Taiwanese Novel 'Lost in Taiwan' Wins Major Awards, but Chinese Bookseller Says Import Unlikely Due to Censorship

(CNA, reporter Chang Shu-ling, Beijing, 21st) The novel "Lost in Taiwan" has won a series of major international awards, drawing attention from a small number of people on Chinese social media. A Chinese bookseller stated frankly that the book's "Taiwanese consciousness" makes it impossible to pass mainland China's review and censorship for import. After its publication in 2020, "Lost in Taiwan" won the Golden Tripod Award in Taiwan. The English version, translated by Kate Saunders (金翎), first won the U.S. National Book Award for Translated Literature and yesterday also won the International Booker Prize, both firsts for a work from Taiwan. On the Chinese social media platform Weibo, news of "Lost in Taiwan" winning the International Booker Prize appeared only on the accounts of a few literature enthusiasts and faculty and students in literature departments. One netizen commented, "The acceptance speech was quite good, but some parts can't be posted. If you're interested, you can go listen on YouTube." In her acceptance speech, author Yang Shuang-tzu mentioned: "For a hundred years, we have actually been constantly asking, 'What kind of future do Taiwanese people want?' and 'What kind of country do Taiwanese people want?' Today, 'Lost in Taiwan' has also joined the ranks of those asking this question." Translator Kate Saunders said that she decided when Russia invaded Ukraine that for the foreseeable future, she would no longer indiscriminately translate any Sinophone works, but would only translate creations from Taiwan. "I will continue to do so until one day, my homeland's sovereignty is no longer a provocation or a joke in the English-speaking world." On Douban, a Chinese website for reviewing books and movies, a reader posted a review yesterday saying, "After watching the acceptance speeches of the author and translator at the awards ceremony, honestly, they were very well-spoken. If I were in a different position, I would be incredibly excited and moved." A Chinese bookseller familiar with Taiwanese literary works told a CNA reporter that even without considering the statements of the author and translator, no book import company would pass "Lost in Taiwan" through the "review reading" process due to the Taiwanese consciousness inherent in the book itself. In China, imported publications must undergo a review and censorship process. He believes the core of "Taiwanese consciousness" is the constant questioning of "Who am I?" But for China, there's nothing to question about "Who am I?"— "You are Taiwan, China," and it's even more impossible to accept the connection in Taiwanese consciousness to its colonial history. In 2018, author Wu Ming-yi was longlisted for the Booker Prize for the English translation of his work "The Stolen Bicycle." At that time, his nationality was altered to "Taiwan, China," to which he immediately lodged a stern protest. After communication, the organizing committee eventually corrected Wu's nationality to Taiwan. Before that, several of Wu Ming-yi's novels had been published in China.