Don’t Call Me ‘ Taiyupian ’: Reflections on the Taiwanese Hokkien Cinema Era and Its Myths

Since 2017, Taiwanese Hokkien Cinema, or ‘taiyupian’, has received supports from Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture through the Taipei Representative Office in the United Kingdom. As a result of governmental funding, Taiwanese Hokkien Cinema has attracted cinephiles’ attention worldwide. The existing scholarship surely challenges many understandings of Taiwan film history. However, the issue of translation confines the access to non-English translated materials and films and creates some stereotypes about Taiwanese Hokkien Cinema. These stereotypes might exist within Taiwan in the past, and now they have even been spreading globally. By reviewing the latest articles about Taiwanese Hokkien Cinema published in English, this article lists ten myths about Taiwanese Hokkien Cinema, including the market situation, the ‘classics’ to be chosen, the periodization, its political meaning, and even the best-suited way to name it. By engaging with the current problems in Taiwanese Hokkien Cinema studies, this article discusses the possible ways to improve the promotional campaign for Taiwanese Hokkien Cinema. By showing the specialty of Taiwanese Hokkien Cinema, this article further proposes an alternative approach to link Taiwanese film history to global film history.