From Taipei, Taiwan: The 2025/07/09 New Bloom Newsletter
Happy birthday New Bloom • new Daybreak calendar • a digital future for Formosan languages • insurance for migrant workers • The Attempt in Czechia • China airways • OTT boxes • TPP fusses
Happy birthday, New Bloom! The collective turned 11 years old last week on June 34th (as we jokingly refer to that date). We’re forever grateful to the many individuals who came together to create this open community during that pivotal point in Taiwan’s civic evolution: the Sunflower Movement. For anyone curious about that point in history, visit The Daybreak Project hosted on New Bloom.
Great Recall Update: The Central Election Commission has announced that two more petitions against KMT legislators have qualified for the recall election stage, setting those votes for August 23, the same day as a referendum vote on nuclear power. This is in addition to the July 26 date already set for recalls against KMT legislators in 24 districts. For more context on this unprecedented movement, read Brian’s summary in The Diplomat and attend our July 11 panel discussion at Daybreak.
Latest NEW BLOOM Articles
Search for older articles over at our website, and remember to explore our sibling publication on life and the arts, No Man Is an Island
KMT Accuses Puma Shen of Being an American Spy, War Profiteer (Brian Hioe | 2025/06/26)
KMT Proposals Accused of Seeking to Expand Chinese Influence Over Outlying Islands of Taiwan (Brian Hioe | 2025/06/27)
Did Chinese Efforts to Intimidate Taiwan in Czechia Include an Attempt on Hsiao Bi-Khim’s Life? (Brian Hioe | 2025/06/28)
Migrant Worker Groups Demonstrate for Inclusion in Labor Insurance Earlier This Month (Brian Hioe | 2025/06/29)
Lai’s Speeches About Recalls, Not Effort to Shift Cross-Strait Relations (Brian Hioe | 2025/06/30)
Interview: Amis Language Activist Omah Canglah on Indigenous Language App Development (Yanne C | 2025/07/01)
Atayal Digital Language Activist Tapas Katu: “Using Indigenous Languages is Completely Normal” (Yanne C and Brian Hioe | 2025/07/02)
Concerns Raised Regarding Chinese OTT Boxes (Brian Hioe | 2025/07/03)
TPP Trial Livestreaming Proposal Aims to Drum Up Outrage Over Ko Wen-je (Brian Hioe | 2025/07/04)
Atayal Digital Language Activist Pasang Teru: “Small, Consistent Efforts Will Lead to Change” (Yanne C and Brian Hioe | 2025/07/05)
Seediq Digital Language Activist Sayun Pihaw Wonders, “How to Find an Angle to Facilitate Understanding?” (Yanne C and Brian Hioe | 2025/07/06)
China Seeks to Pressure Taiwan With Unilateral Announcement of Flight Route Yet Again (Brian Hioe | 2025/07/07)
DAYBREAK Events
You asked, we listened. We’ve finally created an online calendar for Daybreak events! Please bookmark our calendar link in your desktop or phone browser for future reference.
Launched in the wake of the Sunflower Movement, Daybreak Café is the multilingual social discourse gathering place serving activists, artists, journalists, scholars, and community allies here in Taipei. From panels, salons, and workshops to reading clubs, art meetups, and game nights, Daybreak is a safe, welcoming space for exploration, connection, and action. Everything here is donation-driven and community-led.
Open our calendar to browse upcoming events. Then come on by and find new friends to challenge systems and create change — or just to gaze into the void together over drinks :)
Upcoming Highlights
Trif Trans Bar 翠芙的勸世酒吧 (Fridays 19:30-23:30+) Unless otherwise posted, the TTB trans and nonbinary meetup is hosted Friday nights at Daybreak. We’re a safe and welcoming meetup for the transgender community and allies, with alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages available. Come feel free to be yourself, regardless of your gender identity or sexual orientation.
Civil Society Perspectives on the “Great Recall Movement”: A Panel (Friday 2025.07.11)Taiwan’s historic mass recall election this summer is putting KMT legislators on the defensive. How will these grassroots efforts and political whirlwinds shape future civic action in Taiwan? Brian hosts JhuCin Rita Jhang of National Taiwan University and Bunun activist Savungaz Valincinan for this conversation.
Recent Highlights
Remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel for recordings and other event archives: www.youtube.com/@NewBloomMag/
From the Community
A section featuring links and inspirations as suggested by friends around the New Bloom community. See what everyone’s reading/watching/attending lately around Taipei and beyond.
Yang Jun-Dah, New Bloom community member
Taiwan Indigenous Television (TITV 16) and Alian FM 96.3: I goofed last issue when I linked to TITV’s news website instead of the cable channel’s full website — with live stream plus on-demand archive for all the arts and lifestyle and kids shows. As a bonus, I’ve added a link to the Alian radio station, also operated by the Indigenous Peoples Cultural Foundation. Definitely bookmark these unique resources preserving and giving voice to Taiwan’s Indigenous ethnicities and languages. (In Mandarin and respective Formosan languages with varying subtitles)
International Symposium: Confluence of Knowledge Across Time: The National Taiwan Museum is co-hosting this three-day event July 23-25 in concert with the International Council of Museums. Sessions covering traditional ecological knowledge, museum ethics, and Indigenous narratives will be live streamed on YouTube, with in-person attendance options in Taipei and Pingtung. (With English and Mandarin simultaneous interpretation)
足芳足芳 by 李竺芯 Siri Lee: You might be confused the first time hearing this song by singer 李竺芯 Siri Lee — entirely sung in Tâi-gí / Taiwanese Hokkien but disguised as a French café ditty. The whole thing is even more whimsical once you decode the lyrics, which has the song’s narrator delighting herself in a kitchen wearing her 拖鞋, deciding what delicious dish to cook and eat. The track is from Lee’s album 《Suí 水》, which just won her Album of the Year, Best Taiwanese Album, and Best Taiwanese Female Singer at Taiwan’s Golden Melody Awards the other week.
Darice Chang 丹丹, New Bloom community member
The Brothers Sun Showing + Editor Q&A | Happy Hour with TAP Taipei: Join Alison Chang, a Taiwanese-American emerging film editor based in Los Angeles, on July 16. She has worked as an assistant editor on motion picture and television projects for major Hollywood studios including Sony Pictures’ Missing, The Brothers Sun on Netflix, and Miramax’s Here starring Tom Hanks. Alison is passionate about building cross-cultural connections between Asian American storytelling and looks forward to engaging with fellow Taiwanese creatives. She’s excited to share her perspective and answer questions about working in the Hollywood film industry.
The Origin and Evolution of Taiwanese Identity at Home & Abroad: Catch Evan Dawley at what may be his last lecture before he is forced to go home after completing a year long Fulbright sabbatical. The July 24 talk will cover what it says with a generous Q&A after. Dawley has carried out research on Japanese and Chinese colonialism in Taiwan, Taiwanese identity construction during the 20th century, the deportation of Japanese from Taiwan after 1945, and Japanese women settlers in Taiwan. He is currently studying the ongoing creation of Chinese identities in the context of relations between the Republic of China and communities of Chinese and Taiwanese abroad, and the ROC’s interactions with foreign governments around these communities. He is the author of Becoming Taiwanese: Ethnogenesis in a Colonial City, 1880s-1950s (2019), which has also appeared in a Chinese translation 《成為臺灣人：殖民城市基隆下的民族形成 1880s – 1950s》(2021), available at your local Eslite. The event page is not yet live but follow Nisei for updates.
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