THE HIDDEN CHAMBER, a thriller of a novel about Taiwan by Chang Hua

[reviewed by Leinad Moolb, international book reviewer] Writing under the pen name of Hua Chang, aka Chang Hua, has written a fascinating book titled THE HIDDEN CHAMBER, available now on Amazon -- KINDLE EDITION. http://www.amazon.com/The-Hidden-Chamber-ebook/dp/B009E9ZWME/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1348485747&sr=8-4&keywords=chang+hua The story takes place in Taiwan, where a Taiwanese woman is going nuts day by day, living alone and hardly ever going outside to interact with others, even shopkeepers. She has a secret and it haunts her. One day the phone rings and suddenly she is brought face to face with a past she had not really wanted to remember. The location is Taipei, in the 1990s, and readers see a Taiwan still coming out of the grip of the Martial Law Era, where secrets, both military and personal, had to be guarded carefully. The island nation just off the coast of communist China is beginning to bloom and blosson economically, and for young people, the world looks promising. But the girl in this story marries the wrong guy, after her traditional mother sets her up with a matchmaking service, and it's downhill from there for the poor hapless newly-married girl. The book is a page-turner and anyone interested in Taiwanese culture will find Hua Chang's novel is very interesting helping of stinky dofu mixed in with some sweet mooncake delicasies as well.

Hang Hang Liao Liao -- HAKKA TV news segment

http://www.ch5.tv/VOD/content.php?media_id=133210"

HANG HANG LIAO LIAO -- news segment from Hakka TV

http://ap.ch5.tv/phpplay/publish.php?PHPSESSID=204549623650603166e3c23&url_id=189393&embedskin= Dan Bloom interviewed by Reporter Lee at 9:36 into the news hour. Listen and look!

Taiwanese-American novelist pens 'Taiwan' novel -- THE THIRD SON

FAMILY DRAMA: Set in Taiwan during the White Terror period and focusing on oppression, and sibling rivalry and the healing power of love, 'The Third Son' will be published in America in April 2013

PHOTO OF AUTHOR: http://www.annemini.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/croppedawayportrait.jpg


FEATURE NEWS: New U.S. novel offers glimpse into Taiwan’s dark past

by Dan E. Bloom

TAIPEI -- From Amy Tan's successful Asian-American novel "The Joy Luck Club" to Maxine Hong Kingston's "China Men," both published more than 20 years ago and opening the gate of opportunity for other Asian American writers, novels about Taiwan, China and Japan have become a staple of the U.S. publishing scene.

Now comes Harvard-educated Boston native Julie Wu, like fellow Harvard alum Jeremy Lin child the of Taiwanese immigrants to America, with a new entry in the genre that for the first time in American fiction includes the events of 228 and the White Terror period and told as part of a family drama about love and sibling rivalry.

Wu, 46, was born in Massachusetts to parents who met and married in Taoyuan. She went to Harvard, studied opera, obtained a medical degree and became a doctor, married and had children, and now her first novel, titled "The Third Son," is already attracting plaudits and awards even before publication.

In a recent email interview from her home in Boston, Wu explained how the book, which recently won a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant, came to be and who she hopes its audience will be.

