Travel, Cultural Hybridity and Transnational Connections in Taiwanese Graphic Narratives

This study adopts a discursive analytical perspective to elaborate on transnational connections and cultural diversity as strategies for defining Taiwaneseness in graphic narratives published between 1997 and 2016. It considers the following aspects represented in the analysed texts: (1) processes of self-identification while travelling abroad; (2) depictions of Taiwan centred on familiar spaces open to outside cultural influences, which become locally appropriated through daily activities that link them to individual emotions and weave them into personal and collective memories; and (3) reaching beyond Taiwan to highlight transnational encounters and connections, thus placing the island within a global or regional framework of reference. The article assesses the degree to which this transnational viewpoint reproduces, challenges or complements existing notions regarding Taiwan’s relations with China, Japan and the US, while also exploring relations established with other nodes of reference: Europe, New Zealand and Hong Kong. It also comments on the extent to which academic critical stances on Taiwan’s multiculturalism and warnings against overlooking existing ties between Taiwan and the PRC in contemporary definitions of nationhood may hold true for the research material

Epidemic Control and Wars in Republican China (1935-1955)

Après la Seconde Guerre mondiale, Taiwan remet sur pied les infrastructures de santé publique fortement endommagées, grâce à l’aide des États-Unis et de l’Organisation mondiale de la santé. La reconstruction de la santé publique à Taiwan dans les années cinquante bénéficie de l’expérience acquise pendant la guerre sino-japonaise dans le domaine de la médecine militaire et de la prévention contre les épidémies. Cet article établit le lien entre la reconstruction de la santé publique dans le Taiwan des années cinquante et les travaux de santé publique menés antérieurement par le gouvernement nationaliste en période de guerre, en même temps qu’il révèle l’importance de l’influence politique de la guerre froide en Asie orientale.Post-WWII Taiwan fast recovered its public health infrastructure from war damage due to aids from US and World Health Organization. Beside a long history between the Nationalist government and American aids since the 1930s, the reconstruction of public health in 1950s Taiwan shared experience of military medical works and epidemic prevention during the Sino-Japanese War. The article aims to survey the linkage between the reconstruction of public health in 1950s Taiwan and previous sanitary works of Nationalist government in wartime period, revealing possible influence of Cold War politics in East Asia.二次世界大戰後的臺灣，由於美援與世界衛生組織(WHO)的協助，快速地從戰火破壞中重建公共衛生秩序。然而，1950 年代的公共衛生秩序重建，除了國民政府自1930 年代以來即致力與美援維持關係外，也隱約繼承著中日抗戰時期，國民政府戰地衛生勤務與防疫經驗延續的淵源。本文以國府在戰爭時期—抗日戰爭與國共內戰，所累積之防疫工作與戰地衛生勤務經驗為經緯，探討1930年代到50年代國府如何在美國醫藥援助下，恢復臺灣地區公共衛生秩序的過程，並因此展開冷戰時期東亞國際防疫網與臺灣衛生工作之連結。全文討論始於1933年日軍入侵華北，國府將防疫工作與衛生訓練寓於戰地醫護之中，而分析終於1950年代國府退守臺灣後，如何以局部恢復之戰時衛生經驗，將臺灣重置於東亞之國際防疫網中，並據此再次取得美國的援助及外交上的支持

Spark Plasma Sintering of LiFePO4: AC Field Suppressing Lithium Migration

Our work proposes a comparison between Spark Plasma Sintering of LiFePO(4) carried out using an Alternating Current (AC) and Direct Current (DC). It quantifies the Li-ion migration using DC, and it validates such hypothesis using impedance spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy. The use of an AC field seems effective to inhibit undesired Li-ion migration and achieve high ionic conductivity as high as 4.5 × 10(−3) S/cm, which exceeds by one order of magnitude samples processed under a DC field. These results anticipate the possibility of fabricating a high-performance all-solid-state Li-ion battery by preventing undesired Li loss during SPS processing

Of Grocery Stores and Barbershops: Slices of Taiwan in Ruan Guang-min's Manhua

Although not as popular as Japanese manga, Taiwanese comics, known as manhua, are an important cultural product, which is being promoted both locally and internationally through several governmental initiatives. Ruan Guang-min is among the most wellknown contemporary manhua artists, the author of many graphic narratives that circulate domestically and, through translation, abroad too. The main characteristic of his oeuvre is that it is often set in the rural milieu, and it nostalgically reflects on the simplicity of small-town life. In this paper, I will focus on two of his works, namely The Grocery Store and Dong Hua Chun Barbershop, paying special attention to some of their cultural-specific features. Through an analysis of the two manhua, my aim is to show that the Taiwanese elements in Ruan's graphic narratives can be perceived differently depending on the readers' background: for local readers they have a nostalgic and sentimental impact, while for foreign audiences they represent a window to Taiwanese society and culture

Epidemic Control and Wars in Republican China (1935-1955)

