S4 – INTERVIEW: The Island: a personal account of Taiwan’s extraordinary transformation by Mark O’Neill

John chats with veteran Hong Kong-based journalist and author of
The Island (2024) Mark O'Neill, who tells us what Taiwan was like
in the early 1980s, when he first came to study Chinese.





Despite a mysterious knife attack and various authoritarian
elements (such as “mail boxes” for reporting spies and
subversives), he loved the country.





Over the next four decades, he made numerous trips back,
witnessing and reporting on Taiwan’s transformation from one
party rule to an admirable democracy.





The Island is not Mark’s first Taiwan book – earlier works
include ones on Buddhist charity Tzu Chi and the National Palace
Museum – so he brings both depth and breadth to his entertaining
look at the country.