Introduction from the Chair
The University of Washington Taiwan Studies Program (UW-TSP) has wrapped up another eventful year. In addition to concluding the first year of our new MA program in East Asia-Taiwan Studies, we hosted a record number of visiting scholars from Taiwan, continued a three-part workshop series on Taiwanese history, and hosted a number of research and book talks.
I recently penned a letter about our Taiwan Studies Arts and Culture Fundraising campaign. Since the Taiwan Studies Program was founded in 2017, we have been fortunate to launch a highly successful program for our local and global community members that brought together cutting edge academic research as well as a platform for film, art, music, and performance from Taiwan. However, the Taiwan Studies Arts and Culture Program will be coming to an end unless we receive funding. Please consider donating to support the Taiwan Studies Arts and Culture Program.
In the rest of our annual newsletter, we review our events for the past year, as well as a preview of what’s coming up. If you missed any events, we invite you to view them on our YouTube channel. A complete list of events with links to YouTube videos is provided at the end of this newsletter.
James Lin
Associate Professor and Chair, Taiwan Studies Program
Upcoming Events:
We will be hosting two book talks in the upcoming fall quarter.
Professor Beth Tsai of California State University, Long Beach will discuss her book, “Taiwan New Cinema at Film Festivals” (Edinburgh University Press, 2023).
Professor Tadashi Ishikawa of University of Central Florida will discuss his book, “Geographies of Gender: Family and Law in Imperial Japan and Colonial Taiwan” (Cambridge University Press, 2024).
Registration information will be released soon. To receive updates about future events, please be sure you are subscribed to our mailing list and follow our social media accounts.
Spring Colloquia:
The TSP hosted its 2026 Spring Research Colloquia on June 2, 2026. This is a special time when we celebrate the end of a busy academic year with research presentations from graduating students as well as visiting scholars of the Taiwan Studies Program. This year we had a record six visiting scholars and students who presented a variety of topics, from Taiwanese public opinion on cross strait relations to indigenous politics and identity. You can watch the recording of the presentations on our Youtube channel.
A photograph of the TSP presenters, faculty, and staff. From left to right: James Lin, Ellen Eskenazi, Bernard Chih-chieh Chou, Margaret Yun-Pu Tu (Nikal Kabala’an), Hui-nien Lin, Charlie Shih, Tin Pak, and Yang-hsun Hou.
Public Events
Book Talks:
Speakers from left to right, top to bottom: Michelle T. King, Lev Nachman, Chris Horton, and Nicolas de Villiers.
On May 14, 2026, Professor Michelle T. King discussed her latest book Chop Fry Watch Learn: Fu-Pei Mei and Making of Modern Chinese Food. Fu Pei-mei (1931-2004), Taiwan’s beloved and pioneering postwar cook book author and television celebrity, was often called the “Julia Child of Chinese cooking.” Fu appeared continuously on television for forty years, wrote dozens of best-selling Chinese cookbooks, owned a successful cooking school and traveled the world, teaching foreigners about Chinese food. Fu’s story offers us a window onto not just food, but also family, gender roles, technology, media, foreign relations, and cultural identity. King shares a story of not just timeless culinary tradition, but one of modern transformation– of self and family, of cuisine and society. You can view her entire presentation on our YouTube channel @UWTaiwanStudies.
On February 12, 2026, journalist Chris Horton gave a talk about his new book, Ghost Nation: the Story of Taiwan and its Struggle for Survival. In this event, Horton compared Beijing’s claim that Taiwan has been Chinese territory “since time immemorial” with Taiwan’s actual history. By looking at those who have ruled Taiwan, Horton also tells the story of the Taiwanese people, highlighting their intergenerational quest for self-determination — and the existential threat posed by an expansionist Chinese Communist Party. You can view his entire presentation on our YouTube channel @UWTaiwanStudies.
On January 22, 2026, Professor Nicholas de Villiers of the University of North Florida joined UW-TSP to discuss his book Cruisy, Sleepy, Melancholy: Sexual Disorientation in the Films of Tsai Ming-liang. Nicholas de Villiers contends that we need to theorize both queer time and space to understand Taiwan-based director Tsai Ming-liang’s cinematic explorations of feeling melancholy, cruisy, and sleepy. You can view his entire presentation on our YouTube channel @UWTaiwanStudies.
