"Taiwan Guide" – Stephan Thome (施益堅)

So what kind of book is the Taiwan guide? It is a travelogue and a history book at the same time. The author, Stephan Thome (施益堅), has a very Chinese-sounding name, but he is a native German! He has lived in Taiwan for more than 15 years, and in Germany he published this "travel book about Taiwan", in which he presents this beautiful country from his own point of view. It is his fifth book; his earlier ones, such as "Grenzgang" (邊境行走) and "Gegenspiel" (對手戲), are mainly novels.

To bring Taiwan closer to German readers, he naturally writes about baseball and good food. He also praises the beauty of the Central Mountain Range and the coasts of Hualien and Taitung, and above all he discusses Taiwan's political situation and its historical background. Ordinary tourist guides avoid serious topics, but Stephan Thome is convinced that when writing about Taiwan, they cannot be bypassed.

Taiwanese people may not need a foreigner to explain Taiwanese culture and history to them, but Stephan Thome mentions that the question his Taiwanese friends ask him most often is: "How do you Westerners see Taiwan?" Some ask out of simple curiosity, but in others he sensed a certain worry: are we completely invisible to you Westerners?

If you are interested, you can borrow the book from the Prague Traditional Chinese library and set off for Taiwan again with Stephan Thome's guide – and perhaps we will also understand him better!