Showing papers in "Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review in 2020"

Taiwan’s Intersectional Cosmopolitanism: Local Women in Their Communities

Abstract: Author(s): Brown, Melissa J | Abstract: Women’s shifting positions in common public space have contributed significantly to the historical ebb and flow of Taiwan’s cosmopolitanism The importance of Austronesian and Bendi 本地 contributions to Taiwan’s history are widely accepted, but women’s roles in these contributions are still largely overlooked Austronesian women facilitated the sociality across diversity that made Taiwan cosmopolitan under seventeenth-century Dutch colonialism But cosmopolitanism is a fragile social niche, and it waned under Qing settler colonialism Taiwan’s post-1860 forced reentry into global trade—with a woman-processed product, tea, as its top export—again expanded cosmopolitanism under late Qing and early Japanese rule, also expanding Bendi women’s quotidian public engagements Recovery from a long, war-related, mid-twentieth-century nadir occurred via economic development that was driven by global trade and relied particularly on Bendi women’s labor Historical intersectionality has repeatedly enabled social linkages for burgeoning cosmopolitanism in Taiwan Keywords: Taiwan, cosmopolitanism, gender, indigeneity, public sphere, Austronesian, Bendi, ethnic intermarriage, global trade, historical contingency

The Mischievous, the Naughty, and the Violent in a Taiwanese Village: Peer Aggression Narratives in Arthur P. Wolf's "Child Interview" (1959)

Abstract: Author(s): Xu, Jing | Abstract: This article brings to light a unique set of field notes on Taiwanese children’s life collected by anthropologist Arthur P Wolf (1958–1960) Designed as an improved replication of the classic Six Cultures Study of Child Socialization, Wolf’s study was the first anthropological and mixed-methods research on ethnic Chinese children, marking a historically significant moment when Sinological anthropology first intersected with the anthropology of childhood Based on a subset of Wolf’s standardized interviews with seventy-nine children (ages 3–10), this article focuses on children’s narratives about peer aggression They distinguish serious forms of aggression from milder ones in perceived negativity, and they react differentially; these perceptions and reactions reflect important concerns and strategies in local socio-moral life, some of which diverge from adult ideologies These findings highlight the role of children as active moral agents Through analyzing children’s voices of peer aggression, this article illuminates a dark side of moral development that would otherwise remain obscured in the historical literature of childhood: the mischievous, naughty, and even violent interactions among children The article reveals the tensions and conflicts in children’s interactions underlying the Chinese cultural value he, or social harmony It also reveals a complex spectrum of reciprocity in children’s understandings and adds an important theme, “negative reciprocity”––defined as responding to a negative action with a negative action—to the recent advocacy in anthropology for taking children seriously in understanding human morality Keywords: childhood, aggression, moral development, Taiwan, Arthur P Wolf, Margery Wolf, Six Cultures Study, Sinological anthropology

Imagining the New Socialist Child: The Cultural Afterlife of the Child Martyr Wang Erxiao

Abstract: Author(s): Kauffman, Andrew | Abstract: Recent scholarship in modern Chinese studies has established the centrality of the figure of the child in modern configurations of nationhood Yet very few studies have focused on the motif of child martyrdom and its place within Chinese socialist culture By exploring the cultural afterlife of the socialist martyr Wang Erxiao in mid-twentieth-century China, this article shows how the heroic sacrificial death of the boy both powered and imperiled the Communist-led revolution and the construction of a new, socialist society The author argues that, on the one hand, the figure of the socialist child martyr embodied the desire for the child to play a more active role in the Communist revolution and in the creation of a socialist utopia On the other hand, in lionizing the heroic death of the child—the so-called revolutionary successor—stories like Wang Erxiao’s also posed an existential threat to the socialist community and brought to the fore tensions intrinsic to politicizing and aestheticizing the death of a child By examining the relationship between children, violence, and sacrificial death, this article highlights the desires and anxieties embedded within the socialist project to create an image of the “new child” Keywords: child martyrdom, Wang Erxiao, War of Resistance against Japan, socialist literature, Boy Scouts, Alain Badiou

Youth and Political Music in Taiwan: Resignifying the Nation at Inland Rock and Tshingsan Fest

