ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book analyzes the literary aspect of the feminist critique. It examines a more explicitly cultural thesis, namely Herman Kahn's assertion that it is Confucian values of hard work, loyalty and considerateness that have enabled the spectacular economic progress of several East Asian areas, including Taiwan. The book illustrates through the case of the Atayal people at Wulai in Taipei County, for many aborigines trading on their ethnic identity is the only way to either make a living or retain a place of self-respect in a society that retains a strong prejudice against them. It considers the history of painting in post-war Taiwan, documenting its struggles in the fifties and sixties to be something more than the continuation of empires, as represented by classical landscape painting for the earlier empire and Japanese-filtered oil painting.