On October 16, 2025, Professor Lev Nachman of National Taiwan University presented on his book Contested Taiwan: Sovereignty, Social Movements, and Party Formations. Nachman explores Taiwan’s political landscape after the 2014 Sunflower Movement and brings a fresh perspective to understanding social movement mobilization and political party formation in contested states.
Research Lectures:
On April 23, 2026, Professor Adam Liff of Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies joined UW-TSP and the JSIS Japan Studies Program to speak on the “U.S.-Japan Alliance and Taiwan.” Amid a changing balance of power and worsening relations across the Taiwan Strait, Professor Liff surveys the evolution of Japanese perspectives on the U.S.-Japan security alliance and the Japan Self-Defense Forces’ potential roles in a “Taiwan contingency.”
On April 9, 2026, Professor Mingsho Ho of National Taiwan University presented on “Taiwan’s Bluebird Action and Great Recall Campaign: Civil Society against the Democratic Backsliding.” Professor Ho explored how ordinary citizens fought back against political gridlock and challenges to democratic norms in Taiwan. With original survey data, he examined two major movements: the Bluebird Action of 2024, which brought crowds back to the streets by reviving the spirit of past protests, and the Great Recall Campaign of 2025, a grassroots effort to remove dozens of lawmakers from office.
On April 1, 2026, Professor Yu-ju Lin from Academia Sinica Institute of Taiwan History discussed her research at the Tateuchi East Asia Library, “Commercial Resilience between the Cracks of Empires: A Leading Seafood Merchant in Southern Taiwan.” Her talk focused on Wang Ruzhen 王汝禎 (1880–1953), who came from a family of civil servants, and his business, the Jinyixing Firm 金義興號. It explores how Wang Ruzhen, operating from a relatively disadvantaged position, managed to build a successful business and achieve upward mobility during the regime shift from the Qing dynasty to Japanese colonial rule.
Conferences:
On February 26 and 27, 2026, UW-TSP hosted a two-day workshop, New Directions in Taiwan History: Taiwan at the Center and Taiwan at the Margins, bringing together scholars working across the temporal range of Taiwan history to share and discuss works-in-progress and findings from their research projects. This is the second workshop of a three-part series. The first was held at Princeton University last year, and the final will be held at UC Berkeley in 2027.
UW-TSP Arts and Culture Program:
During the 2025–2026 academic year, the UW Taiwan Studies Arts & Culture Program continued to expand as a vibrant hub for cultural exchange, institutional collaboration, and community dialogue while also strengthening its long-term sustainability through fundraising and partnership building. A major milestone this year was representing UW Taiwan Studies at the 2025 North American Taiwan Studies Association (NATSA) Conference at Stanford, where Arts & Culture Director Ellen Chang participated in the signature roundtable “Three Decades of Taiwan Studies” and shared UW’s achievement of launching the first Taiwan Studies graduate track in North America, helping position UW as a leading institutional model for the field.
In August, the program co-presented Let Memories Shine: Tales Shared Between Generations and Distant Shores, a three-day public program of art workshops and a keynote lecture with CHEN Yu-He, in collaboration with the Seattle Taiwanese Language Association and the Taiwan World Portrait Project. The program created intergenerational spaces for memory work and community storytelling while exploring questions of migration, identity, and cultural continuity across Taiwan and the diaspora. In October, the program co-organized Wave Makers: Writing Taiwan’s Political Drama, featuring screenwriter Nina Peng and examining how Taiwan’s first political staffer drama shaped public discourse around democracy and the #MeToo movement. In November, the program also supported the growth of new community partnerships through Tasting the Land: A Conversation on Memory, Indigenous Knowledge & Food Sovereignty, expanding public engagement with Indigenous sovereignty, environmental justice, and cultural sustainability.
Let Memories Shine: Tales Shared Between Generations and Distant Shores workshop
Discussion with Screenwriter Nina Peng 厭世姬
Winter quarter centered on the Beyond Visibility film screening series, which brought together screenings of Zero Day Attack, A Chip Odyssey, and Invisible Nation, each followed by filmmaker Q&As with leading women directors, producers, and actors including Janet Hsieh, CHENG Hsin-Mei, HSIAO Chu-Chen, and Vanessa Hope. These programs invited audiences to consider Taiwan’s democratic resilience, geopolitical significance, and global visibility through film and public dialogue. The program also collaborated with the Taiwanese Association of Greater Seattle to present Taiwan Impressions: Musical Greetings from Home, a concert featuring violinist Bonnie Lin and pianist Chiao-Yu Wu, bringing Taiwanese classical and folk compositions to broader local audiences while fostering connections between university and community arts initiatives.
