983 by Ho & Lin (2005) based on specimens of the female collected from the nasal cavity of A. schlegelii in Taiwan. Résumé: Naricolax holinorum sp. nov. est décrit à partir de spécimens des deux sexes collectés dans la cavité nasale de Acanthopagrus schlegelii (Bleeker, 1854) (Actinopterygii, Sparidae) au Japon. Cette espèce avait été redécrite de façon erronée comme N. atypicus Ho, Do & Kasahara, 1983 par Ho & Lin (2005) à partir de spécimens femelles provenant de la cavité nasale de A. schlegelii de Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2020, Taiwan released its National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights (NAP) to implement the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, with the government committing to release a revised plan by the end of 2024. In parallel was the release of Taiwan's first National Human Rights Action Plan (NHRAP) in 2022, where refugee protection was expressed as a priority. In this, the government commits to codify legal mechanisms for asylum and clarify application procedures. These developments on business and human rights, on the one hand, and refugee protection, on the other, are significant for the Asia-Pacific because the region hosts the highest number of displaced persons and is the global manufacturing hub. This article examines the nexus between business, human rights and protection for displaced individuals. It provides recommendations on how Taiwan's next NAP can address refugee protection in line with its human rights protection commitment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses energy use in the Taiwanese sugar industry under Japanese colonial rule (1895–1945) and reconsiders the "unilinear energy shift" from organic resources to fossil resources. Although the sugar industry could obtain much of its energy from bagasse, it had to procure supplementary energy sources, such as firewood and coal from energy markets. Furthermore, technological improvements made by the sugar industry resulted in increased demand for these supplementary energy sources. Companies improved supply by increasing the range of procurement options according to the fluctuation of relative prices between resources or by improving procurement methods through negotiating with seller and transporter, and they lowered demand through the introduction of energy-saving technologies. As a result of each company pursuing the "optimal energy mix" in response to its own business environment (corporate culture, location, and management strategy), energy consumption did not converge on coal as a single source but diversified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Crustaceana is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The quest to situate Taiwan, and its history, as a field of study continues to accompany a flow of dirges. Taiwan Studies has been argued to occupy 'a marginal position' within the field of Chinese Studies, while at the same time it is acknowledged that those who are interested in China cannot ignore Taiwan entirely. Some argue that the study of Taiwan is 'an impossible task' since 'Taiwan is already written out of mainstream Western discourse due its insignificance'. This survey (though by no means exhaustive) is an effort to chart the evolution of Taiwan history and historiography and argue that those engaging with the study of Taiwan have always sought ways to adapt and thrive. Attention to this is important as scholars of Taiwan seek to define the field as thing unto itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines patterns of return migration as a background to understand the intention among marriage migrants to return to their homeland. In a five-year period beginning in 2014, the author conducted qualitative interviews with Taiwanese immigrant women in Hong Kong who had married Hong Kong men and had arrived between 1965 and 2013, to understand major aspects of their adaptation. Despite successful efforts in developing careers, establishing families, and planting new roots by becoming Hong Kongers over the last few decades, a majority of the immigrants wanted to return to Taiwan to luo ye gui gen (落葉歸根, a falling leaf finds its way to its roots). Apart from regarding Taiwan as homeland and retaining a strong sense of belonging, their desire to re-migrate to a more hospitable environment, to enjoy a better quality of life compared to that of Hong Kong, has been spelled out with narratives. Return migration remains a paradox with regard to married women who have accepted patrilocal residence at the start. Whether returns do take place remains to be seen, as return migration in essence also suggests that migration is impermanent and transnational in nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report highlights and offers reflections on three unique features of the fourth World Congress of Taiwan Studies (WCTS4) held in Seattle in June 2022. First, following the COVID-19 pandemic, WCTS4 was one of the first large-scale conferences in the field of Taiwan studies to be held in hybrid mode. Second, although three previous editions have taken place since 2012, WCTS4 was the first to be held in the United States. Third, it is the first Congress to launch a major new publication, the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Taiwan Studies. Most media coverage of WCTS4 has emphasised only that it was held in the United States. This report goes further, focusing on why it was held in the US, and why Seattle in particular, and on the Congress's importance more generally to the global field of Taiwan studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay reviews the influential work of a group of Leftist 'sex liberation' scholars who pioneered queer sexuality studies in Taiwan in the 1990s. In doing so, it focuses on their post-2000 political rift with the mainstream