chunhuaiTitle：Our Stories-Migration and Labour in Taiwan
Author：Ku Yu-ling
Translator：Agnes Khoo
Editors：Ding Naifei and Amie Elizabeth Parry
Publisher： Strategic Information and Research Development Centre (SIRD)
Original Price：18 USD
Published Date：June 2011
TIWA Promotion Price：400 NTD (including postage in Taiwan)
Account：Taiwan International Workers’ Association
Account for Postal Remittance：19948580
Email: [email protected] Web: www.tiwa.org.tw
Awards received:
2007 Taipei Annual Literature Prize, 2008 China Times Top Ten Best Books, 2008 Yazhou Zhoukan ( Asia Week) Top Ten Best Books (Chinese Language), 2009 Taoyuan Best Book
This book is a must-read if you want to understand, beyond the clichés; the realities of migrant workers in Taiwan. The author, Ku Yu-ling writes about these people as her own. She fuses the lives of ordinary Taiwanese and migrants in her stories to show how similar we are; regardless of our nationalities. Yu-ling’s insightful and sensitive approach to the subject does not stigmatise the migrant workers as the ‘other’ or as the ‘victims’. Neither does she project them as larger than life – she simply tells their life stories as they are; with humour and affection. This book is part of the social history of Taiwan, as well as of Asia. It documents not just the memories of the individuals; it also records the collective memory of our modern times.
“Our Stories” is not only about the lives of individuals; it is also a collective and social history of Taiwan. This is the contribution of Yu-ling and the activists in solidarity with the marginalized and the grassroots for the past two decades.
Founder of Raging Citizens Act Now, RCAN– Jeng Tsuen-chyi
Yu-ling has given an entirely new meaning to the international boundaries of “Us.” Her book has humbled, shamed and shocked us……this is a truly moving book.
Novelist -Lo Yi-Chin
This is a highly literary book; the author has successfully fused literature and reportage together. Yu-ling has given us a unique perspective about the new migrants in our society, and described each and every one of them in a sensitive and sophisticated way with ease. It is a book difficult to put down once you have started reading.
The Author of “De-imperialization-Asia as method” -Chen Kuan-hsing