Author of the Taiwan Night Market novels Ghost Month and Incensed Ed Lin reads from and discusses his work with author of Imperial Outcasts: Japan’s Rule on Taiwan’s “Savage Border” 1874-1945, Paul Barclay (History, Lafayette). The theme of the conversation will be Taiwan as a site of and inspiration for literary production, in both fiction and non-fiction.

sponsored by: Asian Studies Program, History Department, Provost’s Office

4:10pm-5:30pm: Seminar w/students and faculty: “Reading/Writing Taiwan in the Age of Martial Law and White Terror” Ramer 103.

Novelist Ed Lin and Historian Paul Barclay host a round-table discussion about the newly emerging history of Taiwan’s brutal dictatorship centered around the 2/28 (1947) Incident, martial law during the US Alliance (“White Terror”) and the perennial challenge of writing about places “over there” for readers and students “over here”. 

Just for fun: Short Readings on Taiwan/Cold War/Martial Law

Rwei-Ren Wu, “Fragment of/f Empires: The Peripheral Formation of Taiwanese Nationalism,” Social Science Japan December 2004. Fragment of empires pdf

Chou Wan-yao, A New Illustrated History of Taiwan excerpts on Feb 28 Incident, Martial Law and White terror. Chou Wanyao pdf

Victor Louzon, “From Japanese Soldiers to Chinese Rebels: Colonial
Hegemony, War Experience, and Spontaneous Remobilization during the 1947 Taiwanese Rebellion,” The Journal of Asian Studies Vol. 77, No. 1 (February) 2018: 161–179. JAS article pdf

Steven Phillips, “Between Assimilation and Independence: Taiwanese Political Aspirations under Nationalist Chinese Rule, 1945-1948.” From Murray Rubinstein, ed. Taiwan: A New History. Phillips pdf

Leonard Gordon, “American Planning for Taiwan, 1942-1945,” Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 37, No. 2 (May, 1968), pp. 201-228.pdf for Leonard Gordon article

After a one-year sabbatical, spent mostly in Japan and Taiwan, I am back on campus at Lafayette College, in Easton, PA.  Rm. 309 Ramer History House.

The workshop “Visualizing War, Visualizing Fascism” will be held at Lafayette College, at the Kirby Hall of Civil Rights, on Monday, November 11th,  in the auditorium facing the front entrance (room 104). We will begin at 4:10pm and end at 6:30pm.

http://www.cias.kyoto-u.ac.jp/event/?p=1385

From July 30 to August 16 Lafayette Students visited various cities in China and Korea as part of an interim course to study political, cultural, migratory, and historical interconnections in Northeast Asia. Luckily, the teachers for the course allowed me to tag along.

These photos are from the bridge that connects Dandong, China to Sinuiju, DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea). One of the bridges carries freight and passengers between the two countries, and the other has been left damaged as a reminder of the American bombing campaigns of the war known as the “Korean War” (1950-53) in the United States.

The Ferris Wheel is on the DPRK side of the river

Train bound for China

The two bridges at night

The un-reconstructed bridge was built by the Japanese after the “protectorate” was established in 1905.  This bridge was the subject of many a Japanese publicity photo advertising the modernity of the colonial regime.  This signboard explains this bridge as an “engineering marvel” because of the horizontal revolving beam that allowed a section of the bridge to become perpendicular to the rest of the bridge to allow the passage of tall ships. According to this sign, the bridge was built in 1908.

The gear works of the Dandong-Sinuiju Bridge have been turned into a mini-museum, which seems to be an unwitting tribute to Japanese colonial engineering

Japanese postcard of the Dandong-Sinuiju bridge ca. 1920

Another Japanese postcard of the “swing bridge” over the Yalu. ca. 1930

http://www.abc.net.au/news/events/japan-quake-2011/beforeafter.htm

http://www.japanquakemap.com/

Dear Lafayette Campus Community:

On March 11, Japan’s northeast coast was devastated by a tsunami accompanied by a series of earthquakes. Over a thousand are presumed dead and many more homeless. Reconstruction and rescue efforts, as well as the work of restoring Japan’s transportation, communication, and power grids, are going to be expensive and difficult. If members of the campus community would like to make contributions to help the Japanese, we know that such generosity would be greatly appreciated.

The Red Cross

http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ntld_main&s_src=RSG000000000&s_subsrc=RCO_Donate_OnlineGiving

the Japan Society

http://www.japansociety.org/news

and NGO-JEN

http://www.jen-npo.org/en/index.html

are all reputable organizations that will deliver aid where it is needed.

Thanks for your time and attention,

The Lafayette College Asian Studies Advisory Committee and Teaching Faculty

Allison Alexy
Paul Barclay
Ingrid Furniss
Naoko Ikegami
Seo-hyun Park
Robin Rinehart
Asma Sayeed
David Stifel
Larry Stockton
Li Yang

Last July, 2010, in Tokyo for research at the archives of the former Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, now called “Tei-park,” National Diet Library, and the used book stores of Jinbocho to hunt for postcards from imperial Japan.  It was a very productive two weeks. And a great time to catch up with friends and colleagues.

Japanese Parliament (aka Diet)

Best part of Parliament, at least for me.

A functional building, that Diet Library.

An interesting way to say good-bye to PM Aso.

View from Hejiribashi, between Ochanomizu station and my hotel room nearby.

Typical Jinbocho scene. Old Book Town.

Taking the train south to visit and old friend near Kamakura

Zushi beach near Kamakura

Typical Zushi Beach house.

Standing bar/restaurant near Nakano Station, Tokyo

Nakano Station, Tokyo shopping and entertainment, early evening