A Front-Row Seat to a Geo-Political Dance

S. Leo Chiang reflects on U.S., China and Taiwan relations in his short documentary 'Island in Between'

Filmmaker S. Leo Chiang was born in Taiwan, grew up in the United States, worked extensively in China and now lives in Taipei. This mix of experiences has given him a front-row seat to the complex, decades-long dance between these nations. In his short documentary Island in Between, Chiang reflects on his relationship with Taiwan, the U.S. and China from the islands of Kinmen, just a few miles from mainland China.

Kinmen, also known as Quemoy, is a group of islands governed by Taiwan that were the front lines of the first and second Taiwan Straits Crises decades ago. They lie just a few miles from mainland China, and these days, locals are unsure what escalating tensions mean for the future.

Island in Between, part of the New York Times' Op-Docs series was recently announced on the short list for the 2024 Academy Awards, in the category of Documentary Short Film.

Watch it here:

May You Find Summer Romance Aboard 'Love Boat: Taiwan'

Valerie Soe is making a documentary about the legendary Taiwanese cultural program, aka "Love Boat."



Here's a film project that could use your help... It's the final fundraising stretch for Love Boat: Taiwan, a documentary that looks at the allure of the Taiwan Love Boat, one of the longest running summer programs in the world, where young Taiwanese Americans get closer to their history, their culture and each other.

In the late 1960s, Taiwan's government established the Study Tour to Taiwan as an outreach program to college-aged Taiwanese Americans and Chinese Americans, to increase their awareness and support for Taiwan. Since then, young people from all over the world have attended this program.

Although it was advertised as a cultural enrichment program -- Mandarin language, martial arts, brush painting, etc. -- the Study Tour's popularity came from another source: its (somewhat notorious) reputation as an excellent place to find romance. Thus earning its more widely known nickname: Taiwan Love Boat.

Director Valerie Soe, who attended the Taiwan Love Boat as a college student in the 1980s, has been working on a documentary chronicling this important part of our community's history.

The Huangs go to Taiwan in the season premiere of 'Fresh Off The Boat'

Episode 301: "Coming From America" airs Tuesday, October 11, 9:00 pm on ABC



ABC's hit Asian American family sitcom Fresh Off The Boat airs Tuesday nights at its new time at 9:00pm. The comedy, inspired by the memoir of chef Eddie Huang, tells the story of the Huang family, a Taiwanese American family getting their immigrant hustle on in 1990s suburban Orlando, in pursuit of the American dream. Previous episodes are available for viewing on the ABC website

Fresh Off The Boat stars Randall Park as Louis, Constance Wu as Jessica, Hudson Yang as Eddie, Forrest Wheeler as Emery, Ian Chen as Evan, Chelsey Crisp as Honey and Lucille Soong as Grandma Huang. In this week's season premiere, the Huangs travel to Taiwan and Ken Jeong returns as Louis' brother Gene.

Here's a preview of episode 301, "Coming From America":

Taiwan is Doing Cars Better Than Us

A Very Short Photo Essay About The Weird and Wonderful Cars of Taiwan. Guest Post by Sanjay Shah



I was in Taiwan earlier this month to help shoot the upcoming season premiere of Fresh Off The Boat. I am also so obsessed with cars that I dropped out of college to work on them. Here are some of the cars that I saw on the streets of Taiwan:

Before Tinder, there was the Taiwan Love Boat

Valerie Soe is making a documentary about the legendary Taiwanese cultural program, aka "Love Boat."



They're making a film about the legendary Love Boat. And I'm not talking about the TV show.

In the late 1960s, the Taiwanese government established the Study tour to Taiwan as an outreach program to Chinese American and Taiwanese American youth. While it was touted as a cultural enrichment program, it became notorious among Chinese American and Taiwanese American college students as an excellent place to hook up and find romance. Hence, its more commonly referred nickname: "Love Boat."

Since its inception, the Love Boat has served three purposes: 1) As a political tool for the Taiwanese government. 2) As a way for Chinese and Taiwanese American parents to insure the preservation of their bloodlines. 3) And as a place for young Chinese and Taiwanese Americans to find romance.

No actual boat involved.

Lynn Chen Bites Taiwan

Actress/blogger embarks on Taiwan food adventures in her new webseries on ISAtv.



My pal Lynn Chen, actress, activist and blogger behind The Actor's Diet, recently went on a trip to Taiwan where she toured and sightsaw and, of course, ate delicious things. She had the cameras rolling during her adventures, and now shares them with us in the premiere episode of Lynn Chen Bites, her new webseries on ISAtv. In addition to eating various awesome stuff, she is adorable.

Check it out:

12-year-old boy trips and punches $1.5 million museum painting

Paolo Porpora's "Roses" now prominently features a fist-sized hole.



Do you feel anxiety when you're in the vicinity of rare and priceless museum artifacts? You will, after seeing this video. It's like a field trip chaperone's worst nightmare come true. Over the weekend in Taiwan, a young museum-goer accidentally tripped, fell and punched a hole into a $1.5 million oil painting.

12-Year-Old Kid Trips, Punches Fist-Sized Hole in a Million-Dollar Painting

On Sunday, while attending "The Face of Leonardo, Images of a Genius" exhibition at at Huashan 1914 Creative Park in Taipei, a 12-year-old boy stumbled on a rope barrier, lost his balance, extended his arms and made contact with an extremely valuable 17th century painting. And by contact, I mean he punched a hole in it. Paolo Porpora's "Roses" now prominently features a fist-sized hole.

The incident was caught on surveillance video:

Fund This: Picture Taipei

A short film about living an authentic life, shot on location in Taiwan.