Taiwanese LGBT (tongzhi) rights movement. What ostensibly began as a split over views of same-sex marriage has developed into a contentious politics of Chinese versus Taiwanese national identity and what I call ' tongzhi sovereignty'. In bringing together both national identity and sexual politics in Taiwan as increasingly intertwined sites of contestation, I argue that the two must be theorised in tandem. As a fertile site for unpacking this contentious divergence, I examine and problematise the way that cultural theorist Jasbir Puar's popular concept of homonationalism has circulated in scholarship of cultural/sexuality studies about Taiwan as a slanted and largely unchecked analytic to criticise LGBT sociolegal progress and, for some scholars, obscures a pro-unification agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a free trade agreement with high standards, affecting multiple industries, and imposing tremendous economic impacts. The TPP accounts for 36% of world GDP and its significance and impacts are profound, specifically affecting tariff reduction in the manufacturing sector, market entry in the service sector, and rules of origin requirements, as well as currency valuation, intellectual property rights, and even immigration. This means that Taiwan cannot view the TPP lightly. Taiwan's economy is export-focused, so not being able to partake in regional economic integration will exert an unfavorable impact on Taiwan's trade expansion and investment attractiveness. Taiwan's government should therefore actively seek to engage in the second round of TPP discussions. Although President Trump has announced that the US will be withdrawing from the TPP, Japan is seeking further consolidation so that the remaining TPP member countries can continue to make progress. Taiwan cannot exert much control over international opposition to Taiwan's membership of the TPP on the part of other countries, so this paper focuses mostly on the challenge of overcoming domestic opposition. A review of the literature reveals that the benefits of joining the TPP outweigh the harm; however, despite continuous efforts to promote the TPP and the reaching of consensus within governmental organizations, there has still been a considerable backlash against the idea of TPP membership from many groups in society. This is because TPP membership would directly disadvantage thousands of domestic-orientated businesses, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and the younger generation. This means that TPP promotion needs to be more considerate of the interests of all related parties and be undertaken in an 'eco-system'-like manner, focusing on helping traditional industries, SMEs, the agricultural sector, and young people. In addition, the government should work on strengthening the skills of existing workers, and work to develop a system that keeps capital and skilled labor within the country. Foreign investment should ideally help to stimulate domestic economic growth, create more employment opportunities, and drive wages up. If these benefits can be emphasized, then the promotion of the TPP or other FTAs is likely to encounter less resistance and receive more support from Taiwan's citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report collects all the keywords that have appeared in the International Journal of Taiwan Studies since its first issue in February 2018. The authors use these keywords and resulting word clouds to reflect on the current state of Taiwan-related research. We find that publications are still heavily dominated by cross-Strait-related topics and that, despite the aspiration of putting Taiwan in a comparative perspective, the results have so far been relatively limited. We suggest including more topical sections in future issues as one way to diversify the interdisciplinary and comparative scope of the journal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Northern Institute of Taiwan Studies (NorITS) was launched in 2018 and relies on the hard work of a team of five experts in the field. In this report we discuss the accomplishments our colleagues have achieved in these three years and the contributions that NorITS has made to Taiwan studies, with the aim to start a conversation on how to frame Taiwan studies against contemporary challenges and opportunities of academia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research analyses the significance of an invention introduced in Taiwan—the 'findom' (finger condom)—by focusing on heterosexual couples in terms of heteronormativity, gender norms, and power dynamics. The data are obtained from advertising texts and interviews with seven participants who discuss their use of the findom in relationships. The study argues that heteronormative scripts are reinforced when advertisements suggest that the findom will increase erotic pleasure. Heteronormativity is revealed in the interviews, indicating that heterosexual hegemony regulates sexual behaviour and autonomy through gendered roles. Regulatory heterosexuality is dominant, as six of the interviewees used the findom in conventional sexuality. However, the findom enables the subversion of heterosexual regulatory norms and the rearticulation of gender dynamics via unconventional sexual practices. The findings suggest it is possible to consider the findom a challenge to normative heterosexuality and that the materiality of sexuality can be reversed through its use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social marketing aims to improve social welfare by changing individuals' behaviours, and deepening democracy should not be an exception. We can use social marketing to enhance civic awareness and public engagement by turning citizens who do not care about these issues into active participants in our society. However, current research has not explored how we can