廖信忠

Growing up in HK (and the US), I never knew much about Taiwan until I finished this book. It's very informative on Taiwan's modern history and popular culture, and how it moved from an authoritarian state not unlike mainland China to its current democratic incarnation.

There are a number of things that the author could not have mentioned if he wanted the book published in mainland China, especially the events that took place in the year before 1990. And well, that's a compromise that many writers there have to face.

In addition to cutting away stuff, the Chinese Financial Times says that one particular sentence was added to the book without the author's knowledge -- that he only learned about it after it was published: A united and powerful China is what's best for Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan strait.
(http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001030425)

In the end, I'm glad that he took the compromise, since more information is always a good thing (despite the fact that many of the author's Taiwanese friends won't talk to him because of the mainland's censorship and the editor's (or even his/her higher-ups') meddling -- poor guy).… (más)