Ghost Month in Taiwan: When the Gates of the Underworld Open

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It is currently Ghost Month in Taiwan, also known as 中元節 (Zhōngyuán Jié / Ghost Festival), a traditional holiday observed on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month, usually in August. It is believed that during this time, the gates of the underworld open, allowing spirits to roam the human world. The festival has roots in Taoism, Buddhism, and folk beliefs. In Taoism, it is tied to the birthday of the deity Dì Guān (地官大帝), who pardons sins. In Buddhism, it corresponds to Ullambana,…

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“To write is to share; to share is to be seen”: Jane Kuo, in conversation with Rebecca Yang

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As a daughter of Taiwanese immigrants growing up in suburban Los Angeles County, I didn't expect to find any literature that reflected my niche in life. That is, until I found Anna Zhang in Jane Kuo's books In the Beautiful Country and Land of Broken Promises. Anna is a middle schooler who immigrates to the United States (which she calls "The Beautiful Country") for the prospect of a better life. Instead, what she finds is a vastly different community---one with unfamiliar faces, discrimination,…

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Light as Insistent: Alvin Lu (“Daydreamers”) in conversation with Shawna Yang Ryan

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Alvin Lu’s second novel, Daydreamers, was released on July 15th. It’s a dreamy, unsettling book that radiates intelligence and beauty. Difficult to summarize, I will rely on this line from the publisher’s description, though even that cannot capture the many layers of this book: “Cycling between San Francisco, Los Angeles, China, and Taiwan, the novel unfolds across generations of Chinese immigrants and diaspora artists, linked by tenuous friendships, publishing feuds, and the obscure…

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Walking through the Forest with Artist Szu-Chieh Yun: A Conversation Between Sisters

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On Friday, May 16th, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston unveiled Into the Forest, a large-scale mural installation created by Taiwanese American Fine Artist and Arts Educator Szu-Chieh Yun (雲思婕), in collaboration with nearly 200 local youth. The mural — a vibrant landscape alive with curiosity, chaos, and the texture of rushing water and flowing trees — was the culmination of the Museum’s Community Arts Initiative, a program that invites young people to co-create with a professional artist…

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Rose Valland, the Woman Who Outsmarted the Nazis: Michelle Young (“The Art Spy”) in conversation with Kristi Hong

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We are so pleased to present the following conversation between two Taiwanese American authors we admire, Kristi Hong ("The Teacher's Match") and Michelle Young, on Young's newest book, The Art Spy. A riveting and stylish saga set in Paris during World War II, The Art Spy uncovers how an unlikely heroine infiltrated the Nazi leadership to save the world's most treasured masterpieces. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ho Chie Tsai (TaiwaneseAmerican.org founder) with Michelle Young,…

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Lunchbox: Anne Hu Serves a Taste of Taiwanese America in 90s-Era Cleveland

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Nearly four years ago, filmmaker Anne Hu spoke with Grace Hwang Lynch for TaiwaneseAmerican.org as she was crowdfunding to make Lunchbox, a dramatic, three-part coming-of-age short drama about regret, healing, and honoring the people we love. In the film, when a Taiwanese American woman (Shirley), prepares lunches from her childhood, she struggles to forgive herself for pushing away her immigrant mother.  Hu had written Lunchbox in 2017, when a Facebook video appeared on her feed, capturing…

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Now accepting submissions: 2025 Betty L. Yu and Jin C. Yu Creative Writing Prizes, in Celebration of Taiwanese American student and adult writers

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TaiwaneseAmerican.org is pleased to announce the 2025 Betty L. Yu and Jin C. Yu Creative Writing Prizes. Created in 2021 in collaboration with Taiwanese American author Charles Yu, the Prizes are intended to encourage and recognize creative literary work by Taiwanese American students, and to foster discussion and community around such work. In 2022, the prize expanded to include a separate middle school category for 6th-8th grade applicants, judged by Alvina Ling. In 2023, we added an additional…

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Gloria Chao on “Ex Marks the Spot,” Diasporic Storytelling, and the Puzzles That Reveal Us to Each Other

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Gloria Chao is one of the most prolific writers of our generation, and I was thrilled to speak with her about her latest YA novel, Ex Marks the Spot. We've previously discussed her 2023 release, When You Wish Upon a Lantern, and I was delighted to find that her newest book revisits similar riveting themes—young love, intergenerational tenderness (and misunderstandings!), and family rivalries—while presenting them in an entirely fresh and unexpected way. I am always drawn to the depth and…

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Transforming Memory Into Storytelling: Cindy Chang in conversation with Jocelyn Chung

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It requires vulnerability and courage to transform memories into storytelling. Especially when those memories are mixed with pain and shame. For many of us, growing up Taiwanese American meant learning to save face. We hold our secrets deep inside of ourselves, carefully crafting the image we want others to perceive. We do this for survival, we do this to grasp normalcy, or maybe we do this because it’s all we know how to do. I had the honor of speaking with Cindy Chang about her new book,…

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