The Taiwan Gazette screened the documentary film Our Youth in Taiwan from March 8 to 14, 2021. We sat down with University of Toronto Professor Michelle Cho to discuss Taiwan-China geopolitical relations and the usage of “worlding” within the context of the film. 

Our Youth In Taiwan (我們的青春，在台灣) is a ​story of resistance, collaboration, and frustration between three protagonists: Cai Boyi, a politically engaged mainland Chinese student in Taiwan; Chen Wei-ting, a student leader of Taiwan's Sunflower Movement; and Fu Yue, the documentary’s filmmaker. As their narratives unfold, the meanings of democracy, national belonging, social movement, political engagement, sexuality, and even filmmaking are called into question.

This screening was brought to you in part by our series, Lusheng in Taiwan: Contradictions and Anticipations.

By Elizabeth Shaw
Edited by Yu-Han Huang and Sabrina Chung

Our managing co-editor Yu-Han Huang began the Q&A session with an introduction to The Taiwan Gazette. In addition to original works, The Taiwan Gazette translates and publishes original reporting from Taiwan, Hong Kong and China. It also features student research and scholarly works to approach Taiwan from a critical perspective. Our film screening featured as a part of our series on Mainland Chinese students studying in Taiwan–colloquially known as lusheng, these students are both expected to bridge Taiwan-China relations but are also kept under an ostracized status. Under Taiwan's exceptional political status, Chinese students are not legally defined as “foreigners”, yet they are not Taiwanese citizens either. The election of President Tsai Ing-wen led to further restrictions on the status of lusheng in Taiwan as well as rising tensions between Taiwanese nationals and the Chinese “Other”. 

Our other managing co-editor Sabrina Chung provided additional introductions. She welcomed Professor Michelle Cho, a U of T assistant professor of East Asian Popular Cultures in the Department of East Asian Studies and graduate faculty in Cinema Studies. Prof. Cho specializes in Korean pop culture and cinema, worlding theory, globalization theory, and more.

Sabrina mentioned that Our Youth in Taiwan is often understood in relation to the debate at the Golden Horse Film Awards in 2018, when the film director Fu Yue announced her hope for Taiwan to be “regarded as an ‘independent entity.’”  She suggested that through the analytical framework of worlding theory, we might ask new questions about the film: “What does it mean to share a world with others? What does it mean to engage with a togetherness that is irreducible to the ethno-nationalistic sentiments characterizing Taiwan and China relations today?”

Prof. Cho then introduced the concept of “worlding” to the audience. Scholars have used the term both as a synonym for and against globalization. When globalization discourses first emerged at the end of the Cold War, it was laden with a sense of celebratory triumphalism. Now that critiques of globalization have popularized, the term allows us to understand more critically how experiences and identities of difference operate in the globalized world. In the context of postcolonial criticism, worlding theory illuminates the ways in which the Global South has been “worlded” through a process of colonization by global empires. However, we can also understand experiences that emerged from a worlding process “from below.” Subjects of decolonizing spaces worlded themselves with a sense of aspiration.

Prof. Cho further explained the usage of worlding theory in Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, an ongoing project of critiquing postcolonial and post-imperial legacies in Asia and beyond. In 2017, the bi-annual conference of Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Society was organized around the theme of “Worlding: Asia Beyond/After Globalization.” Prof. Cho asked, how can we think of “emerging” Asian countries and their significance in global political debates in the 21st century?

Sabrina then referred to two recommended readings for the event: the introductions of Precarious Belongings: Affect and Nationalism in Asia edited by Chih-ming Wang and Daniel PS Goh and Worlding Multiculturalisms: The Politics of Inter-Asian Dwelling edited by Daniel PS Goh. Both works consider Kuan-Hsing Chen’s idea of “Asia as method” and how it has influenced contemporary scholarly work about Asia. Chen proposes a methodology of inter-Asian referencing, one that departs from Western-centric modes of theoretical inquiries and reorients analytical focus to the question of of de-imperialization, de-colonization, and de-cold war in the context of Asia. Sabrina then began addressing the pre-selected Q&A questions. 

