2023
About the Program
What is the purpose of human migration?
Is it for seeking better living conditions? Is it for escaping political and religious persecution, racial discrimination, or social injustice?
Or is it for pursuing happiness and opportunities that the heart yearns for?
Dr. Shu-Ming Chung’s book Taiwanese in Nanyang During the Japanese Colonial Period fills in Taiwan’s forgotten immigration history, particularly the story of Taiwanese migrating to Nanyang during the Japanese colonial period. As a student of academian Ts’ao Yung-ho, Dr. Chung was influenced and devoted herself to fully presenting this period of history.
“Yoshino Village” is a childhood memory of Dr. Chung, and the first government-run immigrant village established by then Government-General of Taiwan. Because of her own experience, Dr. Chung cares about immigration activities. The colonial government used land to attract Japanese rural youths to immigrate and cultivate. The colonial rule favouring the Japanese provided them with the opportunity to seek a better life, but created cultural and social conflicts with the Taiwanese. The Taiwanese who were unwilling to be second-class citizens in their homeland migrated to Nanyang (Southeast Asia) in search of a new life.
Through years of visits and oral records, Dr. Chung reconstructed the history of prisoner-of-war camps as places of forced migration during World War II, showing the impact of war and conflict on human migration. The plight faced by these prisoners and the experience of migration remind us that human migration is affected by both voluntary will and external, often political forces. Migration goes beyond individual or group actions. It involves interactions among social, political, economic, and cultural factors. By studying the stories of historical migrations, we can better understand human movement and the formation of diverse cultures throughout time.
Dr. Shu-min Chung is from Hualien, Taiwan, and holds a Ph.D. in Literature from the University of Tokyo, Japan.
She is currently a researcher and Deputy Director at the Institute of Taiwan History, Academia Sinica, and was awarded the Outstanding Research Award by the National Science Council in 2021.
Dr. Chung’s research focuses on topics such as colonial policies, war, and crime, and the history of Taiwanese overseas activities. Her representative work is Taiwanese in Nanyang During the Japanese Colonial Period, which provides a comprehensive overview of the activities of Taiwanese people in Southeast Asia during the Japanese colonial era (1895-1945). It explores how Taiwanese individuals, caught between the competition and conflicts of imperialist countries, including the southward expansion of the Japanese Empire and the colonial rule of various Western empires, as well as the historical entanglement between Taiwan and Japan, have developed their history in various Southeast Asian regions today.
In the current context of the government’s extensive promotion of the Southbound Policy, Dr. Chung’s research holds significant relevance.
From the Curating Team
How have migration, war, and conflict impacted culture and social values of today? This year at TAIWANfest, we dive into the significance of Taipei's National Palace Museum, Taiwanese diaspora during the Japansese colonial period, recovery of Indigenous culture, and other Taiwanese history. Through this, we examine identity, social values, and contemporary challenges, fostering international dialogue and respect for cultural diversity.
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TAIWANfest Toronto is grateful to be held on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples, that is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. We acknowledge our privilege to be gathered here, and commit to work with and be respectful to the Indigenous peoples of this land while we engage in meaningful conversations of culture and reconciliation.