About The Blog

台灣作家 Vickie Wang 王宇平回顧在中國生活的經驗，反思民主、人權與台灣身分認同。反中不是身分，仇恨不能定義台灣。

My friends—Taiwanese American or simply curious worldly folk—have often said that they struggle to find good English-language resources on Taiwan to keep up with the news. There's also been a frustrating trend of previously unknown "Taiwan experts" popping up all over the internet with their click-bait hot takes that overshadow the good work that's done by researchers, journalists, and thinkers who are actually on the ground and/or have extensive experience in Taiwan. I compi

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I was shaken awake by the earthquake a couple of minutes before 8 a.m. the morning of April 3rd, measured at level 5 on the Richter’s scale

While the rest of world is busy with Christmas Eve festivities, there's a packed classroom in Taipei learning how to better prepare for...

Opening for Beijing-based comedians Donnie Fan and Kei Gambit This weekend at West Side Comedy Club (map) on West 75th and Amsterdam Avenue, I’ll be opening for Beijing-based comedians Donnie Fan and Kei Gambit, who are on an international tour with their show Journey Back West. Get tickets for 10 p.m. shows on Friday, Saturday, on Sunday.

Today is the 1-year anniversary of the Shanghai Lockdown in Puxi (Pudong, across the Huangpu river, started 4 days before). I'm sitting...

I’m sitting on the balcony of my Shanghai apartment, emptied out months ago by movers. My apartment building has a filthy pool that...

Today's the last day of the year of the Tiger. I have survived. While Western astrological signs celebrate their season of birth, I've...

It’s been 6 days since my foot surgery, my wounds are healing well and I’m getting pretty good at hopping around on crutches. The Kidner...

9 years in China, only got reported once on wechat by a crazy stalker. 3 months out of China, Twitter, the battleground for freedom of...

OK. It was election day in Taiwan. Peaceful transfer of power. University of Michigan versus Ohio State, UMich stomped Ohio 45-23. I was...

Starting around midnight last night, my WeChat moments feed flooded with Do You Hear the People Sing from Les Misérables. Again. The...

I’m still counting because the Covid cat lady-ing adventures are far from over. I’ve been reluctant to bring myself to the keyboard....

It’s been a week since we left “post-lockdown” Shanghai, and I finally feel like my nervous system has calmed down… I mean, as calm as a...

One week since Shanghai's "reopening" This past week feels like the week after a layoff. You’re walking around the office/city wondering...

I... I think we're going to be free tomorrow? A week ago we were at "1 person per household is allowed limited hours outside for select...

A hiring manager recently asked me, “where do you see your career going?” I told her 50+ days into an endless lockdown is not the time to...

#COVIDCatLady 離開台灣825天，#ShanghaiLockdown 上海浦西封鎖第四十二天 有陣子沒有中文下筆了，來。封城，封控，防範，管控，靜默，不知道還能變出多少詞來遮掩上海現在的局勢。連著兩天早上7點起床，現在要先做抗原自測，一槓陰性才可以下樓排隊做核酸...

For the first time in a month, I ate a hot meal that I didn’t cook myself. Not gonna lie, I got a little teary. It’s from a restaurant...

We were supposed to be out a month ago. I have left my compound three times. First, when I read the Shanghai Municipal official...

How am I doing? It varies from hour to hour. At 11am, I got permission to leave my compound to walk the 3 blocks to my boyfriend’s...

I spent my Friday night in lockdown reposting the same video over and over again. For a video that dominated my WeChat Moments feed for...

The rain in the last couple of days helped. Its not as inviting as the sunny bright blue skies that’s taunting me right now. The water...

Infographic by SmartShanghai So my freedom was short-lived. Turns out many communities have taken it upon themselves to "control" the...

I'm... Free? Official announcements said today the city's neighborhoods would be categorized into lockdown (14 more days), control (7...

As expected, the 4-day lockdown is not just for 4 days. Staying home for 7 days is no travesty. But not being told to plan for a strict...

The hardest parts about isolation? Not being able to explain to my friend's dog Mocha (covid foster, my friend is in hotel quarantine)...

For the first time since the pandemic started, someone I personally know tested positive for COVID in Shanghai. That gives you an idea of...

Our whole compound tested negative and lockdown was *gently* lifted as scheduled at 6 p.m. today. I say gently because we were still...

OK, here we go again. There are a few hundred cases in Shanghai and the city is on lockdown lite. Or as I like to call it, rolling...

I don't know if I can get any more cat lady than this. (Turns out, I absolutely can.) My boyfriend's building locked down yesterday for...

515. This is how many days it’s been since I’ve been home. What used to be a 5-hour door-to-door commute from Shanghai to Taipei is now a...

Last week, I sort of felt like I was living two alternative realities. One is the Shanghai city that is slowly returning to what’s...

A year ago, on January 23rd, I landed in Taipei, home for Chinese New Year, to find that the city of Wuhan in China had been "locked...

Guys, remember that one day when Chinese netizens demanded freedom of speech on social media? It didn’t get very far. They couldn’t...

About a week ago, I had an encounter on the metro. To get to my office at Shanghai Disney Resort, it’s a 5-minute e-scooter ride, an hour...

Been a while. I’m probably not alone in needing to take some time away from social media. I had escaped to facebook during the early days...

I went to IKEA. What's it like shopping in IKEA post-lockdown? Well, since reopening, their hours are still limited, closing every day at...

Life in Shanghai is very much back to normal, still masked, much less sanitized. I still smell bleach in the morning when I walk out my...

There was no announcement, just a hushed conversation with a colleague. We’ve been asked to start working from home again. No more than...

We celebrated birthdays on the team today. I wore a paper crown. Because of recent events, what’s usually a big monthly team dinner is...

Celebrated the end of a friend’s quarantine with some American style pancakes, fried chicken, and chorizo gravy. We ended up spending 4...

A little bit more normal everyday. After a couple of warm days, Shanghai is suddenly rainy and cold. Had to pull out my parka today...

Today is my birthday. It feels appropriate to share the story of my birth, starring my mother, me, and... Well actually my dad was mostly...

4 weeks since I came back to Shanghai from Taipei. Taiwan has kept the number of cases at 44, and Shanghai is slowly returning to normal,...

I went out for BRUNCH today, which is almost a normal Shanghai weekend activity, except when I tried to put my “nice” clothes on, I found...

I met a pet mini pig today. Her name was either Tofu or Belly, both work. Jing’an district, where I live, has been particularly strict...

Spent most of the morning traumatizing one of my cats, trying to feed her her medication. Cats really cannot be forced into doing...

Every time I walk out of my apartment complex, there are more posters. Notices and registration forms and pamphlets. This time I walked...