Southwestern Taiwan is a strong-hold of traditional Taiwanese culture. Many people in this region still speak “Minnanhua,” the local Chinese dialect also known as Taiwanese, in preference to Mandarin. Yet at the same time, the southwest has a corridor of Hakka settlements stretching nearly 50 kilometers from north to south. Taiwanese society is a multiethnic…

More than a year after horrific gas pipeline blasts claimed over 30 lives, Kaohsiung City is mending its wounds, seeking answers, and assigning blame. First the ground shook. Milliseconds later came fireballs shooting as high as 50 meters into the sky. Roads split in half, swallowing cars and motorcycles. Vehicles were tossed onto four-story rooftops….