THE BOY FROM CLEARWATER

The continuation of a true-life story translated from Taiwanese Hoklo, Mandarin Chinese, and Japanese revisits Taiwan’s contemporary history and evolution as a civil society.

The first half of this volume summarizes Taiwan’s cultural and socioeconomic development amid the geopolitical landscape of the 1960s, with Tshua Khun-lim (1930-2023) emerging from a decade of political imprisonment on Green Island and confronting new existential challenges, especially in finding and retaining employment. His reunion with childhood sweetheart Kimiko leads to marriage and a lifelong partnership that sustains him through multiple careers, including startups in publishing for young readers. He also faces censorship and persistent harassment, bankruptcy, and other disasters—setbacks to his successes that threaten to push him over the precipice of despair. Sketched in a manhua (or comic) style with beige backgrounds for the first half and rosy tones for the second half, the detailed and meticulous artwork enriches the narrative, and the color-coded text conveys the original work’s intentional layering of different languages in various settings. The outline of Taiwan’s relationship with China and the rest of the world feels particularly relevant today; the author’s appearance as a character showing her interviews with Tshua for this book is an embedded documentation of his spirited dedication and unrelenting work toward transitional justice. A translator’s note and detailed timeline provide additional context and resources.

An accessible, timely account of Taiwan’s struggles for democracy and human rights as experienced through a personal lens.