Books from Taiwan

Taipei People is a short story collection by Pai Hsien-yung, first published in the early 1970s. The book gathers fourteen stories set in Taipei, each centered on characters who have relocated to Taiwan from mainland China. Many of these figures carry memories of their former lives, social positions, and personal losses, and the stories observe how those memories shape daily existence in a changed setting.

The collection moves across a wide social range. Some characters are former military officers or officials; others are entertainers, widows, or aging socialites. Pai Hsien-yung writes each story with close attention to small, revealing details of speech, clothing, food, and gesture. The emotional register shifts between compassion for his characters and a clear-eyed awareness of their illusions. Nostalgia runs through the book, but it is treated as a condition to be examined rather than celebrated.

The stories are often compared to James Joyce's Dubliners for their city-bound structure and their interest in people caught between past and present. Pai Hsien-yung is recognized as a central figure in Taiwanese modernist fiction, and this collection is widely regarded as his defining work.

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On the mythical Pacific island of Wayo-Wayo, a young man named Atile'i reaches his 180th full moon and is sent alone onto the open sea as a sacrifice to the Sea God, following the custom of his people. Adrift and close to death, he reaches an unexpected refuge, an enormous floating mass of human garbage, large enough to serve as an island.

Alice teaches literature in Taiwan. After her husband and son vanish, she decides to end her own life, but the collision of the trash island with her stretch of coastline interrupts that plan and wrecks her house. Meeting Atile'i gives her a reason to keep going, and together they try to trace what became of her family. Their exchanges cross a wide gap of language and experience.

Wu Ming-Yi widens the story to include Alice's neighbors and friends, environmentalists from other countries, and the elusive figure named in the title. The book moves between realistic detail and fantasy, keeping ocean pollution, coastal damage, and displaced communities in view. It was the author's first novel to appear in English, and it joins environmental fable with the private matter of family loss.

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The Membranes is set in the late twenty-first century, after climate change has forced humanity into domes on the ocean floor. In this submerged world, powerful media corporations hold sway and cyborg workers are openly exploited. The story follows Momo, the most sought-after dermal care technician in T City, whose clients include well-known media personalities. She keeps to herself and stays busy, until a meeting with her estranged mother prompts her to examine her own identity.

Chi Ta-wei first published the novel in Taiwan in 1995, and it is regarded as a classic of queer speculative fiction in Chinese. Momo's self-examination opens questions about gender, memory, selfhood, and the limits of reality. Around her, the book assembles heirloom animals, radiation-proof combat drones, and surveillance systems, along with early guesses at fitness tracking and constant media exposure.

Ari Larissa Heinrich translated the book into English, carrying its hybrid punk style across languages. The narrative also turns attention to reading itself, keeping the reader's position in view while it examines technological control, concentrated capital, gender, and sexuality in a city sealed beneath the sea.

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Josh Ku and Trigg Brown are the co-owners of Win Son and Win Son Bakery in Brooklyn, New York. Ku grew up in Queens with parents from southern Taiwan, while Brown is from Virginia and trained under a Taiwanese American chef. Their partnership began with a shared appreciation for Taiwanese cooking, and this cookbook, written with Cathy Erway, collects around 100 recipes drawn from that foundation.

The dishes range from fried eggplant dressed with black vinegar, labneh, and spiced cashews to black sesame noodles with mushrooms and big chicken buns with fermented tofu mayo. Some recipes stay close to traditional Taiwanese preparation, while others fold in ingredients and techniques from other cooking traditions. The book also features tsang ying tou, sometimes translated as flies' head, a classic dish built on chopped budding chives cooked with pork fat.

The cookbook reflects a specific version of Taiwanese food shaped by the experience of growing up in or around Taiwanese American households and restaurant kitchens, then running a restaurant in Brooklyn. It is organized around the menu and kitchen practices of Win Son itself, connecting home cooking and restaurant cooking through shared ingredients and methods.

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