The Council of Indigenous Peoples and the Ministry of Culture yesterday released three new Chinese-language translations of books on Austronesian culture in the hopes of “shortening the distance” between Taiwan and its neighbors in Oceania and Southeast Asia.
In an event in Taipei attended by Marshallese Ambassador to Taiwan Neijon Rema Edwards, the council unveiled its translations of the three volumes originally written in English.
Bravo for Marshallese: Regaining Control in a Post-
Photo courtesy of the Council of Indigenous Peoples
nuclear, Post-colonial World is a 2004 case study by Holly Barker, a professor at the University of Washington, in which she discusses the history and effects of the US’ nuclear weapons testing program in the Marshall Islands from 1946 to 1958.
The 13 essays included in Pacific Histories: Ocean, Land, People, released in 2004 by editors David Armitage, a professor at Harvard University, and Alison Bashford, a professor at the University of New South Wales, aim to provide a “multidimensional account of the Pacific, its inhabitants and the lands within and around it.”
The third volume, Everyday Life in Southeast Asia, released in 2011 by editors Kathleen Adams, a Colorado-based writer, and Kathleen Gillogly, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, focuses on ordinary people across an array of cultures and regions through 24 wide-ranging essays.
Taiwanese Aborigines and islanders across Southeast Asia and Oceania are part of the Austronesian language group, making Taiwan an integral part of the Pacific, council Minister Icyang Parod said.
Archeological evidence suggests that Austronesian people began migrating south from Taiwan about 5,000 years ago and spread to the furthest islands in the world’s largest ocean, he said.
Besides being the origin of Austronesian cultures, Taiwan has also throughout its history maintained close interactions with the Pacific, he added.
Further evidence for this link was revealed last month in a study coauthered by Taiwanese archeologist Hung Hsiao-chun (洪曉純) on ancestral links between the Chamorro community in the US territory of Guam and Aborigines in the northern Philippines, whose ancestry can be traced to Taiwan, Icyang added.
Since its inauguration in 2016, the council’s translation project has aimed to deepen Chinese speakers’ understanding of Southeast Asia and Oceania by translating books on culture, history and politics, Icyang said, adding that the council aims to inspire further dialogue between Taiwan and Austronesia.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail
RSS