The Impact of Film and the Performing Arts on Life in Taiwan

As an island of natural abundance, Taiwan has sustained numerous peoples and societies over centuriesl and allowed them to transform their social relations time and again in response to the opportunities and crises that have come their way. TodaYI Taiwan remains a place of extraordinary vitality - economicallYI culturally and socially.

The notion of 'vitalitil which is the theme of this book, invokes an optimistic description of Taiwan and as the premise of an academic approach it proposes an intervention in what might be described as Taiwan's contemporary narrative. Taiwan today sits in the shadow of an ascendant and sometimes belligerent China. Domestically, it struggles with a divisive and bitter domestic politics, and has an economy that has matured beyond the hyper-growth Imiracle of the 1960s.1 To appeal to the notion of vitality with respect to Taiwan is to attend to Taiwan's continuing relevance as a dynamic and creative society with a story to tell in its own right as well as for the task of understanding the East Asian region and developmental politics and culture. For the Taiwanese themselves, the notion of vitality is a call to be heard internationally over its marginalization by China through its contemporary and traditional culturesl its high technology industrial design and manufacturing and its academic scholarshipI as it has moved beyond the focus on economic development into new realms of politics and new modes of cultural expression.