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Conclusion & Chronology
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Challenge Me If You Can: A Special Exhibition on the Watershed Debates in Taiwan Literature
Conclusion & Chronology
◎ Conclusion: Seek Similarities in Differences as Differences Exist in Similarities
""Dialogue is initiated with care." This mindset has made the debate in Taiwan literary scene intense yet flexible. Albeit fierce and hostile at the time, each debate was meant to seek similarities in differences and to accept the existence of differences in similarities.Opposing parties did not try to force one another as it was not possible anyway. Each debate was a battlefield for writers and breeding ground of literature. Suggestions were made out of disagreement; refutation occurred because there were unconvinced people. These exchanges gave birth to literary works and new trends. Thus, "fighting" actually meant something deeper.
Challenge Me If You Can—from 1924 to 2017. For almost a hundred years, writers had debated such issues as language, nativism, popularization, westernization, and identity. Finally, they came to the conclusion concerning Taiwan's local identity and literary discourse, which became the nutrients for our culture.
Fight intensely and listen patiently. Seek truths that are accommodating for all. When standing on the battlefield of literature, agree to disagree.
◎ Chronology of Literary Debates in Taiwan
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| Year | Debate | Literary Event | Major Social Event |
| 1915 | Tapani Incident | ||
| 1920 | July: Xinming Society founded TAIWAN YOUTH; Xin Chen published "Literature and Work Responsibilities." | Movement for Revocation of Six Three Law | |
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1921 |
January 30th: 1st Petition Movement for the Establishment of a Taiwanese Parliament | ||
| October 17th: Taiwanese Cultural Association was founded. | |||
| 1923 | April: TAIWAN PEOPLE NEWS was founded in Tokyo. | December: Police Law Violation Incident; Ho Loa was imprisoned. | |
|
1924 |
1924-1926 Debate over New and Old Literature |
April: Wo-Jun Zhang published "A Letter to Young People in Taiwan". |
|
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1927 |
January: Taiwanese Cultural Association was split into the left and right factions. | ||
| July: Taiwanese People's Party was established. | |||
| 1929 | March: Pei-Huo Cai founded Modern Taiwanese Society. | ||
|
1930 |
1930-1934 Debate over Literal Taiwanese |
March: TAIWAN PEOPLE NEWS was renamed TAIWAN XINMING NEWS. |
August: Taiwan Local Autonomy Union was founded. |
| August: Shi-Hui Huang published "The Importance of Promoting Nativist Literature" in WUREN PAO. | |||
| September: 369 XIAOBAO was founded. | |||
|
1931 |
1931-1937 Debate over Life and Arts |
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| 1932 | January: SOUND OF SOUTH was founded. | ||
|
1933 |
October: WINDMILL POETRY was founded. | ||
| October: Taiwan Writers' and Artists' Association was founded. （FIRST SQUAD was published in 1934 and was renamed FRONTLINE in 1935） | |||
| 1934 | Taiwan Literature Alliance was founded on May 6th and issued TAIWAN LITERATURE. | ||
|
1935 |
1935 Debate over Folk Literature |
January: FRONTLINE published "Special Edition: Taiwanese Folk Tales". |
October: The Taiwan Exposition － In Commemoration of the First Forty Years of Colonial Rule |
| December: NEW TAIWANESE LITERATURE was founded. | |||
| 1936 | June: Xian-Zhang Li coordinated Collection of TAIWANESE FOLK TALES. | ||
| 1937 | July 7th: Marco Polo Bridge Incident | ||
| 1940 | January: Mitsuru Nishikawa founded Taiwan Art and Literature Association and issued LITERARY TAIWAN. | ||
| 1941 | May: Qiwen Society was founded and issued TAIWANESE LITERATURE. | December: Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japanese and the Pacific War broke out. | |
| 1942 | November: The first "Greater East Asia Literature Meeting" was held. | ||
|
1943 |
1943 Debate over Fecal Realism |
December: The second "Greater East Asia Literature Meeting" was held. |
|
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1947 |
1947-1949 The Supplement Qiao Debate |
August: TAIWAN XINSHENG BAO added the supplement Qiao, which was coordinated by Lei Ge. |
February 28th: February 28 Incident |
|
1949 |
April 6th: Four Six Event | ||
| May 20th: Implementation of Martial Law | |||
| 1953 | February: MODERN POETRY was founded, which was issued and coordinated by Xian Ji. | ||
|
1954 |
March: Blue Star Poetry Society was founded. | ||
| October: The Epoch Poetry Club was established and THE EPOCH POETRY QUARTERLY was founded. | |||
|
1956 |
1956-1957 Debate over Modern Poetry |
January: The Modernism Poetry Society was founded; Xian Ji proposed the "six creeds of poetry. " | |
| September: The LITERATURE MAGAZINE was founded, coordinated by Tsi-An Hsia. | |||
| 1957 | November: The WENXIN magazine was founded. | ||
|
1961 |
1961 Debate over "Sirius" |
July: Luo-Fu published "Review on Sirius" to criticize Kwang-Chung Yu's long poem "Sirius." | |
| Kwang-Chung Yu published "Goodbye, Nihilism" to refute Luo Fu's criticism. | |||
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1962 |
1962 Debate over Chinese Culture and Western Culture |
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| 1970 | November: Baodiao movement began. | ||
| 1971 | January: Dragon Poetry Society was established. | October: Taiwan withdrew from the UN. | |
|
1972 |
1972-1974 The Guan Tang Incident |
February: Jie-Ming Guan published "The Predicament of Chinese Modern Poetry." |
February: Taiwan broke diplomatic relations with Japan. |
| 1976 | February: SUMMER TIDE that supported nativist literature was founded. | ||
|
1977 |
1977-1978 Debate over Nativist Literature |
March: CACTUS MAGAZINE was founded. | |
| August: Ge Peng published "Literature is Impossible without Humanity", which criticized the literary views of Tuoh Wang, Ying-Zhen Chen, and Tian-Cong Wei. Kwang-Chung Yu published "Wolf's Coming" referring nativist literature as "Worker-Peasant-Soldier literature." | |||
|
1979 |
January: Taiwan broke diplomatic relations with the U.S. | ||
| December: The Kaohsiung Incident | |||
|
1981 |
1981 Debate over Marginal Literature |
July: Hong-Zhi Zhan published "Two Kinds of Literary Minds". |
|
| 1987 | February: Shih-Tao Yeh's A HISTORY OF TAIWAN LITERATURE was published. | July 15th: The martial law was lifted in Taiwan. | |
| 1990 | 1990 Debate over Post Modernism and Post Colonialism: Chao-Yang Liao and Kuei-fen Chiu v.s Hsien-hao Liao and Chao-ying Chen | ||
| 2000 | 2000 Debate between Ying-Zhen Chen and Fang-Ming Chen | ||
| 2011 | 2011 Taiwanese Langauge Incident: Chun-Ming Huang vs. Wei-Wen Jiang | ||
| 2013 | 2013 Debate over Prose: Jin-Shu Huang vs. Juan Tang | ||
| 2017 | 2017 Debate over Proportion of Classical Chinese in National Curriculum: Classical Chinese vs. Modern Chinese |
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