ABSTRACT
Eileen Chang’s “A Return to the Frontier,” about her trip to Taiwan in the 1960s—with “frontier” as a clue to contextualize the transformation of Taipei’s cityscape during the Cold War—is the subject of this essay. After the 1949 divide, northern Taipei was geopolitically reshaped into a stronghold to reiterate the authority of Free China. While integrating into the US-led regional security framework and the initiation of the Rest and Recuperation (R&R) program, Taipei served as an eroticized frontier subordinated to its American patron. By focusing on the paradoxical status of Taiwan as a frontier during the Cold War, I examine Taiwan literary narratives that reflect on sex tourism, national identity, and public anxiety about Taipei’s modernizing cityscape with US aid.
