The News Lens
Date: 2016/12/22
By: Olivia Yang

‘I think the Taiwanese are especially difficult customers. You go to an exhibition meant only to entertain,

Photo Credit: Corbis/達志影像

but then you come out and criticize the show for having no intellectual value. This is a unique phenomenon. It’s like telling a street food stand that their plating is ugly.’

Earlier this year our chief content officer wanted to experiment with a daily blog written by the editorial team to be published on the Taiwan edition of our website. Though an editor for the international edition, I also had to contribute to the blog and, to be honest, I dreaded each time the monthly deadline for my blog loomed closer. It is not that I dislike writing, I would not be working in journalism if I did, but first of all, it had to be written in Chinese, and second, it was difficult to come up with something to write about. We were not restricted to any topic, but that just made it harder for me.

In late March, that dreaded deadline was once again near and I was getting frantic. Having a background in arts journalism, there was something I had wanted to write about for a while but frankly did not have the courage. However sitting in a coffee shop that Sunday, I was feeling frustrated and cynical, so I went ahead and typed the piece out.    [FULL  STORY]