One question noted how, during the film, Taiwanese student leader Chen Wei-ting sang both Taiwanese and Chinese pop songs. He and his counterparts recycled Chinese popular culture and leftist symbols and did not find issue with this, despite their movement’s ties with anti-China sentiments. By singing these songs, were student leaders trying to overcome nationalistic sentiments evident in Taiwan’s social movements? Do South Korea activists also borrow from and deploy North Korean or leftist symbols in their social movements?

Prof. Cho said that she had the impression that the film director included these singing scenes to show how cultural space was shared. While it was unclear when Chen was being ironic or earnest, his singing lent the audience “emotional hints” behind his motivation. She also highlights how Chen and his fellow students had been politically active prior to the 2014 Sunflower Movement. They seemed self-conscious about demanding political change along nationalist lines. South Korean activists do not deploy North Korean symbols due to the National Security Law that prohibits the promotion of North Korea, she added. She then posed the question to Yu-Han and S. Chung for their thoughts. Yu-Han said that liberties in Taiwan were suppressed under martial law and so, the memory of this suppression informs youth activisms. Today’s youth activists borrow and reinterpret these symbols in their own social movements. 

An audience member asked what worlding theory can tell us about Taiwan-Japan relations. Prof. Cho described worlding as a mobile signifier. Whether one speaks about Taiwan or Korea, Japanese colonialism has major effects on the state. In South Korea, the government tries to welcome Japanese capital but not Japanese culture. She found that Taiwanese perspectives of Japanese imperialism exist in a “multi-layered” space, which makes the worlding of histories all the more crucial.

A follow-up question was raised concerning the recent rise of China as a hegemonic power in East Asian societies and beyond and how Kuan-Hsing Chen’s ideas of de-imperialization, de-colonization, and de-cold war can help us identify the current structuring forces from which we should decolonize ourselves. Prof. Cho responded, suggesting that Our Youth in Taiwan illustrated that there are “multiple scales” to the political relationship between the U.S. and Chinese hegemonic states. In terms of who we need to be decolonized from, Prof. Cho answered that we must decolonize ourselves, others, and collective memories. She cited the film as a good example of why everyone–Taiwan and China included–should challenge East Asian nationalisms. 

Another question came from a student who grew up in China. They agreed that citizens from Taiwan and China seem to lack a mutual understanding, which results in stereotypes. They asked if these barriers to understanding stem from miscommunication and censorship, or if the issue has deeper roots in history. Prof. Cho responded with an analogy for South Korea, saying that some Koreans view the American influence in North-South Korean negotiations as continued colonial oppression. She considered how, when a foreign nation interferes, the Asian nation loses sovereignty. She additionally posed the question of identity; while contemporary discourses in Taiwan discuss the “Taiwanese” versus “Chinese” binary; they must also include the Indigenous in Taiwan as stakeholders to the land. Yu-Han discussed the high school textbook controversy in 2015. During the Ma Ying-jeou presidency, the Kuomintang reduced mentions of the White Terror and the 228 Incident in the school curriculum. One protestor, a queer Taiwanese person took his own life, following this removal. Yu-Han acknowledged that the controversy was a tragic example of how the nation-state has power to shape political perspectives. He noted that political censorship is also a major issue that shapes citizen views in the People’s Republic of China regarding Taiwan. As a historian himself, he pointed out that historical narratives may hinder the people from engaging with their own histories.

Our Q&A with Prof. Michelle Cho provoked interesting discussions regarding Taiwan-China relations, identity and belonging, and the status of lusheng in Taiwan. We drew feedback from a Diaspora and Transnational Studies course instructor who asked his students to our event. As the audience member feedback indicated, the film speaks to the unity and wish for change during the 2014 Sunflower Movement. One member found Prof. Cho’s point about how current Taiwan-China relations stem from colonial legacies. Another said that, despite not being Chinese or Taiwanese, they still found the film’s protagonists to be relatable; the young people in the film stood up for what they believed, despite the obstacles. 

Worlding Taiwan-China relations consists of complex geopolitical questions–questions onto which we at the Taiwan Gazette hope to shed light. Ultimately, as the final feedback read, the Q&A provided an insightful discussion on how Asian youths enact social change and re-construct post-colonial and post-imperialist narratives.