For the book “Transitions in Taiwan: Stories of the White Terror,” Rowen, a professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, collected a series of short stories by multiple authors, ranging from accounts of political imprisonment to tales about adjusting to life under the watchful eye of the party. Once again, the goal was to present vivid memories of life during the White Terror, in the hope that Taiwan could embrace and make peace with that cargo of contrasting emotions, and march toward a better future.

“Who knows — if and when the People’s Republic of China realizes its decades of violent threats have only served to alienate the Taiwanese public, and a more respectful engagement can emerge, the cultural direction of memory work may shift yet again,” Rowen told Nikkei.