When asked how the title of the book came to her, Wu explained: "'The Third Son' is the title I came up with back in 2001 when I started the novel, more than ten years ago, and it has somehow lasted through all my revisions. The hero of the story, Saburo, is indeed the third son in his family, and his character was inspired by my father, who was also the third son. I think everyone has experiences with and expectations of how birth order affects status within the family, so just stating that someone was born third already suggests the kinds of struggles that are at play." "In the novel, Saburo is beaten daily, and his parents clearly treat his siblings better," Wu added. "While certain aspects of Saburo’s experience were inspired by my father’s life, some were not. As a novelist, of course, I am writing fiction." Wu's parents hail from Taoyuan and met as adults there, she said. The backstory of their romance and marriage is not in her book, but she recounted the events for this reporter. "My uncle was set up to be formally introduced to my mother as a marriage prospect back then, but because of a last-minute change, my father was sent in my uncle’s place," Wu said. "My mother’s family was upset at this change in plans, so they left without being introduced. But my parents had caught sight of each other, and my father pursued my mother on his own. It was a quick and happy courtship." "But happy, lucky, and conflict-free love stories are boring in fiction, so the love story I created in my novel is quite different," Wu said. "In the opening scene, Saburo saves a girl during an American air raid over Taiwan during World War II when Taiwan was part of the Japanese Empire, and he spends the rest of his childhood looking for her. When he finally finds her, she’s already being pursued by others, including his brother. Even after they marry, he has to fight for her all the way to the end." Wu was born in America but travelled to Taiwan in her 20s to do some research for a different book that she had in mind at the time, she took a lot of notes that she still refers to sometimes, she said. "I also went to Taiwan with my family when I was ten years old and four," she added, noting: "Since my book is a historical novel, I did a lot of research online and in books, and magazines about Taiwan life in the 1940s and 1950s. Of course, I also interviewed my parents and continually asked them questions about that period. I would have liked to travel to Taiwan again, but I have two young children and traveling is much more difficult than it used to be." Wu said she keeps up with current news events in Taiwan from her home in Boston, mostly online through sites like the Taipei Times, The Boston Globe and Facebook and Twitter as well. "Taiwanese culture and politics seem very intertwined to me," she said. "They both interest me." Wu grew up in the Boston area and went to Harvard as an undergraduate, majoring in literature but as a reader not as a writer. "I started writing a couple years after I graduated from Harvard when I was doing graduate studies in opera at Indiana University in 1989. I never finished my opera degree, but I did start a novel and take an excellent writing workshop in Indiana, and that was really my first step along the writing path." Wu has a medical degree and worked for a few years in primary care, she said, but after she had her two children, she decided to stay home and focus on writing. Her husband is also a doctor and works as a pulmonologist, she said. "A couple of years after I left Indiana I went to Columbia University’s School of Physicians & Surgeons to become a physician," she explained. "I did my internal medicine residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Now I'm a novelist, and I should say, one of the beautiful things about being American is feeling that you can change your career at any time." The genesis of "The Third Son" was long and convoluted, and took a lot of time, She initially started writing a novel when she was in Indiana in 1989, thinking that it would be partially set in Taiwan. But when she had started asking her parents questions about Taiwan, they told her things that they had never revealed before, and she realized that the first novel she was trying to write was boring compared to her parents’ own background. "In 2001, I finally had the time to sit down and interview both my parents properly, and their stories stunned me," Wu said. "So you could say that 'The Third Son' began as a kind of biographical novel about my parents, but over the years, as I learned more about writing and received some feedback, I realized that if I wanted to write for readers beyond my own family I would have to be willing to change the facts to make the story more dramatic, moving, and thematically cohesive." She did and the result is a powerful story about Taiwan that is set for publication by Algonquin Books early next year. "In the end, the historical details and events are as accurate as I could make them, but the characters and their actions are figments of my imagination," Wu said, adding that she hopes her novel will appeal to anyone, anywhere, any country, regardless of nationality or gender. "The issues I focus on in the book -- oppression, sibling rivalry, and the healing power of love -- are universal." One of the issues Wu's novel speaks up about is 228. When asked if she thinks American readers know that term or know much about that time in Taiwan history, she replied: "In my experience, Americans are universally ignorant of the February 28th Massacres and the White Terror, except for scholars of the region, although I recall that even a classmate of mine who majored in East Asian Studies at Harvard, graduating in the late 1980s, still knew nothing about 228 or the White Terror period. I would say that censorship by the Taiwanese government at the time was very successful in this regard, as with many atrocities in corners of the world." She added: "I do find it disturbing that so few Americans know even the basics of Taiwanese history or politics. I hoped that setting my story during this period would help people understand on a personal, emotional level, the origin of current conflicts in Taiwan and across the Strait." Since her novel takes place partly during the Japan Colonial period in Taiwan when Japan ruled the island as a colony, Wu said that there are some Japanese characters in her novel, too. "In particular, I created a Japanese schoolteacher who has a lot of influence on Saburo." Wu added, noting: "And, as readers will see, some of the Taiwanese characters in the novel go by their Japanese names." When asked if her parents had read the book, either in drafts or in the final copy, Wu said they had, noting: "They both read it, bless their hearts, many drafts of the book. I am extremely lucky to have had them as resources and also grateful that they gave me license to truly make the book the best work of fiction it could be." Wu said that she sees herself as both a Taiwanese-American novelist and an American novelist. "I see myself as both," she explained. "I’m totally Americanized in how I think and lead my life, so my point of view is American. At the same time, I am fascinated by my heritage and Taiwanese history."

Will readers in Taiwan have a chance to read 'The Third Son' in Chinese? Wu said she hopes to see a translation of her novel someday for Taiwanese readers as well.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2012/09/08/2003542259/3

‘Last Supper’-inspired fresco in non-Christian Taiwan shows signs of aging

The Liberty Times newspaper in Taipei has a very interesting story today. RE:

PHOTO CAPTION: An interpretation of the Last Supper of ancient Christian legend is seen on the wall of a modern Catholic church in Yanshuei in southern Taiwan. The fresco is in poor condition due to leaking water and camera flashes from tourists.


An Asian version of the Last Supper fresco by Leonardo da Vinci at a Catholic church in Tainan’s Yenshui village has started to fade and peel as a result of frequent downpours, water leaks and the effect of visitors’ powerful camera flashes and is now in need of financial aid so repair and restoration work can be undertaken, the church said.

Constructed in 1986 and featuring traditional Chinese palace-style architecture, the Yenshui Holy Spirit Church is home to a unique Asian version of the Leonardo masterpiece in Italy.

