Taiwan, Please Answer
For more than 20 years, TAIWANfest has evolved from a community base or a diaspora event to a platform where communities come together to create dialogue over our diversity. Charlie Wu, Managing Director of the organization, has collaborated with Taiwanese publisher Gūsa on a book, “Taiwan, the world’s answer.” This book documents the changes that took place over the span of Charlie’s career and how he has seen being a Canadian helps his own journey to find his Taiwanese identity. He encourages newcomers to Canada to adapt a mindset of relevance when sharing their own cultures in Canada. The same approach actually inspires many Taiwanese, as Taiwan has constantly been isolated on the world stage. While the book title suggests he has the answers for Taiwan, it is more of his mindset when talking to Canadians about the relevance of Taiwan.
The two writers, Sisi Chang and Kai-Chun Huang, and the editor, Joshua Wang, have never attended the festival. However, through writing this book and researching about Canada, they find themselves taking new perspectives examining their own understanding of being Taiwanese. All three of them are in the prime of their writing or publishing career but they also represent a generation of Taiwanese perhaps different from what you might have thought before. They will join TAIWANfest as they share their answers about being Taiwanese!
About The Artist / Sisi Chang
Sisi Chang is an independent journalist and lecturer on Southeast Asian cultural heritage. Born in Taiwan in the 1970s, Chang grew up everywhere. Her ancestors came from Guangdong and Zhejiang. They then moved to Vietnam and Hong Kong during the Cultural Revolution and the Vietnam War. When she was a teenager, she wrote screenplays in theatres for a living. She transitioned into the media and production industry in her 30s, and began to take interest in exploring Southeast Asian archeology and cultural heritage. Starting from the Angkor dynasty and Asian diasporic culture, she attempted to reconstruct a worldview from an era where words had lost their value, steadfastly defending their power in writing. She also has experience in magazine design and book editing. She was the cultural tour manager of Joint Publishing HK. Her work includes In-depth Guide to Angkor, Cambodia: The Successor of Angkor Civilization, Lonely Planet IN Taiwan, Lonely Planet IN Hong Kong and Macau: 2nd Edition, Lonely Planet Guangdong: 2nd Edition, and Incredible Australia.
About The Artist / Kai-chun huang
Kai-chun Huang is a former editor, and is currently a translator. Her translated works include: Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time and Affluence Without Abundance: The Disappearing World of the Bushmen. She has also co-authored Songs Blowing Over the Island.
She has had an interest in learning languages since she was young. Languages brought her to unexpected places. During her years in high school, she had the chance to visit an Indigenous tribe as part of an Amis language class, and learned about the life and culture of the Indigenous peoples for the first time. The experience changed her perception of the island she lives on. She majored in Arabic in university and went to Egypt to study the language in her senior years. She experienced the beauty of Islamic culture and was enlightened by feminism there. She sees Egypt as her second home. Upon her return to Taiwan, she shared Islamic culture and discussed religious issues through lectures, blogs, and her social media fan page, “Islam Without Veils.”
This year, she became acquainted with the TAIWANfest team through her book, Taiwan, the World’s Answer. TAIWANfest’s goals of opening up dialogues with different cultures aligns with Huang’s own philosophies, and she believes TAIWANfest is an excellent stage to re-learn oneself and the world through conversations with people of all backgrounds.
About The Artist / Joshua Wang
Joshua Wang has worked in editing for around 10 years. He previously worked at RyeField.Cite Publishing and is currently working at Gūsa Publishing. His interests lie in politics, history, philosophy, and religion. In recent years, he has focused on American politics, international relations, observing China, and Middle East Islamic issues. In 2019, he was awarded the Taipei International Book Fair Editor Award for his community management skills. Even with his less popular books, he has managed to publish without a loss. He is looking forward to cultivating the Taiwanese people’s intellect by continuing to publish books on humanities and social science.
For more than 20 years, TAIWANfest has evolved from a community base or a diaspora event to a platform where communities come together to create dialogue over our diversity. Charlie Wu, Managing Director of the organization, has collaborated with Taiwanese publisher Gūsa on a book, “Taiwan, the world’s answer.” This book documents the changes that took place over the span of Charlie’s career and how he has seen being a Canadian helps his own journey to find his Taiwanese identity. He encourages newcomers to Canada to adapt a mindset of relevance when sharing their own cultures in Canada. The same approach actually inspires many Taiwanese, as Taiwan has constantly been isolated on the world stage. While the book title suggests he has the answers for Taiwan, it is more of his mindset when talking to Canadians about the relevance of Taiwan.
The two writers, Sisi Chang and Kai-Chun Huang, and the editor, Joshua Wang, have never attended the festival. However, through writing this book and researching about Canada, they find themselves taking new perspectives examining their own understanding of being Taiwanese. All three of them are in the prime of their writing or publishing career but they also represent a generation of Taiwanese perhaps different from what you might have thought before. They will join TAIWANfest as they share their answers about being Taiwanese!
Sisi Chang
Lecturer of Southeast Asian Cultures / Author
Sisi Chang is an independent journalist and lecturer on Southeast Asian cultural heritage. Born in Taiwan in the 1970s, Chang grew up everywhere. Her ancestors came from Guangdong and Zhejiang. They then moved to Vietnam and Hong Kong during the Cultural Revolution and the Vietnam War. When she was a teenager, she wrote screenplays in theatres for a living. She transitioned into the media and production industry in her 30s, and began to take interest in exploring Southeast Asian archeology and cultural heritage. Starting from the Angkor dynasty and Asian diasporic culture, she attempted to reconstruct a worldview from an era where words had lost their value, steadfastly defending their power in writing. She also has experience in magazine design and book editing. She was the cultural tour manager of Joint Publishing HK. Her work includes In-depth Guide to Angkor, Cambodia: The Successor of Angkor Civilization, Lonely Planet IN Taiwan, Lonely Planet IN Hong Kong and Macau: 2nd Edition, Lonely Planet Guangdong: 2nd Edition, and Incredible Australia.
Kai-Chun Huang
Translator / Author
Kai-chun Huang is a former editor, and is currently a translator. Her translated works include: Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time and Affluence Without Abundance: The Disappearing World of the Bushmen. She has also co-authored Songs Blowing Over the Island.
She has had an interest in learning languages since she was young. Languages brought her to unexpected places. During her years in high school, she had the chance to visit an Indigenous tribe as part of an Amis language class, and learned about the life and culture of the Indigenous peoples for the first time. The experience changed her perception of the island she lives on. She majored in Arabic in university and went to Egypt to study the language in her senior years. She experienced the beauty of Islamic culture and was enlightened by feminism there. She sees Egypt as her second home. Upon her return to Taiwan, she shared Islamic culture and discussed religious issues through lectures, blogs, and her social media fan page, “Islam Without Veils.”
This year, she became acquainted with the TAIWANfest team through her book, Taiwan, the World’s Answer. TAIWANfest’s goals of opening up dialogues with different cultures aligns with Huang’s own philosophies, and she believes TAIWANfest is an excellent stage to re-learn oneself and the world through conversations with people of all backgrounds.
Joshua Wang
Editor
Joshua Wang has worked in editing for around 10 years. He previously worked at RyeField.Cite Publishing and is currently working at Gūsa Publishing. His interests lie in politics, history, philosophy, and religion. In recent years, he has focused on American politics, international relations, observing China, and Middle East Islamic issues. In 2019, he was awarded the Taipei International Book Fair Editor Award for his community management skills. Even with his less popular books, he has managed to publish without a loss. He is looking forward to cultivating the Taiwanese people’s intellect by continuing to publish books on humanities and social science.
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