I read this book first in Mandarin. And then I read the English translation (ARC kindly gifted by the publisher) very slowly while comparing to the mandarin version.

This is a brilliant, if not somewhat confusing (in the best way), metafiction. If you’d prefer to figure out the structure of what is real or not yourself, please don’t read the following. From my discussions with fellow readers who’ve read the English translation, I feel it might be helpful to explain the structure of the book, if not at the expense of potentially spoiling the fun.


TAIWAN TRAVELOGUE is metafiction at its finest. In the original mandarin version, it’s disguised as a lost Japanese novel set pre WW2 in Taiwan during Japanese colonization that is retranslated into Mandarin by a Taiwanese author. Therefore, there is a foreword and multiple “translator’s notes”—which again, are all fake and written by Yang alone. In the English version, the last translator’s notes penned by Lin King is the only actual translator’s notes (as she’s the one who translated the texts from mandarin to English).


So why the layers of disguise? Apparently in the first edition published in Taiwan, there’s quite an uproar as some people purchased TAIWAN TRAVELOGUE thinking it’s nonfiction translated from Japanese. And the fact that it’s fictional makes things feel “less genuine.” Yang brilliantly uses this meta fictional structure to ask the readers to confront their biases. Why would one consider a travelogue written through the eyes of the colonizer more “authentic”? In the later (fake) “translator’s notes”, Yang also incorporates the changing Taiwanese political landscape as yet another layer of why some texts might be left out. This raises the question of what is real and what is not. And perhaps the most important perspective that books, regardless of fictional or not, is always written through some biases.

Another aspect of TAIWAN TRAVELOGUE I absolutely adore is the discussions about power dynamics that digs deeper beyond the overwritten tropes of colonization vs subjugation through physical violence. Yang writes a beautiful and delicate tale about two good natured women who want to form a deep friendship through food and adventures. Can they be true friends? This sentence beautifully sums up how subtle and delicate power imbalances can be, “There is nothing in the world more difficult to refuse than self-righteous goodwill.” If there can never be true friendship between the oppressed and oppressor, what else can there be? Yang doesn’t give us a direct answer, but encourages the readers to consider other possibilities than an us vs them binary.

One can tell how much research Yang did in incorporating historical Taiwanese food and culture. The immersive food writing evokes a deep sense of nostalgia in me, and made me so incredibly hungry! If you’re a foodie, TAIWAN TRAVELOGUE will for sure make your mouth water. I read an interview of Yang where she mentioned the title of each chapter—Taiwanese food—can still all be found in present day Taiwan. I love the considerations she gives to such details, and can’t wait to embark on my own Taiwan food tour.

You can read more about the interview in mandarin here: https://www.openbook.org.tw/article/p-63419

This is a brilliantly profound work of literature that I think will suit any reader. Those who just want to have fun time reading about historical Taiwan, those who enjoy food writing, those who love books that play with structure and make you doubt what you’ve read, those who love themes of power imbalance in relationships but are a tad tired of the white man x woman of color tropes