Our trip to Xiluo in Yunlin County

We travel with substack readers to the rural western coast of Taiwan; plus, the June 4th commemoration and Book Club details

Hello readers!

Last month we had a marvelous time traveling to Yunlin County with our readers. This trip realized a dream of ours to create a path between Taipei and rural spaces. We’re so happy that some of you came along! (And if you’d like to come next time, just reply to this email.)

This week we’ll share stories of Xiluo, a township of roughly 46,000 people; next time we’ll share stories of Huwei, where one of the most violent confrontations between the KMT and the local population occurred. (If you’ve seen Alan Yang’s Tigertail, the gorgeous scenes of the rice paddies are filmed in Huwei, where his parents are from.)

For many people—Taiwanese included—Yunlin registers as a blank. For others here, it’s known as a hometown for gangsters and has been called Taiwan’s Sicily. Yunlin is one of the poorest counties on the western coast, due to decades of “northern migrations” (北漂)—a shorthand for the hollowing out of rural populations. But it’s also very beautiful.

We were lucky enough…