Abstract: Author(s): Read, Graeme | Abstract: This article uses musical events in Taiwan to examine the changing contestation of Taiwanese politics It shows how youth activists remake political practices by connecting people to constructions of local culture through musical performances Whereas civil society and youth participation in Taiwan’s elections have attracted increased scholarly attention, this article focuses on politically charged activities outside election campaigns The article sources politics in musical practices, highlighting localized reproductions of global genres of popular music and its significance for Taiwanese youth activism Drawing on historical analyses of the development of Taiwanese music throughout the twentieth century as localizing global influences in the production of indigenized music, the author argues that music has been more than just a communicative medium for contesting establishment politics, because activists use it to resignify sociocultural symbols and practices in productions of Taiwanese identity The author examines two 2016 music festivals, Inland Rock and Tshingsan Fest, to analyze active constructions of identity and political action through a framework of music as politics It demonstrates how, by appropriating space and symbols of Nantou County and Monga district for new cultural festivities, activists reterritorialized physical and conceptual terrain to reconnect people to indigenized constructions of Taiwanese identities Keywords: Taiwan, popular music, politics, youth, identity, activism, music festival, resignification, indigeneity

Martyrs of Development: Taiwanese Agrarian Development and the Republic of Vietnam, 1959–1975

Abstract: Author(s): Lin, James | Abstract: In 1959, the Republic of China (ROC) government on Taiwan enacted its first international agrarian development mission to the Republic of Vietnam (RVN) The mission began modestly to assist primarily with crop improvement and farmers’ associations But by the fall of the RVN in 1975, Taiwanese development constituted a global project of the authoritarian Guomindang (GMD) regime to redefine Taiwan’s place in the world This article explores the sixteen-year span of missions to Vietnam, drawing on reports by Taiwanese agricultural team leaders, oral history interviews with Taiwanese technicians, Taiwanese and Vietnamese policy documents, and visual and propaganda materials published by the GMD and overseas Chinese Agrarian development became a platform through which the ROC represented Taiwanese success at agricultural science and rural modernity Taiwanese technicians showcased high-yielding crop varieties, large and luscious green vegetables, and rationalized agricultural implements Simultaneously, Taiwanese teams also emphasized their rural roots, through an expertise in forming farmers’ associations that appealed to RVN leadership seeking to battle communist insurgency These representations of success and sacrifice allowed the GMD regime to portray the ROC as leading a global vanguard of developing nations, all toward the goal of securing its legitimacy at home as a developmentalist regime Keywords: Taiwan, Guomindang, Vietnam, agrarian development, rural development, agricultural science, farmers’ associations, Cold War

Horai Rice in the Making of Japanese Colonial Taiwan

Abstract: Author(s): Leow, Wei Yi | Abstract: In 1912, Eikichi Iso arrived to serve as a plant breeder in the Japanese colony of Taiwan Iso and his researchers developed crossbred Horai rice that produced the round grains desired by Japanese consumers This article explains how Horai rice made Taiwan into an economically viable possession of the Japanese Empire Iso matched the terrain and conditions of Taiwan to the regions of the Japanese home islands closest in character, and the varieties from each region were selected for experimentation at field stations located in the matching Taiwanese region The experiments yielded new varieties of rice that fostered trade relations between Taiwan and the home islands This change brought about higher incomes but also increased costs for the farmers The addition of a new cash crop unsettled Japanese attempts to manage the sugar industry, instigating greater state intervention in rice markets, even as war demand meant that Taiwanese rice became indispensable The success of Horai gave Taiwan an identity as a rice colony, which its leaders sought to leverage as expertise to colonize newly conquered Hainan The movement of people, ideas, and the genetic materials of rice plants created a “Japanized” Taiwan that in turn expanded beyond the shores of the island colony Keywords: Taiwan, Japanese Empire, history of agriculture, history of science, rice, Horai, genetics

Making Southeast Asian Migrant Workers Visible in Taiwanese Cinema: "Pinoy Sunday" and "Ye-Zai"

Abstract: Author(s): Chen, Tzu-Chin Insky | Abstract: In Taiwan, the term for “migrant workers” (waiji yigong) refers to non-Han immigrant populations—including those from Thailand and the Philippines—whose numbers have been increasing since the 2000s As these populations have grown, they have become part of the public conversation, and cinematic representations of migrant workers have increased as well Immigrant films function as a form of recognition and thereby challenge the homogeneous Taiwanese national identity Two questions arise: Is it possible to change existing stereotypes and cultural conflicts? And, how can we avoid a crisis of oversimplified presentations of immigrants? In order to address these questions, this article examines two films: Ho Wi Ding’s Pinoy Sunday (Taibei Xingqitian 台北星期天 2009), a comedy that focuses on two Filipino immigrant workers’ lives in Taipei, and Tseng Ying-ting’s Ye-Zai 椰仔 (2012), a crime film with a plot that involves tracking down “runaway migrant workers” (taopao wailao)The author employs three different lenses or paradigms to consider the establishment of migrant-worker subjects in these films in order to fully understand the power dynamics at play in the workers’ interactions with Taiwan’s broader society Because of state and social attempts to control these migrant workers, the first important paradigm is the act of “running away,” which makes border restrictions in Taiwan clear and creates a space to explore strategies of escape from routine lives Second, by considering how different powers intersect, the author explores the relationship between the viewer and the viewed, and how migrant workers can become the subjects, not just the objects, in this paradigm By employing two techniques of visualization—the gaze and symbolism—these films present migrant workers’ emotions and desires, which are rarely shown in mainstream cinemas, and encourage viewers to recognize the perspectives of migrant workers Finally, the author suggests the use of the language act as a means of resistance to show different affiliations and identities in both films; the visibility of these migrant workers challenges their discrimination Keywords: Taiwan, Taiwanese film, waiji yigong, migrant workers, immigrant labor, Pinoy Sunday, Taibei Xingqitian, Ye-Zai, ethnoscapes, non-Han-Taiwanese identities

