Rooted in Taiwan, Connected with the World

I just finished studying my twenty-first Shakespeare play, The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth, often shortened to Henry VIII , a history play about the English King. The narrative unfolds with political intrigue, marriages, and the formation of the Church of England, ending with the baptism of the infant daughter Anne Boleyn bore to Henry VIII, the future Queen Elizabeth I.  Exploring the dynamics of power, the complexities of royal relationships, and the consequences of political maneuvering, the play is a collaborative work by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, an English playwright who succeeded William Shakespeare as house playwright for the King's Men. During his lifetime and during the Stuart Restoration, his fame rivalled Shakespeare's. To me, an anecdote makes this play particularly interesting: during its performance at the Globe Theatre in 1613, a cannon shot employed for special effects ignited the theatre's thatched roof and beams, burn...

I just finished reading Emma , a novel by English author Jane Austen, first published in 1815. Known to be the longest by word count (over 160,000 words) of Austen's novels and the last published in her lifetime, Emma  was the fifth Austen novel I have read, after Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Mansfield Park. Set in the English village of Highbury, the novel revolves around the life of its protagonist, Emma Woodhouse, and explores the comedic and romantic entanglements of Emma as she endeavors to play matchmaker for her friends while remaining oblivious to her own feelings. The story unfolds in the Regency era in England, providing a vivid portrayal of the social customs and expectations of the time. Emma’s character is both charming and flawed, and her journey towards self-awareness and personal growth is the main plot of the novel.  Emma is a comedy of manners, featuring a free indirect discourse style, of which Austen was a pioneer. Various t...

I just completed my twenty-fourth trip under "A Day in Town," my multi-year backpacking plan of spending a day in each of the approximately 350 townships in Taiwan. My destination this time was Hsinchu County, the county that borders Taoyuan City to the north, Miaoli County to the south, Hsinchu City and the Taiwan Strait to the west, and the Xueshan & Dabajian mountains to the east. Composed mainly of uplands, tablelands, mountains, and the alluvial plains of the Fengshan River and the Touqian River mouth area, Hsinchu County is a Hakka-majority administrative region, with Hakka people constituting nearly 70% of its population, the highest in Taiwan. Hsinchu County administers 13 townships (including a county-administered city, Zhubei). Since I had visited four of the 13 townships during my last trip here a year ago, this time I visited another four: Zhubei, Qionglin, Hengshan, and Zhudong, which collectively form the north-central part of the county.  I spent my first d...