Since 2013, each summer an event called Not Big Issue, a two-day exhibition of zines, is held in the underground shopping area of Taipei’s Dongqu district. There are underground music performances, snack stalls, and a whole array of independent zines. During the second edition of Not Big Issue, the young creators of a new zine called Blue Whale showcased their publication, where it was very well received. Blue Whale is a zine that explores Taiwanese local culture, going deep into Taiwan’s towns and villages to look for things that are ignored or forgotten. After the end of the event, Blue Whale went around the island on a promotion tour. The zine first went on sale in independent bookstores and then later in Eslite and other chain bookstores.

Like Blue Whale, other Taiwan-focused zines started by young Taiwanese writers have proliferated in recent years. South Wind is a zine about art and cultural industries in southern Taiwan, and comes with a handicraft from there according to the theme of that issue.

Since 2008, the people of Meinung, Kaohsiung, who have always had a high degree of cohesion over social issues, planned to publish a zine called Wild and Field. The zine is about Meinung’s nature, industries and people, and is one of the leaders of this new wave of “local zines”. After the first dozen or so issues of Wild and Field were published, a group of young people went back to the countryside in 2011 to form the Wild and Field Culture Company. The group set up stalls in the village selling locally-made goods, and organised tours of agricultural and cultural sights in the village. It even opened a small shop selling local ice cream, demonstrating a new found passion in the younger generation today for the countryside.

As the concept of sustainability gains traction, groups similar to Wild and Field Culture Company started to pop up all around Taiwan. These include groups like Success Travel and Agriculture Bookstore in Hsichou, Changhua; Takao Renaissance Association in Hamasen, Kaohsiung; Monghoho in Gongliao, Taipei, and Kendama in Hsinchu, among many others. They actively promote human and cultural activities, showcase local foods, personalities, spaces and historical maps, playing the role of cultural media. The sense of mission and responsibility that young Taiwanese feel towards public issues and cultural heritage is extremely refreshing.

These local groups also have their own publications, in addition to pamphlets and books many of them also have zines, such as commaBooks in Taoyuan which started Yao Yao; Kaohsiung’s 3080s Apartment which started a zine focusing just on Yancheng district and Kendama’s local Hsinchu zine Meatball Soup. This year saw the launch of Keelung-based KeelungRain and Hualien’s ShiZi News, bringing potentially fresh new ideas and angles to the zine landscape.

If you want to keep up with what local life in Taiwan is really like, don’t forget to pay a visit to these friendly and engaged young people, or check out a zine at an independent bookstore!