Since leaving Hong Kong for self-imposed exile in Taipei last year, political cartoonist vawongsir has been trying to recollect a sense of home in an unfamiliar place, one meal at a time.
The artist, a former teacher who began sharing cartoons critical of the Hong Kong government and the police force during the 2019 anti-extradition bill protests, was cited for “professional misconduct” by the territory’s Education Bureau in 2020 and fired by his school.
Feeling the pressure of Hong Kong’s political environment after witnessing the arrest of contemporaries under Beijing’s National Security Law, vawongsir last year made the difficult decision to leave for Taiwan.
Photo courtesy of vawongsir
Although busy with his graduate studies at Taipei National University of the Arts, vawongsir often found himself struck by homesickness, a feeling only exacerbated by a detachment from Taiwan’s political scene and nights spent eating takeout food alone.
In a bid to sharpen his satirist’s eye following Taiwan’s local government elections, vawongsir in December last year began asking Taiwanese if they would be willing to exchange a home-cooked meal — with a side of politics — for a family portrait.
“The best way to engage with Taiwanese society is to go straight into families and talk with them,” vawongsir said about the resulting project, “An Additional Pair of Chopsticks.”
The artist received his first invitation on Christmas Eve, when a photographer and his brother based in Taipei served up a feast of Hong Kong staples, including roast pork rice with fried egg, and clam and chicken soup flavored with garlic, fried fish and red wine.
“I haven’t had soup for quite a long time,” vawongsir wrote on social media afterward. “I miss you so much mom.”
The evening also brought lively discussion, through which vawongsir said he learned more about the divide between Taiwan’s major political parties, the Democratic Progressive Party and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
“Both my stomach and my mind were fulfilled,” said the cartoonist, who has so far visited 12 Taiwanese families, including in Yilan County, Changhua County and Tainan.
At those dinner tables, vawongsir said he had the chance to talk about education, media and culture with Taiwanese from different generations.
Among the most popular topics was the structural reform of Taiwan’s military, following the government’s announcement last year to extend compulsory military service from four months to one year to counter the threat of an increasingly assertive China.
The artist said he heard mixed opinions on that issue, which reminded him of the anti-extradition bill movement in Hong Kong.
While the many young Hong Kongers who stood up against authoritarianism back then might have inspired Taiwanese, vawongsir said that he was sad to see people back home suffer.
For now, vawongsir said he hopes to eat at as many dinner tables as possible in Taiwan to better experience the nation and let people know how much he, a Hong Konger, appreciates life here.
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