Taipei and the Urban Mangrove in Wu Ming-yi’s Fiction

Synonyms

Asia; Mobility; Taipei; Taiwan

Definition

In this chapter, I aim to explore the representation of Taipei City by one of the most prominent contemporary Taiwanese writers: Wu Ming-yi (1971–).

Introduction

In this chapter about the literary representation of Taipei according to the contemporary Taiwanese writer Wu Ming-yi, I first introduce the sociohistorical context of the city, in particular its migratory and multi-ethnic history. Then, through the crossed metaphor of migratory butterflies and heterogeneous human populations that populate the city – which is omnipresent in Wu Ming-yi’s work – I examine how the author builds a rhizomatic fictional urban ecology, and I try to show how Wu’s writing is also a vibrant call to “the right to the city,” in Henri Lefebvre’s words.

Taipei: History and Migrant Species

The history of Taipei City is generally believed to start in 1709, with the settlement of Han people from Chinese Fujian Province in the Taipei Basin, on the banks of the...