Taiwan Docs

For the past 50+ years, Taiwan has experienced unprecedented economic and political changes in its history. Facing the impact of modernization, the traditional organizations, social values and lifestyle have all gradually become modernized. The role and status of women born 50 years ago, when Taiwan was still an occluded agricultural country, were very different from those of women today. Women born at that time, mostly aged above 50 now, experienced an overlap of traditional and modern lifestyles. On the way, they would encounter the contradictory values of the new generations. Four paternal aunts, who are all truly traditional Hakka women. They were born in Meinun, a traditional rural town in the south of Taiwan, at the time around the end of the Japanese colonial rule. Through their stories, I saw just how significantly influenced their lives were by the different generations. Behind the stagnant serenity of their lives, their stories epitomize the history of women who have lived through that time. And throughout the search, I discovered in myself a profound ambivalence for my aunts, the family and the culture. For in the end, I did not get any precise answers but had just one last glimpse of the legendary Hakka women.

Source: 2000 Taiwan Int'l Documentary Festival, festival catalog