Examining Cultural Discourses in Taiwanese Gender and Sexual Minority/Tongzhi Family-of-Origin Relationships

Abstract: Author(s): Jhang, JhuCin | Abstract: With Taiwan’s same-sex marriage bill advancing, LGBTQ/tongzhi Taiwanese are rejoicing in the progress being made but have become exhausted in combating protests from their opponents. They also must reconcile conflicts with their families of origin stemming from discrepant expectations regarding life, family, marriage, and so on. To understand this reconciliation process, scholars must investigate how the discrepant expectations are formed. Using critical discourse analysis to analyze interview data, field observation, and cultural texts, this article identifies three sets of discourses: heteronormativity/homonormativity, patriarchy, and compulsory marriage. In Taiwan, heteronormativity manifests in the term zhengchang (正常, normal, sane, regular), which stipulates that human beings are heterosexual; homonormativity is an assimilation of heteronormative ideals into tongzhi culture and identity. Patriarchy includes a patrilineal and patrilocal system that organizes Taiwanese daily life. Compulsory marriage accentuates how marriage operates as an imperative, unavoidable, and prescribed force in Taiwanese culture that banishes and punishes tongzhi for their unsuitability for the heteronormative/homonormative patriarchal marriage. Responding to the call for more studies outside the U.S.-Western European contexts, the author of this article sheds light on cultural discourses that help shape the discrepant expectations, and the findings help LGBTQ/tongzhi studies in other cultures to develop contextualized theorization. Keywords: Taiwan, LGBTQ family communication, heteronormativity, homonormativity, patriarchy, compulsory marriage, tongzhi

Distancing All Around: Post-Ming China Realpolitik in Seventeenth-Century Korea

Abstract: Author(s): Lee, Joseph Jeong-il | Abstract: During the Ming-Qing transition period, Chosŏn Korea (1392–1910) tried to articulate geopolitical change on its own terms by prioritizing state security The way the Chosŏn court and ruling elites responded to the Revolt of Wu Sangui (1673–1681) and its aftereffects offers a snapshot of their accommodationist strategy for survival This article explores how the court and elites maintained a policy of noninvolvement in association with domestic stability for social integration and self-strengthening for border defense The author reveals the way the Chosŏn court and ruling elites handled the ongoing unexpected situations caused by Qing China, the anti-Qing force, and the Mongols This approach helps contextualize the links between the realpolitik of Chosŏn and the longue duree of Pax Manjurica, Pax Mongolica, and Pax Sinica and promotes further inquiry into the international relations of East Asia from a transhistorical perspective Keywords: Chosŏn-Ming alliance, Ming loyalism, Mongols, realpolitik, Revolt of Wu Sangui, state security, Qing dynasty

Grounding History in Cheju Islanders’ Travel Literature

Abstract: Author(s): Tran, Tommy | Abstract: Cheju kihaeng, a small yet growing genre of academicized travel writing, looks at Cheju Island as existing in a liminal time and space or as a position Writing amidst as well as against tourism’s dominance on Cheju, kihaeng writers emphasize engagement with localities as vantage points from which one can not only recover long-ignored or suppressed subjectivities but also reject notions of Korean homogeneity This article examines the books of Cheju historian and high school teacher Yi Yǒngkwǒn, journalist Kim Hyǒnghun, and former Provincial Office of Education director Mun Yǒngt’aek Although these three authors share the overall objective of writing kihaeng literature from a Cheju islander’s perspective, their scope and interests demonstrate overlapping and sometimes divergent approaches to grounding history in the island’s geography as they respond to or criticize trends in Cheju cultural tourism since the early 2000s These three authors’ treatment of local history and what it means to identify as a Cheju person reveals multiple complex layers and anxieties about how to begin to define as well as interrogate a notion of the Chejudodaun (Cheju-esque) Keywords: Cheju, Jeju Island, kihaeng, tapsa, travel writing, heritage, cultural tourism, South Korea