Hokkien (Taiwan Minnan) / Taiwan
Nā sī leh sàng phue
(If you were delivering letters)
Corn Chen
(text/illus.)
Taibei: Yu shan she, Xing yue shu fang (Yushan Publishing, Star Moon Study), 2025. – [90] p.
ISBN 978-986-294-383-0
Text in Hokkien (Taiwan Minnan) and Chinese
Bilingual book | Leporello | Poetry | Taiwan | Letter | Political persecution | Prisoner | History 1945-1992
Reading age: 6+
White Ravens issue: 2026
This book by award-winning illustrator Corn Chen focuses on the recovery of state-censored farewell letters written by political prisoners facing execution during Taiwan’s authoritarian »White Terror« era. Faced with the question, »If you were delivering letters, what kind would you want to deliver?«, a postman vows to take care of these forgotten messages. He pedals across a magical landscape of old postal envelopes, until after sixty winters the letters finally become accessible and can be delivered to their rightful recipients. During his journey, he witnesses how these letters originate from »pitch-black fenced compounds«. He observes the victims’ families’ lifelong wait, aware that »house numbers have turned into tombstones« and many letters have become undeliverable. The volume also includes letters and biographical accounts of five dissidents as well as essays on the White Terror period, encouraging readers to reflect on historical trauma and its relationship to present-day freedom. [LO]