In 1938, the Japanese writer Chizuko Aoyama embarked upon an extensive tour of Taiwan to celebrate the film adaptation of her novel “A Record of Youth,” which had proven to be a hit with local audiences. Thanks to financial sponsorship from the Government-General of Taiwan, Chizuko would spend a full year zigzagging across the first colony and crown jewel of the erstwhile Empire of Japan.
Chizuko was accompanied by interpreter Ong Tshian-hoh, alternately known in Mandarin and Japanese as Wang Chien-ho or O Chizuru, for most of this voyage. The relationship between the two women, mediated through the island’s splendor of gastronomic offerings, forms the narrative backbone of Chizuko’s “Taiwan Travelogue” — a memoir that was nearly lost to the mists of time until contemporary Taiwanese writer Yang Shuang-zi rediscovered and translated it anew.
Taiwan Travelogue, by Yang Shuang-zi. Translated by Lin King. 320 pages, GRAYWOLF PRESS, Fiction.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.