In Letter from Tainan, I speak with China hand Thomas Bird — author of the newly published Harmony Express — about today’s Tainan, and mainlander-dominated Taipei back in 1978 when I had just made my side-door entry into China:
Humes describes a very different cityscape from the malls and skyscrapers of contemporary Taipei: “First-floor garage-like shops dominated, with the owners working in front and sleeping in the back.”
Despite describing the Taiwanese capital as “filled with a unique fragrance melding motorcycle fumes and open-air sewage,” Humes recalls his time in Taipei fondly.
Ethnic ChinaLit 