14 Books to Read Before You Visit Taiwan
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Loading... - Agung Hidayat
- 13 Oct 2022
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What can be said for certain (besides the fact that Taiwan is not China), is that Taiwan is a fascinating place with a rich culture, kind, peaceful, and passionate people, and the best cuisine in all of East Asia.
Before you visit Taiwan, however, there are some incredible books for you to read.
It’s a place that’s growing in popularity, becoming more dearly loved by people near and far. Taiwan might be our favourite country, as such it’s the place in Asia we most urge people to visit, explore, and fall in love with.
Before you visit Taiwan, however, make sure to learn a little about its recent history and read its wonderful literature.
Here are six books from or about Taiwan to devour before you head over the Asia’s most wondrous island nation.
Books to Read Before You Visit Taiwan
Note: A writer that we haven’t read ourselves (looking to remedy that soon) but should very much be included on this list is the Taiwanese feminist writer Li Ang.
Li Ang is known for her idiosyncratic, candid and penetrating insights on gender politics in the social life in contemporary Taiwan. Currently in translation are The Butcher’s Wife and The Lost Garden.
Two Trees Make A Forest by Jessica J. Lee
This is, perhaps, the one absolute must-read book to read before you visit Taiwan. Here, in the form of a blended biography, history book, linguistics text, and nature writing, is the definitive book on Taiwan.
Two Trees Make A Forest tells a captivating story: that of both Jessica J. Lee herself and Taiwan as a nation, with Lee’s family tying the two together. Half of this book is a personal exploration of self-discovery, as Lee traces her family history.
Born in Canada to a Welsh father and a mother born in Taiwan to two Chinese migrant parents, Lee has made a home in London and Berlin. Now, she is retracing her family’s steps.
On her journey of self-discovery, Lee explores the linguistic history of China and Taiwan, and how language is used to express feelings, put names and descriptions to the things around us, and bring life to the world.
She beautifully ties nature writing – as she wanders the lush and lumpy landscape of Taiwan – with an historic and etymological journey through the language of her mother and grandparents.
Two Trees Make A Forest is a detailed history book which lays Taiwan out geologically as well as politically. It explores the hills, forests, and rivers of the island. It looks at Taiwan’s relationship to itself in complex and meaningful ways. In short, there is no better book about Taiwan. Read More…
