From the old steam-powered locomotives that went into service near the end of the Qing Dynasty to the blue-and-white Chukuang Express trains seen in Taiwan in the 1970s, the nation’s first original railway historical comic, created by 34-year-old cartoonist Chien Chia-cheng (簡嘉誠), whisks readers down memory lane, reminiscing over many of Taiwan’s trains.
Chien’s two-year brainchild, Time Travel: A Journey to Collect Train Tickets (時空鐵道之旅), transports readers back 100 years with the two main characters, former high-school acquaintances.
It all starts with a railway accident the two characters get into after bumping into each other on a Tzuchiang Express train, which sees them accidentally falling into a time tunnel to the past.
Photo courtesy of Gaea Books Co
In order to make their way back to the present, the pair must jointly accumulate tickets for train models of the past, ranging from the country’s oldest steam locomotives and the Taiwan Sugar Railway trains, to the red-painted Alishan Forest Railway trains and the legendary blue-and-white Chukuang Express trains.
Taiwan’s first railway line, which linked Keelung to Taipei, was completed in 1891, when the country’s first two steam locomotives, named Teng-yun (騰雲) and Yu-feng (御風), were imported from Germany and went into service.
Many saw the steam-powered locomotives as giant smoky monsters, and passengers who forgot to close the window risked having their faces turned black by the thick smoke coming from the steam engines.
In 1902, the Taiwan Sugar Railway trains were introduced for transporting sugarcane in central and southern Taiwan, becoming one of the country’s major transportation systems because of the limited passenger service they offered.
The sugar railway lines also passed through the Chiayi-based Tung Shih Agricultural School — the predecessor of National Tung Shih Senior High School.
In 1912, the Alishan Forest Railway trains came into operation under the Japanese colonial government to facilitate shipping of valuable wood logged in the area, with most of them now serving as tourist trains.
Aside from a variety of trains, appealing uniformed attendants who used to peddle meal boxes and help passengers send telegrams or registered letters are also featured in the comic book.
The so-called “Miss Chukuang” (莒光號小姐) were so well-liked at the time that some of them even received wedding proposals and diamond rings from passengers while on duty.
Chien’s book has been highly acclaimed by readers and made it onto a best seller list shortly after its launch on Oct. 31.
Railway expert Su Jiao-shi (蘇昭旭), who has written about 30 railway-themed publications, also wrote a prologue for Chien’s comic creation.
“I am deeply touched by the book … which is no less a work than the many Chinese translations of Japanese railway comics that have long dominated the Taiwanese market,” Su said in the prologue.
“This is not only the first original comic book about Taiwan’s national railway history, but also an example of the delicate transformation of written histories into vivid images,” Su said.
Chien said he only decided to create the book after accumulating relevant background information for a railway-themed short comic piece for the best-selling magazine Creative Comic Collection.
“Knowing that there used to be trains traveling through a campus just got me interested and spurred me into creating a series of stories that centered on locomotives,” Chien said.
Since Chien’s storyline covers a 100-year history of railway transformation, conducting research on the designs of various trains and the cultural backgrounds of different eras — such as the distinctive features of costumes and the currencies in use at the time — was the most arduous part of the creative process.
“Historical research was rather painstaking. While there is plenty of information and photographs, I still couldn’t get the whole picture and could only try to fill in the blanks myself,” Chien said.
When asked about what kind of reaction he expects from readers, Chien said: “As long as people get the feeling of wanting to ride on one of those trains in my book, it’s good enough for me.”
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
RSS