Featured Stories

It’s T-Beauty Time! 5 Great Taiwanese Skincare Products To Try

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Jude Chao of the popular Asian beauty blog, Fifty Shades of Snail, recaps her recent beauty takeover on the TaiwaneseAmerican.org Instagram Over the past few years, Korean cosmetics have gotten a lot of attention from the global beauty community, with K-beauty products (and K-beauty-inspired products) showing up on the shelves of stores as mainstream as Walmart and Target. But South Korea isn’t the only player in the Asian cosmetics market. Taiwanese brands make some truly amazing products…

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New Age, Old Ways: Peter Lin Crosses Artistic Mediums and Cultures through Taiwanese American Jazz

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Hey Peter! We last spoke in 2016 about your jazz band, The Lintet. What’s been new with you? My work is always a reflection of my own personal life experiences, and my personal life has been quite a roller coaster to say the least! After finishing my graduate work for jazz studies at Rutgers University, I had the pleasure to work and study with Slide Hampton for about two years, an NEA Jazz Master and my musical hero in terms of the trombone and compositions / arrangements. This experience…

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Sharing Spaces: Taiwanese Indigenous Art Connects Tradition with New Audiences

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Djanav Zengror’s greeting flies through the air, and then the rest of the Ayi-Yanga troupe fills the cozy lounge of the Hearst Museum of Anthropology with harmonies. Within the intimate room, the music transports us to a wide-open space and readily calls to mind the verdant mountains of Taiwan. Their song, “Home Direction” (指路), starts with the hunter’s call. When his people hear him, they run to welcome him home. Through the interpreter, UC Berkeley student Cynthia Ji, Zengror explains…

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STEP Taiwan: The Taiwanese American Experience

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     I grew up in the land of apple pie, Friday-night football games, and white picket fences. Some weekends, I would drive up to D.C. and see tourists decked out in their new Washington D.C. souvenir T-shirts, posing along the National Mall – all while munching on their great American hot dogs. Whether intentional or not, in my distinctly American neighborhood, I was fully immersed in its popular culture, traditions, and the overall lifestyle. At home, however, I was…

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From Wild Lilies to Sunflowers: Discovering Taiwan’s Democracy

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From fist fights in the parliament to protests that seem to rotate through Taipei every few months, Taiwan's democracy is oftentimes placed under intense scrutiny. “Look at how messed up Taiwan’s government is,” I’d hear often. But critics often forget this obvious precursor to democratic maturity: age. Taiwan is known as the beacon of democracy in Asia, as the only Han society to know freedom today. However, people also forget how young this fragile democracy is, or how recent…

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Hello from Taiwan: Q&A with Filmmaker Tiffany Frances

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We typically share the contributor bios at the end, but Tiffany Frances has such a dazzling background, we thought we'd open this Q&A with a little bit about her. Tiffany Frances is a Taiwanese American director and writer working in music videos, branded content and narrative film. She was selected for SHOOT Magazine's 2018 New Directors Showcase, where a trailer of her short film, WHAT I WISH YOU SAID, screened at the Directors Guild Theater in New York. Her short film MOVEMENT for…

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Addressing Anti-Blackness Within the Taiwanese American Community

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By Tiffany Diane Tso, edited by Leona Chen | original photography by Micheile Henderson Editor’s Note: I’ve been thinking a lot about (valid) accusations that Asian Americans, frankly, suck at standing up for others. And though there is no singular Taiwanese American immigration narrative, many families in our community arrived by way of H-1B visas, prestigious education, and the logical conclusion that obedience produces success. Diasporic Taiwanese of my parents’ and grandparents’…

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The 228 Inheritance: Taiwan’s Revolution Is Here

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Seventy-two years after Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek’s forces massacred more than twenty thousand Taiwanese in ‘the February 28th Incident’, Taiwan is in the midst of an unacknowledged revolution. You will not find the Taiwanese Revolution named in history books or identified in newspapers. Indeed, it is assumed that this revolution has yet to occur – or rather that it never will. Yet to occur, because there is no internationally-accepted Taiwanese Republic and never to occur,…

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Call for Submissions: Chrysanthemum – Volume II

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  In 2016, we started with the seed of an idea: an anthology of Taiwanese diasporic artists and writers speaking our truth in turbulent times. We had hopes of opening eyes and hearts with bright, young voices that cut deep and sharp. We hungered to honor our heritage while forging bravely forward with new art and literature. And you came with us. Chrysanthemum: Voices of the Taiwanese Diaspora was a collection of over 20 artists and writers of the Taiwanese heritage speaking to their liminality,…

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What Taiwanese Americans Can Learn From Taiwanese Politics

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One of the opportunities of sitting at the masthead of TaiwaneseAmerican.org is continually engaging with the borders and expectations of this community. What does it mean to be Taiwanese, American, and Taiwanese American? What is our role as citizens of the diaspora? And, heavily on my mind in the aftermath of the November 24th election:   Do we need an acute awareness of — or even interest in — Taiwanese politics to identify as Taiwanese American? My impulse is to…

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