Because Taiwan has long been ahead of most Southeast Asian countries in terms of economic development, it has for many years occupied a position of cultural strength. Consequently, even if there are many books published every year in Taiwan, including no shortage of volumes related to Southeast Asia, there are few that discuss both sides of the cultural relationship. Take the much-discussed field of “Malaysian Chinese literature”: The Chinese-Malaysian writers best known in Taiwan are those Malaysians living here. But there is a larger cohort of Chinese-Malaysian writers still living in Malaysia, most of whom are unknown to readers in Taiwan.

Taiwan has proved to be an important location for helping to introduce Malaysian Chinese literature to the world. In turn, Malaysian Chinese literature has also enriched Taiwanese literature. (photo by Lin Min-hsuan)

Squirrel Culture:

“Success depends on effort,” or so the Chinese saying goes. Lim Wooi Tee (left) and Lai Kai-li (right) have worked hand in hand to promote publishing and cultural exchanges between Taiwan and Malaysia. (photo by Lin Min-hsuan)

Chinese-Malaysian writers in Malaysia

Regarding concerns about unilateral cultural dumping, publisher Lai ­Kaili says: “The literature being published in Taiwan is rich and abundant, but there’s little interest in looking at the Chinese-language literature of other places. It’s resulted in a situation where we have lots of activity on the inside, but little interaction with the outside world. That’s very unfortunate.” With great determination, in 2016 she founded Squirrel Culture, which aims to publish and promote Malaysian Chinese literature in Taiwan.

From Squirrel Culture’s books, we have gained access to many path-breaking Chinese-Malaysian writers. The threads that connect Taiwan to Malaysia are clearly illuminated through the life experiences of each of the writers. Take, for example, Lim Wooi Tee’s semi-­autobiographical novel Disappeared Nation. He has always harbored deep feelings for Taiwan. Due to issues with the Malaysian education system, once he was grown he elected to go to far-off Britain to study. Eventually, he ended up working in Singapore. Even today, he still frequently travels to various countries in East Asia. He epitomizes the wandering ethnic Chinese, and the experience of displacement is carefully chronicled in his work.

Apart from editing Night Walk, an anthology of Taiwanese and Malaysian fiction, Tee Kim Tong also has planned a Malaysian picture book that introduces the Malay alphabet and Malaysian folk tales. It will be published soon.

Monsoon Review:

Zhan Minxu, an assistant professor in the Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature and Transnational Cultural Studies at National Chung Hsing University, believes that while literature in translation should display the spirit and values of Taiwan, it should not merely be a one-way conveyance of Taiwanese customs and sentiments. (photo by Lin Min-hsuan)

Chinese-language literary criticism

Ever since he was a young child, Lim has loved to read and write, so it was only natural that he paid attention to the Chinese-language literary scene. In his time off from work, he actively threw himself into literary work. He describes himself as a “slash” youth, someone who divides his time between different fields. Apart from his job as a doctor, he is also one of the owners of Grassroots Book Room in Singa­pore, and he remains active in the Chinese-language literary scene there. Feeling that there was a lack of literary criticism on Malaysian Chinese literature, in 2016 he put up the money to found Monsoon Review.

Taking on the mission of reflecting on its era, Monsoon Review has been coming out with special issues, including ones on “Investigating the Lack of Criticism of Chinese Malaysian Literature,” “Singaporean Chinese Literature,” “Assessments of Poetry in Hong Kong, Macao, ­Singa­pore and Malaysia,” “Periodicals and the Publishing Industry,” “Gay and Lesbian Literature,” and “How to Teach Literature.” Monsoon Review has solicited submissions from scholars in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and other locales with Chinese-language literature. In the process, it has both given itself greater depth and expanded the space for Chinese-language literary criticism.

Night Walk:

Slowork’s published works are quite unlike the Japanese-style manga comics with which Taiwanese readers are most familiar. Readers have found the high level of thematic freedom and experimentation refreshing. (courtesy of Slowork Publishing)

Exploring Taiwanese values

In addition to private-sector publishing exchanges, with the ROC government promoting its New Southbound Policy, the Ministry of Culture in recent years has been actively supporting foreign-language translations of Taiwan literature. Two ­Malaysian Chinese scholars were hired to compile and translate Night Walk (Perjalanan Malam), a bilingual collection of Taiwanese and Malay short fiction, which was copublished in Malaysia at the end of 2017 by Empress Culture and the National Museum of Taiwan Literature.

It’s worth noting that the editors of the collection were never given any limitations in terms of content. Yet when opening the book, one surprisingly doesn’t see the Hoklo Taiwanese and post-1945 mainland Chinese immigrant writers that are the mainstream of literature in Taiwan, but rather works by minorities—Hakka, Aborigines and Malaysian Chinese.

Many literary collections assemble a variety of ­visions of Taiwan, such that the end result resembles a promotional film aimed at tourists. Night Walk takes a different tack, looking for potential for dialogue . That the Taiwan-resident Chinese-Malaysian Tee Kim Tong was approached to represent the Taiwan side in executing the project can be seen as a breakthrough.

