Opinions, dreams & videos

In this two-part interview, Barnabe Hounguevou tells us the story of how he gradually decided to join the Jesuits, how was assigned to Taiwan by the society, and what he likes most about the island.

 

Read more: Finding your path within the unexpected

Opinions, dreams & videos

Study, graduate, work, start a family,
I've tried my hardest, but I've always been down and out. Whose rules am I supposed to be playing by? What course have I been put on?
Let's break the rules! Take the piss, to get back a bit of logic!

by Zijie Yang, translated by Conor Stuart and Julia Chien from the original Chinese, photos by Park Swan

Read more: Amateurs in Tokyo - Reasonable Riots

Opinions, dreams & videos

I once experienced "culture shock" before even leaving my country. In the library of the Department of Western Languages and Literatures at Peking University, I read an article in Paris Match about Elizabeth Taylor. What shocked me most was not the fact that she was married eight times (the number appeared astronomical, but not unfathomable for a beautiful Hollywood star) or twice to the same person (I knew some people would change their mind back and forth), but the oxymoronic statement that when the two-time husband Robert Burton died, she was so heartbroken that she gained 30 pounds.

Read more: Obesity and Freedom

Opinions, dreams & videos

 

Father Jacques Duraud made this reflection on his own faith in response to the eRenlai focus on faith and god in April this year. How do you conceive of faith and god, or even of a world without belief? Feel free to share with us!

Read more: Focus Response: Father Jacques Duraud, SJ on 'My God?'

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Non-violent resistance against the construction of a naval base in South Korea

Since 2007, a small village in South Korea has led a non-violent resistance against the construction of a naval base next door to a UNESCO biosphere reserve. The official reasons for the construction of a military base on the self-governing island of Jeju, about 80 kilometers from the mainland, are to allow for better policing of the sea-lanes and faster response to any acts of aggression by North Korea.

Read more: A Fight between David and Goliath

Opinions, dreams & videos

Everybody thought she was a lucky girl, set for life. She worked at the small library of this huge and important boiler factory, one of the few young people there with a college degree, from a nearby provincial university. Her boyfriend, a young engineer in the same factory, was known to be gentle and attentive. They would get married when they qualified for "late marriage". The only quibble people could find was she cared too much about her appearance, compared with other Chinese women in the late fifties: she wore her silky black hair in two long braids, had a light mauve summer dress with elastic collar and dark mauve polka dots, even her jacket was fitted because she made alterations... But she had the redeeming quality of being...

Read more: A Tale of Three Lands

Opinions, dreams & videos

This article was written after we spent one night in the Fish Market in Keelung, North Taiwan. It left a strong impression on me, and although it was almost one year ago, I can still remember every minute, every impression; the magic of this night will stay with me for a long time.

Read more: The Giant Fish That Sees All

Opinions, dreams & videos

From February 25 to March 1 2013, an international group composed by 10 human rights experts and legal scholars was invited to Taiwan to supervise the review process of the country's initial reports under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) that Ma Ying-Jeou signed in March 2009. The structure and dynamics of the review meeting made the event unique in its genre, as it did not only expose the official human rights records to the scrutiny of an international committee, but it also provided Taiwan's civil society with the opportunity to actively participate and be directly involved in the monitoring process.

Despite not being a...

Read more: Human Rights in Taiwan Under Review

Opinions, dreams & videos

Fernando Luis Barreto Mercado talks to us about his life and calling as a Jesuit, what it's like to be living in another country far away from home, and the hardest parts about not being in Puerto Rico.

Read more: The life of a Puerto Rican Jesuit in Taipei

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Socio-economic inequalities and the spread of HIV/AIDS in Indonesian Papua

The small wood and corrugated iron shack is dark, the only light coming from a hole in the wall above the fireplace. In a corner, Tarius* (23) lies on a thin mattress. His face is gaunt, his gaze empty. Every so often, a rumbling cough shakes his chest. He seems oblivious to the lively family discussions around him. One of his cousins recently died after an unknown illness and his funeral is to be held later in the day. But the family is worried about Tarius' own condition, as he has been unable to keep food down for over ten days and is rapidly losing weight. Tarius' father came across an NGO worker talking about sexually transmittable diseases (STDs) and...

Read more: HIV Awareness in Papua

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When you are playing Word Association I guess that "Papacy" usually does not trigger the response "Tenderness" - neither does "Tenderness" elicit the word "Papacy"...

Still, "Tenderness" was the central word in the homely pronounced by Pope Francis at his inaugural Mass on March 19. He repeated the theme several times, saying: "We must not be afraid of goodness or even tenderness! Here I would add one more thing: caring, protecting, demands goodness, it calls for a certain tenderness. In the Gospels, Saint Joseph appears as a strong and courageous man, a working man, yet in his heart we see great tenderness, which is not the virtue of the weak but rather a sign of strength of spirit and a capacity for concern, for compassion, for...

Read more: Preaching Tenderness

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This essay was initially inspired by Bertrand Russell's "In Praise of Idleness". It was gratifying, upon reading it, to realize that I had been spending my (too little) leisure time in ways that he might have approved. While I find Russell's essay illuminating, I am not worried about repeating his thinking though, because the distance between my mind and that of a great philosopher remains insurmountable. My praise does not involve a concept, however tangible, but a familiar figure, the reader.

Let us celebrate the readers in us, who chose to read the books that to some extent raised us and shaped what we have become. The books we choose show us alternative ways of thinking and life in distant lands, different from the immediate...

Read more: In Praise of Readers

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Taiwan is one of the world's most dynamic economies and a consolidated democracy. Even though Taipei has economic and cultural offices in 60 countries, memberships in 32 IGOs (including the WTO, APEC and ADB) and another 22 quasi-memberships, the Republic of China (ROC) has diplomatic relations with only twenty-three states and is often prevented from accessing international bodies. This situation of diplomatic marginalization of a success story can be described as "Taiwan paradox", and is due to the People's Republic of China's (PRC) curtailing of Taiwan's possibilities of becoming a normal member of the international community. International participation is vital for Taiwan's security and economic competitiveness. Ranging from realism...

Read more: Beyond the "Taiwan Paradox": Expanding Taiwan’s International Participation

Opinions, dreams & videos

Maddy King, a Pacific Studies student from ANU learning Chinese in Taipei gives her opinion on a variety of topics related to her stay, such as what she has learned from it, how experiencing Taiwan has shaped her view of the Pacific, and what she misses most about home.

Read more: A visitor's glimpse into life in Taiwan