This is the first comprehensive study of sport in Taiwan to be published in English. It appears at a time when Taiwan has the attention of the global community to the greatest extent since the years following the creation of the People’s Republic of China and the formation by the Chinese Nationalist Party of an alternative seat of government for the Republic of China in Taiwan’s capital, Taipei. The story of sport in Taiwan is one of athletic achievements and political machinations with this island’s athletes allowed to compete in international sport only in the name of Chinese Taipei. The book offers insights into the development, political uses, and current situation of sport in Taiwan, the contribution made by the island’s indigenous peoples, the significance of physical activity initiatives, relations between Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China, sports fandom, the role of the sports media, and gender, exercise, and health. As is so often the case with other parts of the world, sport in Taiwan provides a lens through which the authors examine a range of political and social issues and thereby help readers to gain a better understanding of this interesting, vibrant, and politically sensitive island.
"This book is a comprehensive, critical, and timely piece of scholarship that makes a valuable and unique contribution to both the field and our understanding of the distinct and precarious status of Taiwan as a culture and society. Drawing on a range of academic disciplines, theories and methods, the fascinating assembly of essays cover topics spanning indigenous sport, racialised sporting bodies, sport policy, and sport and international relations. The editors, Bairner, Chen, and Chiang, have skilfully blended a collection that uses sport as a strategic lens to provide insights into the complex cultural, economic, political, and diplomatic spheres within which Taiwan carefully negotiates its sovereignty and identity amidst an international community that largely spectates from the geo-political side-lines. This is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand not only the significance of sport in Taiwan but also the significance of Taiwan in the world."
—Steve Jackson, Otago University, New Zealand
Table of Contents:
List of Figures – List of Tables – Notes on Contributors – Prologue – Chih-Chieh Tang: Taiwanese Sports (Yundong): The Hybridization of Physical Education, Sports, and Indigenous Tradition – Shih-Yuan Hsieh: Taiwanese National Identity: Baseball—Changing Constructions – Susan Brownell: Taiwanese National Identity: The International Olympic Committee-Supportive or Restrictive? – Hsien-Wei Kuo/Chin-Fang Kuo: Taiwan: From Cultural Diplomacy to Cultural Tourism—Postwar Taiwanese Folk Sports (1949–2018) – Jérôme Soldani: Taiwan: The Formosan Austronesian Indigenous Games and Identity Construction and Retention – Daniel Yu-Kuei Sun: Taiwan: Radicalized Bodies: Sports and the Articulation of Contemporary Asian Physical Inferiority – Ying Chiang: Taiwan: Healthy and Beautiful: The Taiwanese Municipal Sports Centers and Modern Privilege and Responsibility – Chang-de Liu: Taiwan: The Media-Sports Complex: Long-Term Developments—Innovations and Challenges – Tzu-Hsuan Chen: Taiwanese Fandom Unleashed: Major Agent of Sports Reform – Ren-Shiang Jiang/Jui-Sung Huang: Taiwan: The Evolution of National Sports Policy—Significant Political and Economic Changes – Po-hsiu Lin and Hao Fan-Chiang: Taiwan: Professional Baseball Clubs: The Macro and Micro Franchise Management Culture – Cheng-Hao Huang: Taiwan: Sea-Change: Physical Education and Sport for the Disabled – Marcus P. Chu: Taiwan and China: Face-Off Sports Bids: Unanswered Questions—the Geopolitics of East Asian Sport – Alan Bairner/Zhuyuan Wu: Epilogue: Taiwan Matters—Taiwanese Challenges and Issues – Index.
About the Author :
Alan Bairner received an M.A. in politics from the University of Edinburgh, a postgraduate certificate in secondary education from Moray House College of Education, Edinburgh, and a Ph.D. from the University of Hull. His recent publications include The Politics of the Olympics—a Survey (co-edited with G. Molnar, 2010); Routledge Handbook of Sport and Politics (co-edited with J. Kelly and J. W. Lee, 2017); Sport and Body Cultures in East and South East Asia (co-edited F. Trotier, 2018); and Sport and Secessionism (co-edited with M. Vaczi, 2021).
Tzu-hsuan Chen is a professor at the Graduate Institute of Physical Education, National Taiwan Sport University. He holds a Ph.D. in journalism and mass communication from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research interests currently focus on sport and mass media, globalization, fan culture, and nationalism.
Ying Chiang is a professor at the Chihlee University of Technology. She holds a Ph.D. in sport sociology from National Taiwan Sport University, an M.A. in journalism from Shih Hsin University, and a B.A. in sociology from National Taipei University. She has written on media representation of female athletes and sports fans in Taiwan and on the nationalism and sport in Taiwan society.
Review :
“This book is a comprehensive, critical, and timely piece of scholarship that makes a valuable and unique contribution to both the field and our understanding of the distinct and precarious status of Taiwan as a culture and society. Drawing on a range of academic disciplines, theories and methods, the fascinating assembly of essays cover topics spanning indigenous sport, racialised sporting bodies, sport policy, and sport and international relations. The editors, Bairner, Chen, and Chiang, have skilfully blended a collection that uses sport as a strategic lens to provide insights into the complex cultural, economic, political, and diplomatic spheres within which Taiwan carefully negotiates its sovereignty and identity amidst an international community that largely spectates from the geo-political side-lines. This is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand not only the significance of sport in Taiwan but also the significance of Taiwan in the world.”
—Steve Jackson, Otago University, New Zealand