apply social marketing to achieve this goal. This research examines Formosa Salon from the perspectives of exchange theory, the theory of hierarchy of effects, and the framework of the social marketing mix. By gathering and analysing data from archival data, semi-structured interviews, and researchers' engagement, this study views increasing civic awareness and promoting public engagement in social issues as a product sold by Formosa Salon. The price of this product is the knowledge barrier. The organisers of Formosa Salon have marketed their product on the internet and through higher education institutions in London. The contributions of this study and key recommendations are also identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What influences Taiwanese public opinion on immigration? Taiwan faces the same immigration challenges as many other developed nations, where the demand for immigrant workers produces a domestic backlash. Our study addresses to what extent public opinions on immigration are influenced by two factors: the skills of immigrants and their place of origin. Our results show, besides the preference for skilled labour, that public opinion on the three Southeast Asian immigrant groups varies considerably, with the strongest negative reaction to Indonesian migrants. As Taiwan prides its progress on human rights among East Asian democracies, the results suggest the need for targeted policy efforts to overcome public biases towards Southeast Asian immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article I examine performances of Indigeneity in encounters between Indigenous people and the Taiwan legal system. Studying displays of Indigenous identities reveals the processes through which individuals and communities draw upon histories and practices to fashion themselves as Indigenous and engage with wider publics through performances and performative acts. Focusing on three encounters between Indigenous people and the Taiwan legal system, displays of Indigeneity in these encounters were multivalent and involved a repertoire of creative performative acts as Indigenous actors used court spaces, like the new ad hoc Chamber of Indigenous Courts, to perform identities that confounded essentialist conceptions of Indigeneity, introduced alternative ontological parameters, and assumed state governance responsibilities. These performances suggest a contextually situated engagement with the postcolonial state where Indigenous identities are anchored in the past and forward-looking, reinforce or challenge the category of Indigeneity, and themselves operate as techniques of power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article develops the concept of "everyday democracy" by analyzing how a community-supported agriculture organization in Taiwan (CSA-TWN) practices economic democracy. First, it illustrates how democracy is learned and practiced in daily interactions with the logics of "equality" and "collective decision-making". Second, it argues that organizations such as CSA-TWN, which operate based on "relationships" and "common values," need to develop their own democratic mechanisms to ensure consistency of actions and values, which can be achieved through formal and informal conversations. Finally, this article suggests that the informal caring work within CSA-TWN is important as it facilitates the exchange of diverse opinions and emotions, which helps to address conflicts and problems that arise and to sustain the organization's operations. In the face of contemporary market-based agriculture's dilemmas, the case of CSA-TWN provides concrete examples of innovative practices that offer alternative forms of economic democracy and institutional design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study asks under what institutional condition or governance structure might the gap between policy and practice be conducive to innovative practices. It examines how social innovations are formed amid gaps between policy and practice to tame a wicked problem and achieve sustainable development. First, data was gathered during the implementation of a livestock wastewater policy in four municipalities in southern Taiwan where livestock wastewater pollution is rampant and presents a wicked problem. Next, the focus narrowed to the governing network, namely metagovernance, ignoring other factors such as the role of the social entrepreneur. The article argues that the gap between policy and practice can be framed as a window of opportunity, with positive connotations for policy implementation innovation. The authors analyze the empirical and showcase how innovations, represented by the heterogeneity of metagovernance, were generated in a recursive manner amid gaps between policy and practice in different localities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Olic is one of the only members of her generation to be raised speaking Pangcah (Amis) as her first language. Through an exploration of how one family is fighting to save this endangered Austronesian language, we analyse the challenges facing Indigenous language revitalisation in Taiwan. Particular attention is paid to the child's transition from the home to formal—Mandarin-medium—schooling. In doing so, we draw on recent work that emphasises the agency of children in shaping family language policy (also referred to as 'family language planning'). How do children's experiences at school shape their—and other family members'—linguistic behaviour at home? After comparing Taiwan's current family language policy to similar efforts elsewhere, we conclude by arguing that taking children's agency seriously means that family language policy must be combined with changes in formal schooling as well—changes that are best implemented by the Indigenous communities themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]