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Taiwan Literature and Film
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Lionhead Flower: A Novel of 1875 Formosa Yao-Chang Chen

Lionhead Flower: A Novel of 1875 Formosa by Yao-Chang Chen

Set amid the sweeping conflicts of 1875 Formosa, Lionhead Flower: A Novel of 1875 Formosa illuminates the human cost of empire and resistance. This powerful narrative blends meticulous history with lyrical storytelling, offering a moving meditation on colonialism, identity, and reconciliation.

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Set amid the sweeping conflicts of 1875 Formosa, Lionhead Flower: A Novel of 1875 Formosa by Yao-Chang Chen, translated by Tung-jung Chen and Craig A. Smith, illuminates the human cost of empire and resistance. As Qing forces advance into Indigenous territories under the Kaishan Fufan (“Opening the Mountains and Pacifying the ‘Savages’”) campaign, Chen portrays the violence, courage, and survival that shaped Taiwan’s southern frontier. In his preface, he draws poignant parallels between Taiwan’s Indigenous peoples and Native Americans, both uprooted by settler expansion yet enduring in memory and spirit. A highly anticipated sequel to his acclaimed Puppet Flower: A Novel of 1867 Formosa, this powerful narrative blends meticulous history with lyrical storytelling, offering a moving meditation on colonialism, identity, and reconciliation.

Yao-Chang Chen is professor emeritus of medicine at National Taiwan University and is a leading specialist in blood cell diseases. He began writing novels in his sixties, becoming a prolific and acclaimed author of historical fiction.

About the Translators

Tung-jung Chen is a retired professor of English who taught literary studies and translation at Taiwan’s universities.

Craig A. Smith is an associate professor of translation studies (Chinese) at the University of Melbourne.

Author’s Preface

Translators’ Introduction

List of Principal Characters

I. The Japanese Invasion of Southern Taiwan

II. The Disturbance of Tjakuvulj People’s Life

III. The Arrival of the Great Qing Army

IV. The Frictions of Different Ethnic Groups at Chetongka

V. Shen Baozhen “Opens the Mountains and Pacifies the ‘Savages’”

VI. Wang Kaijun Attacks the Lionhead Tribes

VII. Chief Arapi Defends his Tribal Land Heroically

VIII. The Tjakuvulj Reaches a Peace Deal with the Qing Army

IX. “Lionhead Flower” Marries an Officer Coming from Afar

X. Hu Tiehua Mourns for the Huai Army

Author’s Note on Writing Lionhead Flower

Glossary

Map of Southern Formosa 1875

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