Taiwan Project Center - HUA

Taiwan packs a lot of punch. In land area, it measures about 1.3 times the size of Massachusetts, but it has more than three times the population. The island, which sits south of Japan, east of China, and north of Hong Kong, holds a strangely ambiguous status. Although Taiwan functions with many of the same features as a nation-state, with elements like its own president, currency, and military, it is not recognized as a country by most of the world. This is because China claims it—and one of the main political parties on Taiwan also views Taiwan as part of China though operating separately from it. Taiwan’s society and culture have many influences: 16 Austronesian indigenous groups, Chinese who migrated to the island over 300 years ago from provinces in south China, Japanese colonial rule for 50 years, and mainland Chinese who fled to the island when they were on the wrong side of the Chinese civil war. It’s also transformed over the past few decades from an authoritarian regime to a democracy. As a result, Taiwan has a complex culture and continually developing identity. This has made for a different China experience on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. Because people from all over China moved to the island, Taiwan arguably is a microcosm of Chinese regional cuisines, customs, religions, and arts. Taiwan is known for its lively temple life, active civil society, progressive politics, stunning mountainous terrain, ecotourism, modern cities that weave in elements of traditional life, and a world-recognized food scene—both in terms of restaurants and famed night markets. 

We will explore it all. We will spend 2/3 of our time on the island in Taipei in the north and 1/3 in Tainan in the south. We will be on the ground in Taiwan for 3 weeks for the experiential part of the 3 classes that comprise the center. Students will then have an additional 4 weeks to finish work wherever they want/need to be: in the US or elsewhere. The center start date is timed to make it easy to transition from D-term IQP sites in Asia to the Taiwan HUA Center. And it is designed so that you can be back in the US in early June in time for an internship or job. No Chinese language or knowledge of Taiwan is necessary to apply.