World Tour: The Legend of Tianding

The center of the modern world is an island. #worldtour #taiwan #videogame

Welcome back to Artcade, the paradise you’ve found yourself in because instead of buying a super-discounted all-inclusive offer—“buy it now or it expires in a minute”—you signed up for this newsletter. Good call. Haste makes waste, as someone once said (someone who clearly never had a bad bout of stomach flu). Remember, when you’re abroad, no ice in your drinks.

And now let’s close the parenthesis on unsolicited advice, grab your ticket and enjoy the read!

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Taiwan and the rest of the world (mapchart.net)

It might sound like a recurring theme, but once again we’ll start talking about the map above. Do you see Taiwan? If you opened Artcade on your phone, that island might just be a tiny red pixel almost invisible in that expanse of gray. And yet all eyes in the world are on that tiny red speck. I won’t go on about chips or the importance (or misfortune) of having the right skills at the right time. Instead, Let’s explore Taiwan’s scenery and discover one of its legends: Liao Tian-ding.

“His story is known far and wide. He is the legend: Liao Tian-Ding.”

The game is set during the period of Japanese occupation—indeed, from 1895 until the end of World War II in 1945, Taiwan was colonized by Japan. The story is presented in a comic-book style.

“The people of Taiwan began to form resistance groups.”

In the atmosphere of oppression created by the occupiers, the Taiwanese did everything they could to resist and survive. One of them—Tiang-ding—became a major figure for the people by constantly disobeying, stealing from the authorities and sharing the loot, and doing everything he could to bother the Japanese rulers. To this day, many temples and statues honor his life (photo below). Some still call him Taiwan’s Robin Hood—hardly the most original comparison.

Statue of Liao Tian-ding near the Hanmin Temple (Wikipedia)

The game itself brings up the Robin Hood comparison…

“So you’re the Robin Hood! I heard of you!”

…and Tian-ding immediately dismisses it:

“What? What the hell is a Robin Hood?”
“No hard feelings, Mr. Liao. A-Niu likes talking nonsense, but he means no harm.”