The blockbuster fantasy TV drama Game of Thrones with all of its violence and sex, may be based in part on Taiwan and the nation’s political and military struggles with China.
According to the Washington Post, the fictional island of Dragonstone — a centerpiece in the story — may in fact be a metaphor for Taiwan. The TV series created for HBO is sometimes drawn from “real historical events, and suffused with real lessons for nations and governments,” the Post said, and it does not take a tremendous leap of imagination to see a parallel with Taiwan and China.
Now commanding a worldwide audience — including HBO broadcasts in Taiwan — US President Barack Obama is among the production’s biggest fans and gets advance copies of each show.
Under the subheading “Dragonstone or Taiwan?” the Post said that the most storied house in Game of Thrones is that of the Targaryens, the silver-haired, dragon-riding family that begin the show in exile.
“We learn that the Targaryens once ruled all of Westeros until a rebellion, punctuated by a few hideous slaughters, chased them to a small, craggy isle off the coast called Dragonstone,” Post foreign affairs correspondent Ishaan Tharoor wrote. “Dragonstone exists in the series as a permanent reminder of dissent, brooding sullenly off the shores of the realm. In 1949, Mao Zedong’s [毛澤東] communists defeated the nationalist forces, the remnants of which fled en masse to the island of Taiwan. To this day, Beijing considers Taiwan a renegade province, while Taiwan — the Republic of China — in theory claims suzerainty over all of the Chinese mainland.”
“The story of Game of Thrones makes one thing clear, though: It’s the dissidents from the renegade island who will ultimately reshape the balance of power on the mainland,” the Post concluded.
According to the newspaper, beyond its ice zombies and shrieking dragons, the show offers an engrossing meditation on political power and personal loyalties. The TV show compels viewers to root for separatists, who are trying to split away from the tyranny of the capital.
“Moreover, the show reinforces over and over in the viewer’s mind just how unnatural and manufactured the centralized authority of a high king is,” the Post said.
That is not quite the message China’s authoritarian leadership — beset by its own palace feuds, and tales of vice and corruption — would want internalized through its own realm, the newspaper said.
Based on the novels of George R.R. Martin, the series has an international viewership of millions and is said to be the most talked-about show since The Sopranos.
As the Post published its article, the magazine National Interest carried a feature story on Taiwan. Written by Robert Hathaway, director of the Asia Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center, the article said that Taiwan lives in a “rough neighborhood” and in many respects had been dealt a “tough hand.”
“A senior Taiwanese politician warned a visiting American delegation a few days ago not to underestimate Taiwan. ‘We may be small,’ he conceded, ‘but we are not insignificant.’ These are words worth recalling as the United States continues to look for friends in the world,” Hathaway wrote.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique