“We’re all living through the enshittocene, a great enshittening, in which the services that matter to us, that we rely on, are turning into giant piles of shit,” author Cory Doctorow said earlier this year.In 2022, Doctorow coined the word “enshittification,” which has just been crowned Macquarie D
Big changes are afoot in global politics, which that are having a big impact on the global order, look set to continue and have the potential to completely reshape it. In my previous column we examined the three macro megatrends impacting the entire planet: Technology, demographics and climate.Below
K-pop fan Kim Na-yeon used to buy stacks of the same album when there was a new release, hoping to find one of the rare selfies of her favorite stars tucked between the plastic covers.Over the years, her burgeoning CD collection expanded to every inch of her shelves, prompting her to question its im
Last month historian Stephen Wertheim of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace published an opinion piece in the New York Times with suggestions for an “America First” foreign policy for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Of course China and Taiwan received a mention. “Under p
Nov. 25 to Dec. 1The Dutch had a choice: join the indigenous Siraya of Sinkan Village (in today’s Tainan) on a headhunting mission or risk losing them as believers. Missionaries George Candidus and Robert Junius relayed their request to the Dutch governor, emphasizing that if they aided the Sinkan,
The only geopolitical certainty is that massive change is coming. Three macro trends are only just starting to accelerate, forming a very disruptive background to an already unsettled future. One is that technological transformations exponentially more consequential and rapid than anything prior are
Anyone who has been to Alishan (阿里山) is familiar with the railroad there: one line comes up from Chiayi City past the sacred tree site, while another line goes up to the sunrise viewing platform at Zhushan (祝山). Of course, as a center of logging operations for over 60 years, Alishan did have more ra
The rhythms of bustling, working-class Mumbai are brought to vivid life in All We Imagine as Light. The stunning narrative debut of filmmaker Payal Kapadia explores the lives of three women in the city whose existence is mostly transit and work. Even that isn’t always enough to get by and pay the re
In the new horror movie, Heretic, Hugh Grant plays a diabolical religious skeptic who traps two scared missionaries in his house and tries to violently shake their faith.What starts more as a religious studies lecture slowly morphs into a gory escape room for the two door-knocking members of The Chu
Standing over a simmering pot of chai, Stella Ku’s (古詩筠) gold bangles jingle as she crushes ginger roots and mixes freshly ground cardamom into individual saucepans. The tea leaves, handpicked from the misty mountains of Assam and Darjeeling, take 10 minutes for the perfect brew. Ku herself is from
“Manifest,” meaning to dream or will something into existence, has been named this year’s word by Cambridge Dictionary, after a surge of celebrity-inspired popularity on social media.Though far from a new coinage — as an adjective meaning “clear” or “obvious,” the word dates back in English to at le
For all the excellent works in English on Taiwan under Japanese colonial rule, there have been few (if any) monographs dedicated to Taiwanese women as imperial subjects. Studies on the colonial government’s assimilation policy (doka) and, during World War II, its imperial subjectification efforts (
The black and white silent movie flickered into life as the pianist started up with a dramatic flourish. Cue the latest exploits of daring master criminal “Three-Fingered Kate.”The head of a gang behind a string of audacious robberies, Kate — who is missing the last two digits of her right hand — al
The young Buddhist lama sat on a throne near an altar decorated with flowers, fruit and golden statues of the Buddha, watching the celebrations of his 18th birthday in silence, with a faint smile.Jalue Dorje knew it would be the last big party before he joins a monastery in the Himalayan foothills —
Hong Kong has endured a turbulent history since being handed over from Britain to China 27 years ago.Here are some key dates: 1997: HANDOVER On July 1, at midnight, Hong Kong is returned to Chinese sovereignty after 156 years of British rule.The tiny territory has its own mini-constitution that gove
The entire saga involving the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and its Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) continues to produce plot twists at such a rapid pace that fiction publishers would throw it out for being ridiculously improbable. This past week was particularly bizarre, but surprisingly the press has almos
We’ve lost direction and our brains are shrinking — at least, our hippocampi are. These seahorse-shaped parts of the brain measure about 5cm, sit just above both ears and drive our spatial awareness and orientation. London taxi drivers, famed for taking the Knowledge, a test that involves memorizing
The self-destructive protest vote in January that put the pro-People’s Republic of China (PRC) side in control of the legislature continues to be a gift that just keeps on giving to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Last week legislation was introduced by KMT Legislator Weng Hsiao-lin (翁曉玲) that
Nov. 18 to Nov. 24Led by a headman named Dika, 16 indigenous Siraya from Sinkan Village, in what is today’s Tainan, traveled to Japan and met with the shogun in the summer of 1627. They reportedly offered sovereignty to the emperor. This greatly alarmed the Dutch, who were allies of the village. The
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