New Bloom

27/12/2025

"KMT Legislators Continue with Trips to China, In Spite of Security Concerns" by Brian Hioe

The KMT has again opened itself up to criticism, with a series of recent trips to China by seven KMT legislators. The seven legislators are Weng Hsiao-ling, Lin Szu-ming, Yeh Yuan-chih, Cheng Cheng-chien, Chiu Jo-hua, Lu Yu-ling, and Tu Chuan-chi. Former KMT legislator John Chiang, the father of Taipei mayor Chiang Wan-an, as well as KMT Mainland Affairs director Chang Ya-ping, too, were in attendance.

The KMT has again opened itself up to criticism, with a series of recent trips to China by seven KMT legislators. The seven legislators are Weng Hsiao-ling, Lin Szu-ming, Yeh Yuan-chih…

26/12/2025

"Taiwan LGBTQ+ Groups Criticize Conscription Criteria Amendment Requiring Alternative Service for Transgender and Intersex People" by Yo-Ling Chen

Over the past two weeks, multiple LGBTQ+ groups have issued statements criticizing draft amendments to conscription criteria that would end blanket exemptions for transgender and intersex people, requiring them to instead complete an alternative substitute service. While alternative service involves conscripts being placed in institutions serving public welfare such as government agencies, police and fire departments, schools, hospitals, and even research institutions, it still requires a 26-day basic training camp, which is typically held at the Chengkungling Recruit Training Center (成功嶺新訓中心) in Taichung. In their criticism of the draft amendments, LGBTQ+ groups emphasized the deleterious effects to physical and psychological well-being that transgender and intersex conscripts face, even in alternative service, especially given the mandatory basic training component.

Over the past two weeks, multiple LGBTQ+ groups have issued statements criticizing draft amendments to conscription criteria that would end blanket exemptions for transgender and intersex people…

25/12/2025

"With Constitutional Court Deciding Against Unfreezing Itself, Taiwan's Constitutional Crisis Continues" by Brian Hioe

Taiwan's ongoing constitutional crisis remains unresolved, as the impasse about the Executive Yuan refusing to sign a fiscal allocation bill passed by the Legislativ/e Yuan continues.

Taiwan’s ongoing constitutional crisis remains unresolved, as the impasse about the Executive Yuan refusing to sign a fiscal allocation bill passed by the Legislativ/

25/12/2025

Check it out, the last New Bloom Substack of the year! Featuring our round-up of latest articles and upcoming events!

A constitutional crisis • Little Red Book ban • migrant worker exploitation • military service and the trans community • This Is The End • NYE Eve at Daybreak • CNN Taipei • Decolonizing Therapy

23/12/2025

"Calls for Securitization Likely In the Wake of the Metro Stabbing" by Brian Hioe

A mass stabbing that killed three and injured eleven has shocked Taiwan. The attacker, Chang Wen, later killed himself in an apparent su***de after falling from the roof of the Eslite Spectrum Nanxi in Taipei, with the injured or killed mostly in the vicinity of Taipei Main Station or Zhongshan. What happens now, in the wake of the stabbing?

A mass stabbing that killed three and injured eleven has shocked Taiwan. The attacker, Chang Wen, later killed himself in an apparent su***de after falling from the roof of the Eslite Spectrum Nanxi…

22/12/2025

Celebrate the closeout of 2025 with your New Bloom community! Come celebrate the new year on the eve before new year’s eve with us–a perfect event for those looking for something to do before the actual night of the new year.

Help put our Daybreak Café ledger back in black with your support through entry covers and drink purchases, and enjoy a great evening with friends new and familiar.

Taipei Pen Club 台北隨意畫聚 will take place as usual for our artistic friends, plus DJ sets downstairs and other fun TBA. See you next Tuesday!

22/12/2025

"KMT Continues with Efforts To Revive CtiTV" by Brian Hioe

New legislation advanced by the KMT has been accused of seeking to restore CtiTV to coveted primetime spot Channel 52. CtiTV, the previous occupant of the Channel 52 slot, was taken off air after losing its broadcast license.

New legislation advanced by the KMT has been accused of seeking to restore CtiTV to coveted primetime spot Channel 52. CtiTV, the previous occupant of the Channel 52 slot, was taken off air after…

21/12/2025

"'This Is The End': Up or Down; Wing It or Let Fall" by Shengmei Ma

Near the end of the veteran journalist Scott Simon’s NPR program, Weekend Edition Saturday, on November 1, 2025, Simon asked Sir Anthony Hopkins to read the poem at the close of his memoir We Did OK, Kid (2025). The poem is T. S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (1915), a poem of exhaustion and despair vaguely recalled by Hopkins’s frail, dementia-stricken father at Sandown Beach on, possibly, the Isle of Wight, now recited live, on the air, by the 88-year-old Hopkins. Bereft over the memoir’s “we”—his late father and the aging of the titular “kid”—Hopkins choked up again and again, begging out of the reading around the lines “I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. / I do not think that they will sing to me.” “I can’t do any more of that,” Hopkins apologized to Simon, “it kills me.”

Near the end of the veteran journalist Scott Simon’s NPR program, Weekend Edition Saturday, on November 1, 2025, Simon asked Sir Anthony Hopkins to read the poem at the close of his memoir We Did OK, Kid (2025). The poem is T. S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (1915), a poem o...

20/12/2025

"'Eyes of the Sky' Elaborates the Oceanic World of the Tao" by Brian Hioe

Syaman Rapongan's "Eyes of the Sky" proves the latest work by the noted Indigenous author to be translated into English. Following up on the translation of his "Eyes of the Ocean," roughly a prose bildungsroman of Rapongan’s early life, Eyes of the Sky serves to further elaborate the “oceanic world” of the Tao.

Syaman Rapongan's "Eyes of the Sky" proves the latest work by the noted Indigenous author to be translated into English. Following up on the translation of his "Eyes of the Ocean," roughly a prose bildungsroman of Rapongan’s early life, Eyes of the Sky serves to further elaborate the “oceanic wo...

19/12/2025

台灣外交部長為何將巴勒斯坦界定為類敵國？ by 丘琦欣

外交部長林佳龍在 11/12 舉行了公開記者會，結果竟是一場非比尋常的外交失誤，還默認了支持種族滅絕。

外交部長林佳龍在 11/12 舉行了公開記者會，結果竟是一場非比尋常的外交失誤，還默認了支持種族滅絕。

18/12/2025

"Is Taiwan on the Verge of a Constitutional Crisis?" by Brian Hioe

Taiwan may be on the verge of a constitutional crisis, with Premier Cho Jung-tai refusing to sign legislation passed by the legislature. Cho’s refusal to sign such legislation occurs with the support of President Lai Ching-te.

Taiwan may be on the verge of a constitutional crisis, with Premier Cho Jung-tai refusing to sign legislation passed by the legislature. Cho’s refusal to sign such legislation occurs with the support…