Every country has its own history and distinct cultures, and I do believe that Taiwan is not the exception, whether people think we are a de facto country or part of China. It takes courage for us to introduce ourselves to the world with our perspective of views, due to the reason of colonization for so many centuries. Taiwan is eager to be part of this world without further oppression from China; however, things are not as smooth as we imagine. I heard so many stories that how my people had been oppressed by the Chinese KMT political party during those years of martial law, though the party still services at our government now.
Despite the fact that we have some degree of democracy with freedom of speech and the right for vote, some victims of massacre still try to cover their past history and heart broken feelings to the public. People either ran away from this island or joined the groups of foreign power by that time, just like other countries which were invaded by another one.
If you are interested in Taiwanese history, the social movement or local languages, here are two bookstores that I would like to introduce to friendly friends from the rest of world.
To-uat Books
The To-uat bookstore is the place where people from different organizations, especially the NGO, can hold the event for commonwealth of Taiwan. They also provide the dinks, spaghetti meals or local snacks on the menu, but they only serve the takeout menu now because of the Covid-19. There are some books about Taiwanese history, DNA research, ethnic groups, victims of Feb. 28 massacre, and English books. People who are friendly to Taiwan are welcome regardless of the nationality.
There are some English books such as The freedom law, The U.S. Telecommunications law, Modern French Politics, and so on.
This is the calendar which is not represented by the current government of Taiwan, Republic of China, but it may be the best historical product or condensed social movement of Taiwan.
Taiuan e tiam
This bookstore is unique with many novels and books for readers, there are not only local edition books, but also whale flags represented the independence, passport covers without inscription of Republic of China, T-shirts and other Taiwanese things that people can think of. This place is adjacent to the National Taiwan University, so students there can find easy access to this treasure place. They also provide books for language tests, such as A-mei language, Taiwanese Hoklo, and Taiwanese Hakka.
People who want to order books from this place can search the one that they like on their website, and pick it up at the store. Or people can simply order online and deliver to their country.
The independence activist/legend: 史明Sú Bêngシーメン
Su Beng is one of Taiwanese activists in our history, and he is probably the most influential public figures among others in recent history. He was born in Japanese time and exiled to Japan for almost half of his life. He is the legend of Taiwanese independence, and he also published several books written and drew by himself when he was in Japan. The restaurant that he owned was Chinese dumplings, where he used to sell foods for the living and plan big for Taiwan. It was also the headquarter where he started to write the books of Taiwanese history. But now the restaurant is operated by the Chinese owner with authentic Chinese foods in Tokyo.
He was once in China working as undercover agent for communist party, but later went back to Taiwan to fight against Chinese KMT party due to the corruption and its ruling to Taiwanese, which made him escape to Japan for safety. He finally returned home when the current president, Tsai Ing-Wen, opened the arm for him with the position of national policy advisor to the president. Unfortunately, he was sick and died in 2019.
T-shirt with Taiwanese slogan
For those who are without Chinese or Taiwanese background, but would like to explore deeply about Taiwan, it is my great honor to show our history, local legend and cultures to you guys. Thank you for reading my posts whether you are in Lithuania, Czech, U.S., or India.
Things in Taiwan 