Congratulations to Sung Hsin-ying (宋欣穎), whose On Happiness Road (幸福路上) won the grand prize in the feature anime category at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival last week.
The film, which manages to condense four decades of Taiwanese politics, economics, traditional and pop culture, as well as everyday life into 109 minutes while conveying a coherent and tear-jerking story, will be a great ambassador for Taiwan, helping people get to know or at least piquing their interest in the nation, as it undoubtedly will ride a wave of rave reviews and accolades as it is shown in more countries worldwide. Word is already spreading, with distribution companies in France and Spain reported to have acquired rights to show the film.
When the Taipei Times reviewed the film in January, the reviewer said that “the viewer probably needs to have grown up in Taiwan or have a decent understanding of its turbulent recent history to catch all the minute details,” as it is a deeply personal, fictionalized version of Sung growing up in rapidly changing times, in which Taiwan is hurtling toward democracy and modernization.
From the betel-nut-chewing Aboriginal grandmother and the spirit mediums who predict Patriotic Lottery numbers to negative attitudes toward speaking Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese) and disdain toward comedian Chu Ko Liang’s (豬哥亮) popular, but often crass shows, as well as the textbook story of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) watching fish swim upstream, which every child during the Martial Law era read — these are undoubtedly items that only people familiar with Taiwan would fully relate to.
However, the film’s magical realism, whimsical and captivating illustrations, and its overarching themes of love, dreams, generational conflict and societal change have won the hearts of foreign audiences.
As award presenter and notable animator Doug Sweetland said: “It is imaginative, spans many eras and inspires reflection on the meaning of life.”
The success of this and other productions that are deeply rooted in Taiwanese culture and history, but have found success with international audiences — such as last year’s viral White Terror-era video game Detention (返校) — proves time and again that local is international, and that those hoping to attract a foreign audience do not have to resort to cheesy interpretations and imitations of what foreigners might like to see.
As Taiwan moves from its propaganda-riddled past — where the government painted a completely false picture to Taiwanese and the world, and where people were taught to be ashamed of Taiwanese culture, which is fully addressed in the film — these productions are becoming increasingly valuable to generations of Taiwanese who were denied their own culture, many ignorant about the past, as a way to reclaim their identity and history.
Internationally, they serve as ambassadors of Taiwan to the world, which primarily only knows about the nation in the grand scheme of things, especially in relation to the US and China.
Now, malicious propaganda is coming from Beijing, in a much more dangerous form that threatens the nation’s very existence. Letting people know as much as possible about Taiwan is important on all fronts — exchange programs are effective for professionals and students, but mass entertainment is the quickest and most far-reaching way.
Being able to achieve all of the above is no easy feat, but Sung has set a high bar that local filmmakers can aspire to.
Two sets of economic data released last week by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) have drawn mixed reactions from the public: One on the nation’s economic performance in the first quarter of the year and the other on Taiwan’s household wealth distribution in 2021. GDP growth for the first quarter was faster than expected, at 6.51 percent year-on-year, an acceleration from the previous quarter’s 4.93 percent and higher than the agency’s February estimate of 5.92 percent. It was also the highest growth since the second quarter of 2021, when the economy expanded 8.07 percent, DGBAS data showed. The growth
In the intricate ballet of geopolitics, names signify more than mere identification: They embody history, culture and sovereignty. The recent decision by China to refer to Arunachal Pradesh as “Tsang Nan” or South Tibet, and to rename Tibet as “Xizang,” is a strategic move that extends beyond cartography into the realm of diplomatic signaling. This op-ed explores the implications of these actions and India’s potential response. Names are potent symbols in international relations, encapsulating the essence of a nation’s stance on territorial disputes. China’s choice to rename regions within Indian territory is not merely a linguistic exercise, but a symbolic assertion
More than seven months into the armed conflict in Gaza, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take “immediate and effective measures” to protect Palestinians in Gaza from the risk of genocide following a case brought by South Africa regarding Israel’s breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention. The international community, including Amnesty International, called for an immediate ceasefire by all parties to prevent further loss of civilian lives and to ensure access to life-saving aid. Several protests have been organized around the world, including at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and many other universities in the US.
In the 2022 book Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China, academics Hal Brands and Michael Beckley warned, against conventional wisdom, that it was not a rising China that the US and its allies had to fear, but a declining China. This is because “peaking powers” — nations at the peak of their relative power and staring over the precipice of decline — are particularly dangerous, as they might believe they only have a narrow window of opportunity to grab what they can before decline sets in, they said. The tailwinds that propelled China’s spectacular economic rise over the past