Spiritual Computing 
Global Challenges in Local Contexts
How China and Asia Reinvent Themselves
Asian Cultures on the move...
Building Peace in Asia 
The literary creations of Taiwan Aborigines, from a global dynamic to a local level; From the first authors of the Japanese language to the expression of a collective “I” in Mandarin; Genesis, definitions, formats, topics and actorsAbout two weeks ago, I was invited by the organizers of the Workshop of Doctoral Students in Chinese Studies (CECMC) to give a paper on my PHD thesis. Since 2010, I’ve been enrolled in the Doctoral School of Arts, Humanities and Languages at the University of Provence, among the LEO2T team (Far East literatures, Texts and Translation), and under the supervision of Noël Dutrait. I had previously written a Master's thesis on this subject between 2002 and 2005.
My field of study throughout this...
Read more: The Genesis and Development of Aboriginal Literature
Focus: Listening out for the Voiceless
A reader's response to Efe's Levent article: The Year of the VoicelessWhere to start? After reading Efe’s article entitled ‘The Year of the Voiceless’ I felt compelled to respond. I must first congratulate Efe on the Guardian-esque style of his penmanship, it must not be easy to appear both sanctimonious and completely unconstructive in a second language, but you’ve done an excellent job of it. What annoyed me most is that the article rested on the deliberate misconstruing of the words of other people in an attempt, no doubt, to court controversy, which makes his comments about cheating at chess amusing if not worryingly self-delusional.
First I’d like to start with the binary opposition of Voicelessness vs Voice that the...
The shengren is the most important concept in Chinese tradition.
Since the Europeans never had anything like it, but refused to hold the candle to China; instead they omitted the shengren and talked about some lesser versions of Greek "philosophers" or Christian "holy men".
The English soon found a slightly better translation; they called the shengren "sages", from Latin sapientia –being wise.
The Germans however, the descendants of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation, never had a concept for sages or sagehood. In their effort to christen China, the Germans called the shengren "Heilige" (saints), from Germanic hailaz –being holy.
Read more: Language matters - Shengren, bigger than the buddhas?
The Made In Asia Toulouse Festival will be held from January 25 to February 10, 2012Created in 2008, by Didier Kimmoun, and brought to the stage by the Tchin-tchine association, the Made in Asia festival attempts to present Asian cultures in France. This year it proposes to highlight Taiwan contemporary creative works through its most talented artists, Hsu Yen Ling (徐堰鈴) and Wang XinXin (王心心）. Events include dance performances, contemporary theatre, puppets shows, concerts, exhibitions and movie screenings!
The origin of the project, a passion for Asia Today
The founder of the festival spent part of his childhood in China: his father was a teacher in Beijing during the Cultural Revolution. He has always been attracted...
Is it better to further one’s study or to immerse oneself in a job? This question often haunts the new graduate. On the one hand, they are thrilled by the opportunities that their freshly acquired diploma brings with it: entering adulthood, earning an income, testing their skills at something concrete, exercising responsibilities, even if such responsibilities are modest in scope… On the other hand, they realize that they do not know much yet, that they may earn a bigger salary within a few years if they master extra knowledge and become more competent, that holding a job might soon appear to her more boring or stressful than remaining a student… Deciding between Present and Future, between different kinds of gains and losses...
Read more: Studying or working: a choice always to be renewed
Wafa Ghermani is currently a doctorate candidate in cinema studies (La Sorbonne and Lyon Universities). She focuses on the evolution of identities in Taiwanese film history since 1895 (the beginning of the Japanese colonial era) until today. She explains here how she delimited her field of research and gives some of its oultines while retracing for us briefly the timeline of cinema in Taiwan.
Read more: CEFC Files: National Identity in the History of Taiwanese Film
Following the extraordinary "Electronica Truck" and “Rock Truck” anti-nuclear demonstrations held on April 30th, the NoNuke Cultural Activism Group went back to their community (around Shida Gongguan) to seek out other people who might be interested in making this area an anti-nuclear one. They visited indie bookshops, live houses, cafés and NGOs around this area to seek more opportunities for cooperation. They encouraged the people to bring their own slogans, demands, posters, instruments and dances to the anti-nuclear street party on 2011.11.05.