Post-screening interview with actors, producers, and filmmakers
In spring, the annual 228 Memorial Program, Seeing Beyond the Island: A Lens into the 228 Sites, combined exhibitions, guided tours, roundtables, and keynote lectures in partnership with the Memorial Foundation of 228 and multiple community organizations. The program deepened conversations around transitional justice, Indigenous histories under authoritarian rule, and public memory across Taiwan and the diaspora through collaborative programming that connected historical reflection with contemporary civic dialogue. The Arts & Culture Program also co-presented the Seattle edition of the 2026 UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), The Path to Healing Beyond Conflict for Indigenous Peoples in Taiwan, with lectures and workshops at the Burke Museum and the Overseas Community Affairs Council Cultural Center. These events foregrounded Indigenous knowledge systems, cultural revitalization, and healing practices while strengthening partnerships between UW, Indigenous communities, and Taiwan-focused cultural organizations.
Workshop with UNPFII
228 Memorial Program
In May, the program concluded the academic year with the Tyzen Hsiao Memorial Concert & Conversation at the University of Washington School of Music, bringing together UW musicians, community performers, and Mrs. Mei-Yuan Hsiao to honor the legacy of one of Taiwan’s most influential composers. The program also presented a public screening of A Chip Odyssey at the Northwest Film Forum, which was followed by a producer Q&A that further expands public dialogue around Taiwan’s global significance, technological leadership, and the human stories behind its semiconductor industry.
Through the undergraduate course Made in Taiwan: Arts & Culture of Contemporary Taiwan, Arts & Culture Director Ellen Chang continued introducing students to Taiwan’s dynamic cultural expressions and contemporary social issues through film, music, media, and public humanities approaches. This year, the course also expanded its guest lectures beyond scholars and artists by inviting leaders from community organizations to share their work and perspectives, helping students better understand how cultural advocacy, grassroots organizing, and public engagement shape Taiwan-related conversations beyond the classroom. Collectively, these efforts strengthened UW’s leadership in Taiwan Studies while fostering meaningful connections across academic, diasporic, and public audiences.
Research Briefs:
Euchari Majors is an MA graduate at the Jackson School for International Studies with a focus on China and Taiwan. She published a research brief on her graduation paper, Blue in a Box: Implications of Taiwan’s Devaluation of Blue-Collar Workers. Majors argues in this brief that the differential treatment of Taiwanese blue-collar migrant workers—enacted through a systemic lack of support in the legislative, domestic, and legal spheres—devalued and undermined their contributions, highlighting governmental neglect of a sector that significantly contributes to Taiwan’s labor force.
Huiyu Lin is a PhD graduate from the College of Education at the University of Washington and from Chiayi, Taiwan. Lin published a research brief titled From Reconciliation to Action: Taiwan’s Pathway to Indigenous Educational Sovereignty. Her research presents a community story for sustaining the Indigenous ways of knowing and being in the face of colonial challenges in Taiwan, offering valuable insights into the significance of Indigenous sovereignty.
Hui-Nien Lin is an Associate Professor in the Studies of Indigenous Cultural Development Program at National Pingtung University, Taiwan, and was a Visiting Scholar at the UW Taiwan Studies Program for the 2025-26 academic year. Her research brief, Two Disasters, One Struggle: Indigenous Collective Continuance Against Settler Permanence During Reconstruction in Taiwan, traces how two major hazard events—Typhoon Morakot in 2009 and the 2025 barrier-lake flood in Fata’an—reveal a longer struggle over disaster governance, land, and Indigenous futures in Taiwan.
Student Spotlights:
The Jackson School’s first East Asia-Taiwan track MA student, Phillip Hesse, shared his experiences as a student in the Taiwan Studies Program. You can read the full interview here.
Undergraduate students Melanie Nguyen and Forrest Wu, who served as co-editors in Professor James Lin’s Task Force, “Averting War: Taiwan and US-China Relations,” share their experiences taking Taiwan Studies courses and the Task Force.