Here's a crowdfund film project that's worth a look... Picture Taipei is a short film that the tells the story of Aimee, a disillusioned young woman who travels from Los Angeles to Taipei, where the people she encounters change her life. Directed by Jason Poon and starring Aileen Xu, the film was shot on location in Taiwan (not Thailand), and is now raising post-production funds via Kickstarter to finish the film.

Here's a video with some more information about the project, including a teaser:

Geography Fail: Thailand is not Taiwan

San Jose Mercury News headline claims "Taiwan hunts for shrine bomber."



Journalism geography fail.

On Monday in Thailand, a deadly pipe bomb exploded at the Erawan Shrine, a popular tourist attraction, killing twenty people and injuring more than 100 others. As far as I am aware, absolutely nothing of this nature happened in Taiwan -- an entirely separate and different country -- this past week.

Someone at the San Jose Mercury News apparently doesn't know the different between Taiwan and Thailand. The above headline regarding the bomb blast ran in Wednesday's paper. I think Taiwan would be pretty surprised to learn that it's supposed to be hunting for the shrine bomber.

I'm guessing somebody at the Mercury News got yelled at.

(Thanks, Shirley.)


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Jeremy Lin goes undercover as Adidas store employee

Taipei customers can't believe it's Jeremy under that righteous wig.



We all know that Jeremy Lin is a bit of a prankster. From dunking on his mom to pretending to be a wax statue, your favorite Asian American point guard has demonstrated a certain gleeful knack for getting his prank on with fans and family members alike. And it's always fun to see him poking fun at his own celebrity status.

In his latest video, Jeremy pulls some prank shenanigans in Taiwan, sporting a righteous wig and posing as an employee at a Taipei Adidas store (he is a spokesman, after all). Watch as he interacts with several unsuspecting customers who appear to have no idea that a NBA star is trying to sell them athletic wear.

It's all in Mandarin, but if you click on the closed captioning button (CC) you'll get the English subtitles:

Taiwan is crazy for Jeremy Lin. The feeling is mutual.

Some highlights from the Houston Rockets' trip to Taiwan.



You might have heard that Jeremy Lin was in Taiwan with the Houston Rockets to play a preseason game against the Indiana Pacers. You might have also heard that he kicked some butt on the court and made quite a showing for his Taipei fans, who were out in full force. Houston topped Indiana, 107-98, and Jeremy finished with 17 points on 6 for 8 shooting, including 3 for 4 three-pointers, with four assists, three steals, two rebounds. Oh, and one nice dunk. Here's a brief video with some highlights from the game:

Watch the trailer for 100 Days

The romantic comedy marks veteran TV director Henry Chan's Chinese-language feature debut.


This is a heads up for movie fans in Hawaii and Taiwan... You'll soon get a chance to see the new romantic comedy/drama 100 Days, directed by my friend Henry Chan. The film will premiere at the 33rd Hawaii International Film Festival next month, and open theatrically nationwide in Taiwan in November.

The film, which marks Henry's first Chinese language feature, is about a disconnected telecommunications executive who returns to his home island village for his estranged mother's burial, where a Taiwanese/Chinese tradition mandates that the son must marry within 100 days in order for a parent's spirit to transition peacefully. Stuck after a typhoon with no way out for three days, he rekindles romance with his free spirited, childhood sweetheart who is engaged to marry a local villager.

Here's the trailer:

Jeremy Lin opens up about faith, identity and "Linsanity"

The Houston Rocks guard gets introspective in front of a crowd of 20,000.



Jeremy Lin was recently a featured speaker at the "Dream Big, Be Yourself" Christian youth conference in Taiwan. In front of a crowd of 20,000 attendees, through a translator, the NBA star shared about his faith, his identity and his career, getting honest about his amazing highs on the court -- who can forget "Linsanity"? -- and the tremendous pressure and scrutiny that was placed on him when he arrived in Houston.

Ultimately, Jeremy says he could not let himself be defined by the critics and onlookers, nor could he strive to live up to the "Linsanity," because that would be setting himself up for disappointment. After much reflection, Jeremy says it always came back to his identity in God. And he challenged the audience to do the same.

Here's video of Jeremy's speech (it begins at 1:06:22):

Taiwanese will no longer need visas to visit U.S.

Interesting. Looks like Taiwan just joined the official list of America's buddies. Starting Thursday, Taiwanese citizens will no longer need a visa to visit the United States, making it much easier for tourists and relatives to make the trip: Taiwanese will no longer need visas to visit U.S.

Taiwan joins a list 37 visa waiver countries, which includes Japan and South Korea. This means Taiwanese travelers will no longer have to wait in line at the U.S. Consulate in Taipei or pay a $164 fee and convince an interviewer that they will return home. Generally, it's just going to be a much smaller pain in the ass for Taiwanese folks to visit the U.S.:

jeremy lin's late night escape in taipei

If you've been following Jeremy Lin's every move -- LIKE I HAVE -- you know that he's been hanging out and making his way through Beijing, Hong Kong and Taipei over the last month. As you can imagine, his presence has created quite a stir among media and fans.

In this Jeremy Adventure, A Late Night Escape in Taipei, Jeremy and his crew, including David Lee of the Golden State Warriors, sneak out of their hotel rooms to plays some hoops with the Taipei locals. This is a fun one:

jeremy lin is a hit in taiwan

Last week, the newest Golden State Warrior Jeremy Lin got an unexpected call from none other than Yao Ming, with a last minute request to play at a charity basketball game in Taiwan for his foundation. Lin and his whole family flew out to Taipei for the game: Jeremy Lin, Jennings catch fans' eyes at Yao's charity basketball game.