At the beginning of a new year, what wish do I want to express for myself and for the people whom I know and love? Let me think… Maybe, you’ll consider my wish to be rather unambitious (but think twice); I just wish all of us to cherish and nurture a tiny little virtue – a virtue often neglected: Attentiveness. Attentiveness to what? Well… to nothing in particular. Pure attentiveness. Attention to anything that may happen, to silence as well as music - to the changes that are occurring within oneself, society, the cosmos… Or, maybe, if such attentiveness is truly to be assigned an object: attention to the current of life that runs within the depth of my inner being.There are privileged moments when the breeze of the night...
Lin Poyer is a professor of anthropology at the University of Wyoming. Her recent work focuses on the Micronesian experience and history of the Pacific War, during the Japanese colonization and afterwards. In December 2011, she was invited to Taipei by the Taiwan Center for Pacific Studies to give a series of lectures presenting her research. We had the opportunity to meet her beforehand and learn about the impact of WWII in Micronesia and the specificities of its oral history in the region.
This is the trailer of the film I realized last summer.
"Clasping your consciousness
your back turned to the beast,
you hide in a dark, dank hole.
Wake before the rotting of the flesh,
Deflowered."
Last month, a very special event happened in my street: my neighbor, the god San Wang Ye (三王爺), decided to travel back home for his birthday!The god San Wang Ye is originally from Tainan, a city around 300km south of Taipei, and he had arrived in Taipei a long time ago, so long ago that I don't remember!
I had been wondering for a long time what the temple in my street was all about: this small, unassuming, but well taken care of temple, that you can hardly see by day, but is always shining and often holds events at night. Some lanterns are usually hanging, a vague reminder that a god lives there. Day after day, I had made up stories of mafia and gangsters, of witches and weird spirits, stories of everything that could...
On October 3rd, 2011, I embarked with dancer Kao Yu-i and musician Yang Zijie on a theatrical tour to Marseille, France. We gave five performances in five different parts of the city. Here is a video excerpt from the fourth performance which took place at the Alcazar library on October 14th:"Segments from two separate dreams create a beautiful moment shining through lucid shadows
Heading towards an unknown, far away destination, the people gradually disperse
In the dream, everyone has already passed away, gathered in the tranquil darkness;
when an object is stripped to its essence, the only thing we can see out from the darkness, is light
Dead branches protrude awkwardly from the lifeless beaches, yet sprout new roots
I hope you...
The Book of Revelation is the last one of the New Testament. Its style, its images and its dramatic aspect cannot but astonish its readers. Yet, it remains one of the most widely read of the Bible, especially in times of crisis.It is difficult to understand its style and meaning if one does not know that it belongs to a literary genre: the “apocalyptic genre”, which developed in the Jewish world around two centuries before the birth of Jesus and will still last for one more century after his death.
Writers of “apocalyptic books” intend to reveal to their readers the project of God: the coming of His Day, when His Kingdom will be definitely established on earth. They first look at the past of Israel, reflect with their readers...
Stéphane Corcuff is a political scientist trained in Sinology and Geopolitics. When he is not on sabbatical research in Taipei, he is also a professor at Lyon Institute of Political Studies and lecturer at Paris’ National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations. When we visited the CEFC, Taipei branch, Stéphane explained some conclusions from his past research leading up to his current program of study based around identity politics in Taiwan and the geopolitics of Taiwan since the 17th century. He draws a parralel between Zheng Keshuang (鄭克塽) - the grandson of Koxinga (鄭成功) - who was briefly the leader of Taiwan (1681-83), and the incumbent President of the ROC, Ma Ying-jeou. He then uses this historical...
Read more: CEFC Files: Neighbour of China, Taiwan's Liminality
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