​Taiwan 22: History, Travel, and Talking to Locals: A 2024 Publication by Plum Rain Press

Written by Tyrel Cameron Eskelson.

Image credit: author.

I authored the book Taiwan 22: History, Travel, and Talking to Locals to learn more about Taiwan and its people and to share that journey of discovery with others. It seemed that at the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022, I was constantly hearing or reading about a ticking timeline for China to attack Taiwan. Most countries were transitioning their way out of the restrictions and quarantines that were part of the response to the Coronavirus pandemic that had disrupted world commerce and travel. Taiwan was a name that kept coming up when a pundit on the news wanted to highlight an example of a country that was having an effective response to the pandemic. Yet why was Taiwan not allowed to participate in the World Health Organization?  

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, again Taiwan was often discussed. Many believed that China was watching and waiting to see how the world responded to the Russian invasion. I kept reading and thinking about Taiwan and wondering how the world would respond if it were attacked in a similar manner. I reached a point where I needed to travel there and ask the local people what they thought about all of this. In October 2022, Taiwan lifted its Coronavirus quarantine and welcomed foreign visitors back to the island. The following month, I flew to Taiwan and spent three months there.  

When I began this project, and still today as the book reaches publication, I believed that the Western world needs a more widespread and deeper knowledge of Taiwan and the threat it faces. I hope to inspire readers to visit Taiwan and learn about it first-hand by talking to its people and experiencing the amazing things its islands have to offer. A traveller could not ask for a better destination. I believe that if more people visit Taiwan and learn of its remarkable journey to freedom, more people will care about its future. If the world takes a larger interest in Taiwan and increases its involvement with its people in business, diplomacy, institutional cooperation, and friendship, this, in its own way, can act as a further deterrent to the threats Taiwan faces. Taiwan 22 is a book about travel, history, and the freedom to live a self-determined life.  

The de facto nature of Taiwanese sovereignty is one of the most important issues of the 21^st century. Since the Peace Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, the international institution of sovereignty developed as a way to reduce war and recognise territoriality and autonomy. Part of this institution requires that other countries recognise and respect that sovereignty. A prominent 20^th-century example is when, on May 14, 1948, President Truman, on behalf of the United States government, recognised the state of Israel. In Taiwan’s case, the inverse is at work. Taiwan is a sovereign independent country as long as the rest of the world does not recognise it as such. If the world recognises Taiwan as a sovereign independent nation, this could trigger an attack from China, thereby depriving it of its de facto sovereignty. The Chinese Civil War and Cold War locked this ambiguous circumstance in a stalemate. The world is now in a Second Cold War, and Taiwan is still on the frontlines. Will the quadricentennial of the Peace Treaty of Westphalia include a recognition of Taiwan as an independent sovereign state, or will the islands of Taiwan then be a part of China as their government claims it will be? Will there be a catastrophic war to determine Taiwan’s fate, or will its de facto sovereignty prevail and maintain regional peace? The world wants Taiwan to remain free, and the strategy to achieve this has been to avoid even acknowledging its existence. But Taiwan does exist. Its 23 million people and their remarkable journey to freedom deserve to be known and understood by all. My ambitious hope is that Taiwan 22 will contribute in some small way to this deeper understanding.  

The book begins with a unique journey to Wufeng, a mountain indigenous township in Hsinchu County in northwestern Taiwan. I accompanied the documentary filmmaker Tobie Openshaw, who was attending a biannual indigenous Saisiyat ceremony called the Pa’Sta’ay. This ceremony was performed from 18:00 to 06:00 the following morning. Dozens of people, dressed in traditional red costumes, interlocked hands, and performed a rhythmic chant and synergistic dance. I had the pleasure of watching Tobie Openshaw and his team do their work and also interact with the Saisiyat people. It was an extraordinary event and an exciting way to begin the book.  

Another notable chapter is a recounting of the day I spent with the Homeless Taiwan Association. I visited the Pon Pon Shower House in the Wanhua district of Taipei. The shower house had recently opened to offer a free shower to the neighbourhood’s hundreds of homeless people. If one visits Wanhua district’s famous Longshan Temple, the nearby area is a popular place for the homeless to congregate during the day and sleep in the evening. This chapter of the book spends time with the hardworking people of the Homeless Taiwan Association. I was allowed an intimate look into how they help the needy find work, get medical care, start bank accounts, and take care of necessities.  

Another special encounter for me was the time I spent in the northeastern mountain village of Jiufen. I left the busy tourist streets and hiked my way along the mountainside for a while until I found a small park. Here, the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society erected a monument to remember the suffering of Allied soldiers (mostly British) who became prisoners of the Japanese Empire during the Second World War. At this spot in Jiufen, the Japanese prison guards regularly beat the prisoners, who were made to work gruelling hours in a gold and copper mine. After visiting this area, I had the pleasure of visiting with Michael Hurst, the man responsible for putting this memorial together.  

After a trip to the Matsu Islands, I returned to Keelung and proceeded down the east coast, stopping in each major city. While in the Hualien region, I toured upriver into the giant mountains of Taroko National Park. Farther southwards, I spent time at the notorious Green Island, where under the White Terror and Martial Law, the government exiled criminals and political dissidents. This part of the book ended with a visit to Kenting National Park on the Pingtung Peninsula. In the southwestern part of Taiwan, I interviewed Formosa Files Podcaster Eryk Michael Smith visited Taiwan’s Kinmen and Penghu Islands before exploring the many incredible sights and experiences the city of Tainan has to offer. Here, I spent time with locals, most notably a veteran of the Chinese Civil War, who, when a young man, had taken part in the Battle of Kinmen in October 1949. The final chapters of the book chronicle the author’s experiences of the Lunar New Year in Taichung, a visit to the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company in Hsinchu, and a concluding chapter featuring television host Lee Mingtsung. Lee was the host of See You At The Market, a Taiwanese show that visited each major market in Taiwan to interact with the industrious vendors and learn how they contribute to one of Taiwan’s most important and exciting parts of the economy.  

Overall, this book incorporates a lot of history and relates a first-person travel narrative. The main thing the reader will experience when reading Taiwan 22 is the numerous voices of the Taiwanese people. It was important to me to include as many local voices as possible to evoke a sense of place. Ultimately, Taiwan 22 is a portrait of a people who value democracy and freedom and deserve the world’s help to maintain it. I hope this book can play some small role in helping people learn more about this amazing country and its people.  

Tyrel Cameron Eskelson grew up in Rosetown, Saskatchewan, a Prairie town in central Canada. He is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan and Norwich University in Vermont. Today, he lives in the northern Japanese city of Sapporo, where he works as a researcher and teacher at Hokkaido University. He is the author of articles on history, education, and academic freedom. His first book is called The Island of Mora Mora: A Journey into Madagascar.