Tee Kim Tong notes that at the start of the selection process, he considered commonalities between Taiwan and Malaysia. The similarities between Aboriginal authors and Malaysians—with both featuring oceanic cultures and Austronesian languages—are one major thing they have in common. The hot-button issue of ethnicity in both Taiwan and Malaysia is another. Since both nations are multiethnic societies, the government-­sponsored character of this book even more highlights its importance and significance.

Slowork’s published works are quite unlike the Japanese-style manga comics with which Taiwanese readers are most familiar. Readers have found the high level of thematic freedom and experimentation refreshing. (courtesy of Slowork Publishing)

Slowork:

Huang Pei-shan goes to print with small press runs. The high saturation of the ink matches the depth of the content. (courtesy of Slowork Publishing)

Asian documentary comics

Aside from the aforementioned traditional literary journal bearing the name, there is another Moonson: a documentary comic magazine first published in early 2018. Even in the fundraising stage before publication, it became a hot topic of discussion on social media. The journal takes a “documentary comic” approach that is unfamiliar to many Taiwanese. It mainly features stories told by Asians from an Asian perspective. In terms of both form and content, it is quite unique.

Founding Slowork Publishing in 2013 with rather simple intentions, ­Huang Pei-shan courageously jumped into a business in which she was a novice. Having lived near the border between mainland China and neighboring Southeast-Asian countries for about nine years, she was deeply captivated by the vitality and cultural diversity of those locales. Still earlier, she had majored in theatrical design and technology in college before studying contemporary arts in Marseille. She originally thought of shooting local documentaries but encountered all manner of practical difficulties. At that point, she recalled the documentary comics she had encountered in France and charted a new course, drawing from the cinematic and design techniques she had studied for film and applying them to comics.

Huang, who is extremely well read, describes how she has found that the descriptions of Asia written by many European and American writers focus on an exaggerated sense of novelty, and they often end up conveying carica­tures and stereotypes. Her long-term experience along the border of China and Southeast Asia and her rigorous fieldwork, however, showed her that those stereotypes were inaccurate. Consequently, from planning and selecting material, to writing and development, to marketing, she has taken an Asian-centric approach.

Slowork has found people to work with from many different Asian nations. ­Huang has made ample use of online communities and social networks, even holding workshops and putting out calls for submissions, taking a multipronged approach to developing contributors.

Regarding Monsoon, which presents a compilation of several short works in each issue, ­Huang says, “This publication mainly hopes to convey diverse perspectives.” By bringing together different themes and subjects under one cover, she hopes to convey the vitality of grassroots culture. ­Huang takes the different authors’ works and gives them to the journal’s outstanding designer, Timonium Lake, who serves as art director. Throughout the publication, one notices that the fine attention to detail provides a gorgeous feel, which, when matched with the exquisite artwork, succeeds in leaving an outstanding impression in the minds of Taiwan readers. 

Southeast-Asian landscape

Lim Khay-thiong of the Department of Southeast Asian Studies at National Chi Nan University mentions that the concept of “Southeast Asia” arose from military strategy, and that there are limitations in terms of studying it as a region. Nevertheless, people’s activities are never restricted by national borders.

Today, as migration, travel and expat living are on the rise, there is a growing consensus in the ten ASEAN countries and Taiwan that their cultures are going to collide and blend with each other. Their publishing industries, moreover, will transcend the limits of ethni­city, language, and national borders, and approach inter­actions with greater inclusivity. Taiwan has a unique publishing environment as well as a legacy of rich cultural assets. As an island people, we need to make good use of our natural open-mindedness. 

In terms of literature, Tee Kim Tong explains, “Place has a big impact on people. Southeast Asia is in fact close to Taiwan, so why don’t we consider them together? Wouldn’t that be altogether better and more enriching?” Lim Wooi Tee, who has invested in various culturally oriented publishing houses, says that ­publishers in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia all face the challenge of being based in small countries with shrinking markets. Taiwan is not unique in that respect. “But if these and other places with local Chinese literature can work in concert to provide market supports, then that collective market of some 50 million people, equi­val­ent to some large Euro­pean nations, will face less pressure than each market would on its own.”

When Lim and ­Huang Pei-shan unwittingly both named their periodicals after the same Asian weather phenomenon, it demonstrated how much they shared in common. Lim notes that the original idea behind Monsoon Review was to create transnational conversations. Apart from fostering discourse about Malaysian Chinese literature, there was the still greater hope that it would include discussion of smaller Chinese-­speaking communities, such as those found in Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand.

In view of the influence that Taiwan has in Chinese language circles, Lim and Lai ­Kaili together founded Monsoon Zone Publishing, a distributor that actively imports Chinese-language works from Malaysia and Singapore. It aims to encourage reading and cultural exchange across borders.

Slowork makes good use of the advantages the publishing industry has in Taiwan, both as a place of publication and as a marketing base. ­Huang doesn’t want their works to circulate merely in the Taiwan market. Rather, she hopes that one day Slowork can resell the rights back to Southeast Asia. “Southeast Asia is very interesting, and its market is large,” she says. “It’s really a lot like us in terms of geography, climate and culture. But we’ve got to be open to accepting other people if we expect them to be open to accepting us!” If we are willing to fit in, we can welcome a vast, new, rich scenery.

With Taiwan’s publishing industry no longer able to look just at the domestic market, copyright brokers are becoming increasingly important to handle transnational deals. Shown here is the Grayhawk Agency. (photo by Jimmy Lin)