‘Taiwan Travelogue’ rethinks history, colonialism and identity: NPR

taipei, taiwan – novel, taiwan traveloguewhich explores a journey across the island of Taiwan while it was occupied by Japan, which has raised questions about the island’s identity and Taiwan’s relations with both its former colonizers Japan and China.

Written by Taiwanese author Yang Shuang-zi and translated into English by Lin King, the book won global praise after receiving the 2026 International Booker Prize for the best work of fiction translated into English.

Set in the 1930s, the story follows a young Japanese writer, Aoyama Chizuko, as she travels across the island with her Taiwanese translator Oh Chizuru. Through the power imbalance between the two women, their budding romance, and interactions with Taiwanese and Japanese characters, the novel raises questions about how Taiwan views its colonial legacy.

In China, the book has been accused of what some see as Taiwan’s cover-up of Japan’s colonial-era atrocities.

NPR recently spoke with both author Yang Shuang-zi and translator Lin Qing about Taiwan, Japan’s colonial era, and pressure from China, which claims Taiwan.

The following exchanges have been edited for length and clarity. Interviews with the author and translator were conducted separately.

Interview with Yang Shuang-zi:

NPR: Taiwan’s view of Japan is very different from that of Korea and China, which were also colonized by Japan. Where does this difference come from?

Yang Shuang-tzu: It is because of this contradictory situation that I wanted to write a novel. During Japan’s colonial period, we experienced suffering and oppression, but that period was also an important part of Taiwan’s modernization. Therefore, people’s emotions are complex.

This is further complicated by the fact that after the war, Japan left and the Republic of China came in and very quickly adopted the former colonial methods of ruling the people. They basically accomplished what the Japanese colonial government had spent 50 years doing, for example, changing the language. This caused a huge rift, so in that context, it’s understandable why some people looked back and thought Japan wasn’t so bad.

Both Korea and China view Japan differently, due to the fact that they did not experience the Republic of China rule that followed.

NPR: Your book has been accused by some Chinese audiences of romanticizing colonialism or being an example of colonial nostalgia literature. How do you react?

Yang: Obviously, he has not understood the book. I am completely critical of colonialism. My criticism is this: When a colonizer tries to treat the colonized as equals, the conclusion is that they still can’t. It shows us that colonialism is widespread, and the colonial system is fundamentally bad. Even though this regime created many modern amenities on this land, none of this addresses the fact that it deprived the people on the colonized lands of their basic rights.

NPR: What is your own family background, and how does it influence your writing?

Yang: When I was born, everyone around me were Waishengren (外省文, people or descendants of people who moved from China to Taiwan because the Republic of China lost to the Communists in the Chinese Civil War in 1949). On the other hand, on both my father’s and mother’s sides, all my ancestors came to Taiwan from Fujian (on the Chinese mainland) around the 17th or 18th century. This upbringing shaped how I think about novel-writing and what I want to talk about when I ask what it means to be Taiwanese.

Some people think that we can use ancestry to determine who is Taiwanese. I think it’s dangerous. I hope everyone can recognize Taiwan not on the basis of ancestry, but on the basis of our identification with this country and this land. It doesn’t matter where you come from, how you came, whether you are a new resident or a third generation, we are all Taiwanese.

NPR: What concerns you about Taiwan’s future?

Yang: Of course, I worry about war; Everyone does it. But my biggest concern is that the people of Taiwan will abandon our current way of life and our pursuit of democracy, equality and freedom for more than a century. The first direct presidential elections were held in Taiwan in 1996. It was only thirty years ago that we got the right to choose who would rule us directly. Are we really going to give it up so soon?

When some people around us think that unification (with China) would be fine, it means abandoning an effort that has taken more than a hundred years. That’s what worries me: We have the right to vote, but we use that right to bury our freedoms.

Interview with Lynn King:

NPR: How do you see your role as a translator?

Lynn King: Literary translation is very different from many other forms of translation; Accuracy doesn’t mean telling exactly what happens in every sentence. In Taiwan, I think translators are not given too much leeway, but intellectually I have been brought up by groups of translators who are in the camp of taking interpretive liberties, of trying to convey the world ‘in spirit’. Obviously without changing anything too much, but really putting your hand into the story.

In this particular case, I’m trying to figure out what would be a reliable English rendition of an event that occurred in the 1930s. This book included a lot of translation. Not heavy-handed, but really getting into the confusion of things, hence the footnote.

NPR: To what extent are today’s reflections on colonialism also a reflection of Taiwan’s current geopolitical situation (with China)?

King: I think trusting your friends and allies is real politics, and it just so happens that our closest allies at the moment are our former colonizers. We have to rely on these friends because we face great dangers and because we need to.

NPR: Do you see your family history as a reflection of Taiwan’s identity struggle?

King: (Unlike my parents) For those of my generation and beyond, Taiwan has always been a bustling, vigorous democracy. We just consider ourselves Taiwanese because that’s what we know. This is a reality that many of our international allies do not understand or refuse to see.

When the US or others feel that Taiwan is being too assertive and risks angering China, there is a tendency to scold (Taiwan). “We are not trying to provoke anyone, but we always feel that Taiwan is provoking China by talking about itself and it should stop doing so.”