LATEST

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  Important Notice Regarding the Official Books from Taiwan Website

  Mar 17, 2026 /

  The Books from Taiwan team hereby announces that the old domain booksfromtaiwan.tw has been discontinued and is no longer affiliated with the Ministry of Culture.

  The only official website for Books from Taiwan is: https://booksfromtaiwan.moc.gov.tw

  Please note that websites using the “.moc.gov.tw” domain name are official websites of the Ministry of Culture.

  Any advertisements, transactional information, or requests for personal data encountered on the old website are not authorized by Books from Taiwan or the Ministry of Culture. We urge you to remain vigilant and avoid providing any personal information on the former site.

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  Blurb: Before the Dawn: Journeys of 15 Taiwanese Artists from Colonialism to Democracy

  Mar 11, 2026 / By Readmoo ∥ Translated by Jeff Miller

  Severe controls on information and education imposed by the Nationalist government after the Second World War effectively disassociated postwar Taiwan from its fifty-year history as a colony of Japan – a period of both rapid modernization and emerging industrial and artistic accomplishment. This lost era has only recently returned into the public consciousness and is only now being incorporated into public education curricula. Thus, for most Taiwanese, popular literature, easy to read and digest, is essential to bringing us all up to speed on Taiwan’s prewar, colonial heritage. Before the Dawn takes an engagingly interesting narrative approach to introducing the stories of several prominent local artists working in colonial-era Taiwan. Accompanied by lively illustrations, this important work sheds evocative “new” light on Taiwan’s colonial art world.

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  Blurb: Carapatteur: The Sino-French War on Formosa through the Lens of André Salles

  Mar 11, 2026 / By Readmoo ∥ Translated by Jeff Miller

  Rather than creating another historiography of the Sino-French War, this unique work turns its narrative lens on the photographs and writings of one French officer serving in Taiwan during that war. Carapatteur not only pieces together the natural and cultural landscapes of contemporary Taiwan and the Pescadores (Penghu); it also sheds light on contemporary Western views of the Far East and reveals the textures of everyday life in late nineteenth-century Taiwan. While showing the perspective of photographer André Salles, these photographs also provide insights into his professional technique, talent, and interests as well as hint at the complexities underpinning the Western imperialist outlook, perspectives on the Sino-French War, and ideations on late-Qing Taiwan. Seeing oneself through another’s eyes is critical both to better self-understanding and to truly understanding history.

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