Pei-Yin Lin: Literary Leftism in Colonial Taiwan: The Cases of Lai He, Yang Kui, and Lü Heruo

About the Talk

This talk analyses three diverse leftist pursuits of colonial Taiwanese writers, including Lai He’s (1894-1943) transition from nationalism to a more class-informed reflection of colonial reality, Yang Kui’s (1906-1985) consistent prioritisation of class difference over the coloniser/colonised dichotomy, and Lü Heruo’s (1914-1951) shift from a critic of colonial modernity to a radical leftist right after 1945. It argues that despite their different trajectories and dispositions, they shared a commitment to a realist style deeply ingrained in Taiwanese society and lives of its people during Japanese colonial era, with China exerting a crucial influence on their perspectives of Taiwan’s circumstances.

About the Speaker

Pei-yin LIN is Associate Professor at the School of Chinese, HKU, with a PhD from SOAS. She has taught at the University of Cambridge and the National University of Singapore. Her research centres on modern Chinese literature and culture. In 2020, she was appointed Chair of Taiwan Studies at Leiden, and she was a Harvard Yenching Visiting Scholar in 2015–2016. She has authored two monographs: Colonial Taiwan (2017) and Gender and Ethnicity in Taiwanese Literature (2021), and has edited several books, including her latest, An Unlikely Trajectory: Literary and Cultural Leftism in Taiwan (2026).

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