The first book of a biographical comic series titled Son of Formosa (來自清水的孩子) on Tsai Kun-lin (蔡焜霖), a political prisoner during the White Terror era, hit the shelves on Tuesday.
Tsai, 90, was imprisoned on Green Island from 1950 to 1960, following a crackdown on members of the Taipei Workers Committee, a group of Chinese Communist Party sympathizers planted within various government agencies.
The four-book series raised NT$1 million (US$33,389) through crowdfunding, and was a collaboration between Slowork Publishing, National Taitung University professor Yu Pei-yun (游珮芸) and illustrator Chou Chien-hsin (周見信).
Photo: Cheng Ming-hsiang, Taipei Times
Yu and Chou spent nearly four years collecting background information, interviewing Tsai and poring through history books to get the buildings, background and clothing of the era right.
In 1966, Tsai began publishing a children’s magazine titled Prince (王子雜誌), which contained popular comics, for which the Ministry of Culture honored him with a Special Contributions award at the 2018 Golden Comic Awards.
Slowork Publisher president Huang Pei-shan (黃珮珊) said the company plans to release the second book next month, and complete the whole set by next year.
Photo: Cheng Ming-hsiang, Taipei Times
Because of social-distancing measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company was not able to hold a book launch, Huang said, adding that he hoped to reach out to people over the Internet and persuade them to support original products that tell a tale about Taiwan.
Huang said the series has piqued the interest of overseas publishers, especially in the European region, because of its content and portrayal, with some referring to it as the Taiwanese version of Persepolis, a French comic series by Marjane Satrapi that depicts her childhood to early adult years in Iran during and after the Islamic Revolution.
It is highly possible that the series could become popular internationally, Huang said.
Political dissidents and communist sympathizers were suppressed during During the The White Terror refers to the suppression of political dissidents and communist sympathizers, as well as public discussion of the 228 Incident, when Taiwan was under martial law from May 19, 1949, to July 15, 1987.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
Fast food chain McDonald's is to raise prices by up to NT$5 on some products at its restaurants across Taiwan, starting on Wednesday next week, the company announced today. The prices of all extra value meals and sharing boxes are to increase by NT$5, while breakfast combos and creamy corn soup would go up by NT$3, the company said in a statement. The price of the main items of those meals, if ordered individually, would remain the same. Meanwhile, the price of a medium-sized lemon iced tea and hot cappuccino would rise by NT$3, extra dipping sauces for chicken nuggets would go up
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not