Après la Seconde Guerre mondiale, Taiwan remet sur pied les infrastructures de santé publique fortement endommagées, grâce à l’aide des États-Unis et de l’Organisation mondiale de la santé. La reconstruction de la santé publique à Taiwan dans les années cinquante bénéficie de l’expérience acquise pendant la guerre sino-japonaise dans le domaine de la médecine militaire et de la prévention contre les épidémies. Cet article établit le lien entre la reconstruction de la santé publique dans le Taiwan des années cinquante et les travaux de santé publique menés antérieurement par le gouvernement nationaliste en période de guerre, en même temps qu’il révèle l’importance de l’influence politique de la guerre froide en Asie orientale.Post-WWII Taiwan fast recovered its public health infrastructure from war damage due to aids from US and World Health Organization. Beside a long history between the Nationalist government and American aids since the 1930s, the reconstruction of public health in 1950s Taiwan shared experience of military medical works and epidemic prevention during the Sino-Japanese War. The article aims to survey the linkage between the reconstruction of public health in 1950s Taiwan and previous sanitary works of Nationalist government in wartime period, revealing possible influence of Cold War politics in East Asia.二次世界大戰後的臺灣，由於美援與世界衛生組織(WHO)的協助，快速地從戰火破壞中重建公共衛生秩序。然而，1950 年代的公共衛生秩序重建，除了國民政府自1930 年代以來即致力與美援維持關係外，也隱約繼承著中日抗戰時期，國民政府戰地衛生勤務與防疫經驗延續的淵源。本文以國府在戰爭時期—抗日戰爭與國共內戰，所累積之防疫工作與戰地衛生勤務經驗為經緯，探討1930年代到50年代國府如何在美國醫藥援助下，恢復臺灣地區公共衛生秩序的過程，並因此展開冷戰時期東亞國際防疫網與臺灣衛生工作之連結。全文討論始於1933年日軍入侵華北，國府將防疫工作與衛生訓練寓於戰地醫護之中，而分析終於1950年代國府退守臺灣後，如何以局部恢復之戰時衛生經驗，將臺灣重置於東亞之國際防疫網中，並據此再次取得美國的援助及外交上的支持

Diaspora, pamięć i tożsamość – kino Ann Hui

The diaspora, memory and identity – the films by Ann Hui The aim of this article is to present the works of Ann Hui, one of the most eminent film directors of the Hong Kong New Wave. In her fi lms Hui focuses on such issues as memory, ethnic minorities, intercultural communication, and the impact of political factors on the characters’ everyday life. These problems are often addressed from a subjective or even autobiographical perspective, like in her most significant work, Song of the Exile, to which I devote most of my analysis. The film is a perfect illustration of a basic feature of the Hong Kong cinema of the late 20th century, namely, a particular attitude to time, a nostalgia best expressed by a notion of déjà disparu, or a “conviction that all that is new and unique nowadays has already come and gone, and there’s nothing left but clichés and the scraps of memories of the things that never existed” (Ackbar Abbas). The longing for the past that stems from a sense of loss and necessity to reconcile with the passing of things appears to be a characteristic feature not only of Chinese fi lm art, but of Chinese culture as such

Cultural Revolution Narratives: Rethinking History through the Prism of Post-Mao Literature

Chinese educated youth, or zhiqing, who were sent to the countryside for re-education during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), began to re-frame their historical narratives of this tumultuous decade in the post-Mao period. This essay examines how two distinct genres of post-Mao literature, the Literature of the Wounded (shanghen wenxue) and Nostalgic Literature (huaijiu wenxue), reproduced an imaginary binary between individual memories of the Cultural Revolution and the officially-sanctioned history of this period, while a third genre of literature, the Narration of the Absurd (huangdan xushi), rejected a memory/history dichotomy. Instead of relying on a single narratorial voice, which silences the plurality of voices located in and out of the historical record, the Narration of the Absurd opened up radically new possibilities for narrating, in a non-linear fashion, a multiplicity of perspectives, memories, and uncertainties about the past

Finding a voice—a closer look at Chinese choral music development in the early twentieth century through Chao Yuan-Ren, Huang Zi, and Xian Xing-Hai

At the beginning of the twentieth century, when young Chinese scholars looked to Western nations for answers in hope of revitalizing a nation that once dominated the East, musicians and poets embarked on a journey of establishing a new Chinese style of music. Three sets of composer/poet collaborations and three different ways of infusing Western culture with Chinese culture laid the foundation for Chinese choral music today. Chao Yuan-Ren was a brilliant linguist and music lover who thought that to simply implant Western music onto Chinese text would suffice–his HaiYun, set to a poem of the equally brilliant poet Xu Zhi-Mo serves as a good example. Huang Zi believed in Confucius’ teachings that all new things must grow out of tradition. He and the lyricist Wei Huang-Zhang extended a literary tradition started in the Tang dynasty and produced Song of Everlasting Sorrow, which illustrates this philosophy quite well. Yet, for the underprivileged people who also loved music, folk songs provided a fertile ground as seen in the works of Xian Xing-Hai. During the second Sino-Japanese War, the poet Guang Wei-Ran and Xian worked hand-in-hand, producing the Yellow River Cantata that contains folksong-like melodies and many folk-music elements. Chinese choral music today is unavoidably connected to these three pieces. This document traces the early history of Chinese choral music through these three pieces and explains their influences on Chinese choral music today

American family entertainment and the only child generation in contemporary urban China

As a result of the economic reform which took place three decades ago, imported American family entertainment had gradually become an important part of the everyday entertainment for Chinese consumers. During the same period, a particular group of Chinese people, generally referred to as the post-80s or the only child generation, had emerged, grown up and become the main contributors to China’s media consumption. In this thesis, a study of the only child generation and the American family entertainment will be presented. The study sees the only child generation as groups of audience exposed to American family entertainment as the media, and the focus of this study is to understand the audience-media relationship between the two. As they are two objects emerged within their own social and cultural boundaries, the thesis will first tackle how the connection between the audience and the media was established. Then, the only child generation will be approached as a social creation. Findings on their social sophistications that are able to influence their relationship to media will be presented. Four case studies form the reset of the thesis. Each of the case studies will focus on one significant aspect of the generation’s social characteristics and how it is connected to the group’s receptions to media texts