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How a prize-winning Taiwanese novel could stoke Beijing’s worries over history

Taiwan’s first International Booker Prize-winning novel has reignited debate over the island’s shifting identity, with its portrayal of a distinctly Taiwanese historical experience at odds…

By Samantha Johnson / June 20, 2026
Taiwan’s first International Booker Prize-winning novel has reignited debate over the island’s shifting identity, with its portrayal of a distinctly Taiwanese historical experience at odds with narratives long promoted by Beijing.

The attention surrounding Taiwan Travelogue comes at a sensitive time in cross-strait relations, as rival interpretations of Taiwan’s history increasingly shape public discussion over the island’s future and its relationship with mainland China.

Set in Japanese-ruled Taiwan in 1938, the novel is framed as a fictional translation and follows a Japanese novelist and her Taiwanese interpreter on a culinary journey across the island.

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Through food, language, personal relationships and the unequal status between coloniser and colonised, it explores questions of power, memory and identity.

What might otherwise have remained a literary discussion has taken on greater political significance as tensions across the Taiwan Strait deepen and questions of Taiwanese identity become increasingly contested.

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Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary.

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