When writer R.F. Kuang spent two months in 2023 in Taipei, Taiwan, for an intensive Mandarin course, she found herself inadvertently sketching the outlines of a new novel.
asserted
herself → spend → novel
Her grandfather had recently died, and she was keeping a diary.
asserted
she → die → diary
“I was trying to remember as many details and document the texture and flavour of what grief felt like,” she said in a video interview.
asserted
she → try → interview
Those entries became the raw material for her novel “Taipei Story,” published this month, which follows Lily Chen, a 19-year-old Chinese American contending with mistranslation and bereavement during a summer in the city.
asserted
which → become → city
A doctoral candidate in East Asian languages and literatures at Yale University, Kuang has built a devoted following for her meticulously researched novels about language, empire and power.
asserted
Kuang → build → language
It returns to the questions of identity and belonging that have long animated her work.
asserted
that → return → work
Lily Chen is fictional, but the novel’s emotional and physical settings are inspired by Kuang’s study-abroad stint.
asserted
settings → inspire → stint
She built her protagonist’s Taipei from her own experiences, like studying in kitschy cafes near National Taiwan University, where she was enrolled; slipping into movie screenings between classes; and hiking Elephant Mountain at the edge of the city.
asserted
she → build → city
“I wanted to explore the sort of circuit of daily experiences that somebody spending a summer at NTU would have had,” Kuang said.
asserted
Kuang → want → NTU
Although Kuang has not returned to Taipei since that summer, certain corners of the city have stayed with her.
asserted
corners → return → her
“I had a classmate whose hobby was obsessively trying tea everywhere around the city,” Kuang said.
asserted
Kuang → have → city
She was occasionally roped into these quests, one of which led to Qingtian Tea House, a charming oasis that occupies a Japanese-era wooden home near her campus at NTU in the Da’an District.
asserted
that → rope → District
It specializes in Taiwanese oolongs, but the detail Kuang remembers the most fondly wasn’t on the menu.
asserted
Kuang → specialize → menu
During her visit, a rainstorm began knocking mangoes onto the roof with startling thuds.
asserted
rainstorm → begin → thuds
“At some point, we stopped paying attention to our tea and started counting the mango bangs,” she said.
asserted
she → stop → bangs
Beef noodle soup — braised chunks of beef in a rich broth — is one of Taiwan’s most emblematic dishes.
asserted
soup → braise → dishes
Thousands of restaurants across the country specialize in it, and Taipei even holds an annual competition for who can cook the best bowl.
asserted
who → specialize → bowl
Kuang, who does not eat meat, had never tried the dish — or even a vegetarian version — until she stumbled on this restaurant in the Xinyi District.
asserted
she → eat → District
“It’s this hole-in-the-wall place where they seemed totally uninterested in having any customers,” she said.
asserted
she → ’ → customers
Their version swaps the beef with lion’s head mushroom, served with springy noodles in a tomato-centric soup.
asserted
version → swap → soup
“It was incredible,” she said.
asserted
she → say → ?
Before she moved to Taipei, some of Kuang’s friends warned her that the city would be difficult for a vegetarian.
asserted
city → move → vegetarian
“That’s just completely not true,” she said.
asserted
That → ’ → ?
She became a regular at Nationwide Healthy Vegetarian, a cafeteria-style buffet chain with locations all over the city where diners load up on freshly prepared dishes like crispy fried tofu, braised eggplant, stir-fried ferns, bamboo shoot salad and multi-grain rice, then pay by weight.
asserted
diners → become → weight
Some of Kuang’s favourite discoveries came from tips shared in class — including this campus shop, which sells fresh milk and ice cream sandwiches made with dairy from the university’s experimental farm.
asserted
which → come → farm
The milk, which her classmates described as unusually rich, drew lines every day.
asserted
classmates → describe → lines
The sandwiches, consisting of a thick slab of ice cream pressed between two savory soda crackers, also had a cultish following.
asserted
sandwiches → consist → following
“I don’t know if we were just starving, but it was some of the best ice cream I ever had,” she said.
asserted
she → know → cream
Taiwanese cinema made its international breakthrough in the 1980s.
asserted
cinema → make → 1980s
Although its heyday has passed, the island’s cinephile culture endures.
asserted
culture → pass → ?
“Taiwan has a really fun repertory indie cinema scene,” Kuang said.
asserted
Kuang → have → scene
She spent hours at SPOT Huashan in the Zhongzheng District, an art-house theatre where obscure international films screen alongside domestic hits.
asserted
films → spend → hits
One stood out: Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Passion,” which follows a group of college friends through a night of romantic revelations.
asserted
which → stand → revelations
Kuang was delighted by the interplay of Japanese dialogue and English, Japanese and Mandarin subtitles.
asserted
Kuang → delight → dialogue
“In the film, they’re jumping between languages, yet communication is still sometimes impossible because we have so many ways of hiding how we actually feel and what we want to express,” she said.
asserted
she → jump → what
She ended up weaving that experience — and those themes — into a scene in “Taipei Story.”
asserted
She → end → Story
The Aporia
