The first global conference on women's rights was held in Denmark in 1910 and led to the establishment of International Women's Day on March 8 the same year. To highlight the holiday's theme of empowerment almost a cnetury after the first International Women's Day, the "Taipei Times" met with four women in senior positions in politics, business and the arts to discuss their opinions on women in the workplace in Taiwan
By Diana Freundl
Gender equality has come a long way in Taiwan since the early feminist movements of the late 1970s led by Lee Yuan-chen (李元貞) and current Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮).

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Lucifer Chu's obscure interest in fantasy novels ended up making him an unlikely millionaire
By Gavin Phipps
Lucifer Chu (朱學恆) is quite possibly one of the nation's oddest millionaires. He lives with his parents, he drives a car that is best described as an "old banger" and he's addicted to video games and fantasy novels.

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Color emanates from the works of German artist Dieter Jung in two exhibitions where the viewer is pulled into constant negotiation with the space around the art
By Susan Kendzulak
The aptly named exhibition The Garden of Light features the sparkling light and luminescent color that emanates from the holographic art, paintings, prints, mobiles and installations of German artist Dieter Jung.

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Two solo show at the Hong-gah Museum show that a paintbrush and a lump of clay can still do the trick
By Susan Kendzulak
In this computer age where digital imagery and video art seem to rule, are painting and sculpture still viable means of contemporary expression?

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Seth Jacobs suggests that the US' long and bloody involvement in Southeast Asia was mostly about Christian fundamentalism
By Bradley Winterton
In the 1950s there were three prominent Asian leaders who were also Christians -- Taiwan's Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), South Korea's Syngman Rhee and South Vietnam's Ngo Dinh Diem. This excellent book tells the story of how the US became involved so deeply in supporting the last of these men.

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By Michiko Kakutani
The images could have come from one of Hieronymus Bosch's nightmarish paintings of hell: dusty roads filled with frightened refugees, many of them already ill, covered in boils and coughing up blood; dogs and rats running wild on deserted streets; fields littered with the bodies of cows and sheep; plague pits filled with the corpses of men, women and children; survivors pointing accusatory fingers at Jews and Muslims and outsiders; others flagellating themselves in an effort to appease the heavens.

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