Taiwan Studies Program and Events
2023-2024
LUNG Yingtai round table discussion, “Debates on War and Peace in Taiwan” (BUCSA Taiwan Forum, Tuesday Sept. 19, 2023)
Here are several interesting background articles that you might want to read prior to this open roundtable discussion:
1. “The greatness of a great nation cannot come only from missiles”: Lung Yingtai on the Hong Kong Protestsby Lung Yingtai 10/01/2019 CURRENT EVENTS ESSAYS
Questions for consideration:
- How do you anticipate the response of the official Chinese media? What might be their main argument?
- What would be the perception of Taiwanese individuals regarding this article?
- What are the divisions among Hong Kong residents on this issue?
2. No matter what you say, I am against war. (A Facebook posting by Lung Yingtai) Oct. 3, 2020
In June 1902, Austrian painter Klimt and French sculptor Rodin were having afternoon tea in Vienna.
The musician, who had once served as the royal pianist to Emperor William I of Germany, sat relaxedly in front of a piano, holding a cigar in his hand. Rodin approached him and said, “How about some Schubert for us?”
In the swirling smoke of the cigar, Schubert’s notes floated through the air.
As guest, Rodin leaned closer to Klimt”s ear and whispered, “There is an atmosphere I have never seen before; your melancholic and magnificent Beethoven murals, your temple-like exhibition halls…”
Rodin looked around in disbelief and continued, “And this garden, these beautiful lades, this music…the whole ambiance is filled with a joyful, childlike happiness…”
Finally, Rodin expressed his bewilderment, “But where does all this originate from?”
Klimt nodded and replied with just one word, “Austria.”
This was Vienna at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, an era woven together with accumulated civilization and intricate details. The premiere of an opera would be the topic eagerly discussed by the city’s janitors at the dinner table.
The “childlike happiness” strongly felt by Rodin was shattered within a few years when war broke out, destroying all the fine intricacies of civilization.
The book I’m currently reading is The Age of Insight: the Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present by Eric Kandel.
I put down the book to make a cup of coffee, but when I turned back, the book had already been occupied by my cat.
Such a small, peaceful moment—an innocent cat, reminiscent of a child, a torn sofa that the cat used as an oversized scratching post, and a book about science and art woven with countless details of human endeavors….Can it continue? Do I have the right to demand that it continue?
Can war be treated as a game and bargaining chip, a light topic joked about after a variety show?
What I see is the destruction of civilization.
No matter what you say, I am against war.
3. In Taiwan, Friends Are Starting to Turn Against Each Other. Guess essay by Lung Yingtai (New York Times, April 18, 2023)
Questions for consideration:
- Do you think the author exhibits bias towards China in the text?
- What do you perceive is the primary message the author intends to convey through the writing?
- If a Taiwanese individual were to disagree with her, what arguments might he or she present in response to the author’s viewpoints?
4. Anti-War Petition From Taiwan Academics (http://positionspolitics.org/praxis) June 8, 2023
https://positionspolitics.org/anti-war-petition-from-taiwan-academics/ (English version)
我們的反戰聲明：和平、反軍火、要自主、重氣候 (Chinese version)
Questions for consideration:
- One significant counterargument to this statement is that the party under attack should not be the one expected to advocate for an “anti-war” stance; that responsibility should rest with the aggressor. What is your perspective on this?
- Do you dis/agree with the statement?
LUNG Yingtai, “A Look Inside: Taiwanese in a Time of Cross-Strait Crisis” (BUCSA Taiwan Forum, Monday Sept. 18, 2023)
About the Speaker:
Lung Yingtai is a writer, literary critic and public intellectual. Lung not only has a large number of devoted readers in her native Taiwan, but her works also have great influence in the Chinese-language world in Singapore, Malaysia, China, and North America.
Taiwan Forum: LUNG Yingtai, My Life in an Indigenous Village
Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023 from 4:30-6:00 pm at Harvard University’s Tsai Auditorium (CGIS South), 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA
Since Lung Yingtai relocated to an indigenous village in eastern Taiwan three years ago, she sought to comprehend the elements that comprise her life, including the journey of her daily water supply from the mountain’s depths to her garden pond. Furthermore, she regularly encounters cobras, wild boars and crab-eating mongooses, prompting her to examine the impact of cultural as well as environmental “encroachment” on the wildlife and people residing in the untouched forest.
Taiwan Forum: Taiwan elections 2024: A Post-Election Analysis, with Ryan Hass
Thursday, January 25, 2024 at Kilachang Honors College, 91 Bay State Road, Boston University
Taiwan Forum: Tension in the Taiwan Strait: The Role of U.S. Allies (Akio Takahara, Univ. of Tokyo; Satu Limaye, East-West Center; Ja Ian Chong, National University of Singapore; moderated by Thomas Berger)..
Thursday, March 24, 2024 at 100 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215
2022-2023
2021-2022
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