Li Min-yong Writes About "Tsai-san" Tsai Kun-lin, Weaving Taiwan's Historical Tapestry
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- 📰 Published: May 17, 2026 at 19:26
- 🔍 Collected: May 17, 2026 at 19:31 (5 min after Published)
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: May 17, 2026 at 19:40 (9 min after Collected)
(CNA, Taipei, 17th, by reporter Wang Pao-er) Poet and novelist Li Min-yong has recently been releasing his "Island Witnesses" series, featuring people he knows as protagonists to reveal the cultural will necessary for Taiwan's democratic development. His new work, "Tsai-san: A Novel of Tsai Kun-lin," was launched today, weaving a historical narrative through the intersection of their lives.
Li Min-yong and Tsai Kun-lin met while both were employed at the Cathay Group. In "Tsai-san," Li transforms into "Mr. Li," beginning the novel with his experience attending a memorial concert for "Tsai-san" Tsai Kun-lin. The story of Tsai's life is interwoven with different segments of the concert, presenting Tsai Kun-lin as Li saw him.
Li stated that, compared to other works about Tsai Kun-lin, he presents Tsai from a more personal and literary perspective: a political victim of the White Terror who later joined a corporate group, connected many cultural enterprises, and became a human rights activist after retirement.
Li mentioned many interesting events during their time at the Cathay Group, such as Tsai Kun-lin facilitating the publication of the "21st Century Color Encyclopedia" and launching "Nung Nung" magazine. As the director of the Cathay Art Museum, Tsai organized the "Exhibition of 20th Century Spanish Masters." The exhibition's planner, painter Lin Hsin-yueh, had to travel extensively, and his plane accidentally entered Soviet airspace, which became major news at the time.
Later, the "Tenth Credit Cooperative scandal" broke out, implicating Tsai Kun-lin and leaving him in debt. Tsai Kun-lin's son, Tsai Yen-lung, recalled today that his family voted on what to do, and one option was for his father to return to Kuo Hwa Advertising, where he worked until retirement.
Tsai Yen-lung said that many of the scenes and eras described in "Tsai-san" were part of his own experience. For instance, when his father had to work on holidays, he would take the children to the office. He remembers climbing on his father's desk and seeing the works of the master Miró exhibited at the Cathay Art Museum, wondering as a kindergartener why they were so expensive when they looked just like everyone else's drawings.
Tsai Yen-lung expressed that, compared to other families of White Terror victims, he and his sister were fortunate because their father had already returned from Green Island when they were born. Thus, he grew up thinking his family was ordinary, even with occasional police visits, assuming it was the same for everyone. It wasn't until college, when an elder let it slip to his sister and they confronted their father, that they learned his claim of "studying in Japan" referred to his time on Green Island, and "Hosei University" was a euphemism for prison.
Cheng Chu-mei, daughter of Cheng Nan-jung, also participated in the discussion, saying that this self-perceived "ordinary" world was once her life as well. But in fact, everyone starts as an ordinary person, no different from others. She thanked Li Min-yong for returning to a human perspective in the novel, discussing how people meet and intersect, while also incorporating a deep understanding of history.
Li Min-yong said that his "Island Witnesses" historical novel series aims to build on real people and events, using a novelist's craft to develop emotion, scenes, and context, adding a different kind of feeling and warmth. He hopes to supplement the missing cultural conditions needed in Taiwan's democratization process and construct a necessary memorandum for the nation. (Editor: Lee Shu-hua)
Li Min-yong and Tsai Kun-lin met while both were employed at the Cathay Group. In "Tsai-san," Li transforms into "Mr. Li," beginning the novel with his experience attending a memorial concert for "Tsai-san" Tsai Kun-lin. The story of Tsai's life is interwoven with different segments of the concert, presenting Tsai Kun-lin as Li saw him.
Li stated that, compared to other works about Tsai Kun-lin, he presents Tsai from a more personal and literary perspective: a political victim of the White Terror who later joined a corporate group, connected many cultural enterprises, and became a human rights activist after retirement.
Li mentioned many interesting events during their time at the Cathay Group, such as Tsai Kun-lin facilitating the publication of the "21st Century Color Encyclopedia" and launching "Nung Nung" magazine. As the director of the Cathay Art Museum, Tsai organized the "Exhibition of 20th Century Spanish Masters." The exhibition's planner, painter Lin Hsin-yueh, had to travel extensively, and his plane accidentally entered Soviet airspace, which became major news at the time.
Later, the "Tenth Credit Cooperative scandal" broke out, implicating Tsai Kun-lin and leaving him in debt. Tsai Kun-lin's son, Tsai Yen-lung, recalled today that his family voted on what to do, and one option was for his father to return to Kuo Hwa Advertising, where he worked until retirement.
Tsai Yen-lung said that many of the scenes and eras described in "Tsai-san" were part of his own experience. For instance, when his father had to work on holidays, he would take the children to the office. He remembers climbing on his father's desk and seeing the works of the master Miró exhibited at the Cathay Art Museum, wondering as a kindergartener why they were so expensive when they looked just like everyone else's drawings.
Tsai Yen-lung expressed that, compared to other families of White Terror victims, he and his sister were fortunate because their father had already returned from Green Island when they were born. Thus, he grew up thinking his family was ordinary, even with occasional police visits, assuming it was the same for everyone. It wasn't until college, when an elder let it slip to his sister and they confronted their father, that they learned his claim of "studying in Japan" referred to his time on Green Island, and "Hosei University" was a euphemism for prison.
Cheng Chu-mei, daughter of Cheng Nan-jung, also participated in the discussion, saying that this self-perceived "ordinary" world was once her life as well. But in fact, everyone starts as an ordinary person, no different from others. She thanked Li Min-yong for returning to a human perspective in the novel, discussing how people meet and intersect, while also incorporating a deep understanding of history.
Li Min-yong said that his "Island Witnesses" historical novel series aims to build on real people and events, using a novelist's craft to develop emotion, scenes, and context, adding a different kind of feeling and warmth. He hopes to supplement the missing cultural conditions needed in Taiwan's democratization process and construct a necessary memorandum for the nation. (Editor: Lee Shu-hua)