Unlike the world-renowned mural painting, the Taiwanese version depicted the biblical scene in a traditional Chinese painting style and the 13 figures — originally including the legendary Jesus Christ and the myth of his 12 disciples — were all replaced by Chinese martyr saints.



Instead of bread and wine and the Western-style dining utensils that appear in the original, there are steamed buns and chopsticks.

Other murals within the church are centered around historical Chinese sages, including an image of Chinese philosophers Laozi (老子) and Confucius (孔子) encouraging young children to work hard, as part of the church’s effort to draw Taiwanese closer to Biblical legends.

The rare decoration has received widespread media coverage and has attracted a constant stream of tourists from Hong Kong and Communist China in recent years, with popular Taiwanese TV and film director Wu Nien-jen also choosing the church as a film location.
“However, the ‘Last Supper’ and several other frescos in the church are in a poor state of preservation. The low-lying terrain on which the church is located makes the establishment susceptible to flooding, while its roof has started leaking after the property fell into disrepair,” said Wu Fu-sheng, the church’s Christian priest.
In addition to the water damage, camera flashes have begun to bleach the paintings, which are beginning to flake away, Wu said, calling for financial and professional assistance from all sectors of society to help repair the creations.

HAKKA SONG FOR CHILDREN IN TAIWAN: ''Hang Hang Liao Liao!''

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfsBmr508BE&feature=colike

Hang Hang Liao Liao An su say ----Hang Hang Liao Liao Semon vay .----Hang Hang Liao Liao An su say ----Hang Hang Liao Liao------Semon vay Hang Hang Liao Liao Kerjya Hua -----Hang Hang Liao Liao Momma! Pa! ------Hang Hang Liao Liao Taiwan -- GOOD------Hang Hang Liao Liao Taiwan -- YOU! -----Hang Hang Liao Liao An su say ------Hang Hang Liao Liao Semon vay ----Hang Hang Liao Liao Kerjya Hua --- Hang Hang Liao Liao Momma!Paaaaaa!

Jay Chou's English-speaking lines in THE GREEN HORNET were all dubbed ...

TEEAETER says at another website:

''Jay Chou's English-speaking lines in THE GREEN HORNET were all dubbed by another native-English speaking actor. Jay never spoke a word of his own English in that movie. How do I know? First of all, watch the movie and listen. Those ENGLISH lines spoken by Jay Chou are not "Taiwanese English" the way a Taiwanese person would speak English! Period. Everyone non-English nation speaks English with an accent, from France to Japan, and from China to Taiwan, and Jay Chou when he speaks real English to his friends in Taiwan, speaks with a specific Taiwanese accent, which all foreigners who live in Taiwan can recognize. The English spoken by the character that Jay plays in the movie is not Taiwanese-accented English and it is all a dubbing job. Shame on the media for not telling Taiwanes movie fans the truth.''

''And shame on Jay for not owning up to the deceit.''



''I know this ain't going to go over well with most of the Chou fans on reading this blog, but here goes. There is only one reasn why Jay Chou was in this film. That reason is to market the film to Asia. He really has no business being in this film. Jay Chou as an actor still has not proven to me that he can be a real star even while acting in his own native lauguage.

He is a singer and a dancer and cool, yes. But he aint an actor. Face it. Mick Jagger aint an actor either. Bob Dylan aint an actor either. Most pop singers

are not real good actors. They are too real. How the heck did the producers even think he was going to be able to act in English? His English is just not there yet. I've heard true rumours that his lines were all dubbed and that he pre-recorded most of the lines in studio and they just dubbed it over the film. I still couldn't dully understand some of the lines he was saying. At times, there seemed to be no emotion tied to the lines he was saying. It was like he had no idea what they lines he was saying actually meant and he was just reading them off the script. It was painful at times. Some guy said it best at the theater I was watching the movie in. "this guy's English is so bad it makes Jackie Chan look like an English professor!"



Why? Because all those speaking lines in English were dubbed by a native English speaker voice over actor in Hollywood. That was NOT Jay Chou speaking.



I don't blame Jay for this really. He had no chance in making this role work from the beginning. Who wouldn't want to play the role Bruce Lee made famous? I blame the marketers and producers who gave him this role that he should of never got in the first place. If you wanted to market this to Asia and still make the role work, either choose an Asian ''actor'' for Kato who can speak english well enough, or be proficient in martial arts to cover up the poor english. Jay Chou at this point in time, is neither of those.. There were just so many better choices for this role in my opinion.



The whole movie is just a mismash of fighting, Rogen looking like a moron, and Chou trying to speak English, with all his lines dubbed and dubbed without a Taiwanese English accent at that, so it was all so fake. The movie is just all over the place. It just never really comes together at any point. Chou and Rogen have absolutely no chemistry together and it shows up obviously in many scenes they have together. The actions scenes were all well done with the help of those special effects. ''