"In 1867, the Rover, an American merchant ship, sank off the coast of southern Taiwan. About a dozen sailors made it to shore, where they were killed by warriors of the Koalut tribe, which had generations ago been almost wiped out in an attack by Westerners. The United States launched two disastrous military operations against the local aboriginal tribes in retaliation. Eventually, the US Consul to Amoy Charles Le Gendre (a naturalized American of French birth who distinguished himself fighting for the Union in the Civil War) negotiated a treaty with Tauketok, the head chief of the 18 tribes of the area, for safe passage for shipwrecked sailors. This historical novel, written in close consultation with aborigine activists, recounts these events alongsidethe story of Butterfly, a half aborigine-half Hakka young woman who leaves her village to study Western medicine and with whom Le Gendre falls in love"--
In 1867, an American merchant ship, the Rover, sank off the coast of southern Taiwan. Fourteen sailors reached the shore, where almost all were killed by indigenous people. In retaliation, the United States launched two disastrous military operations against local tribes. Eventually, the U.S. consul to Amoy, Charles Le Gendre, negotiated a treaty with Tauketok, the chief of the eighteen tribes of the area, that secured safe passage for shipwrecked sailors.
Yao-Chang Chens historical novel Puppet Flower retells the story of the Rover incident, bringing to light its pivotal role in Taiwanese history. Merging documented events and literary imagination, the novel vividly depicts Tauketok, Le Gendre, and other historical figures alongside the story of Butterfly, a young woman of mixed ethnic heritage who serves as an interpreter and mediator during the crisis. Chen deftly reconstructs the multiethnic and multilingual society of southern Taiwan in the second half of the nineteenth century from multiple perspectives, portraying local peoples daily struggles for survival and their interactions with Han Chinese settlers, Qing dynasty bureaucrats, and Western officials, tradesmen, and adventurers. The novel explores nineteenth-century Sino-American and Sino-indigenous relations and emphasizes the centrality of Taiwanese indigenous cultures to the islands history.
A gripping work of historical fiction, Puppet Flower is a powerful revisionist narrative of a formative moment in Taiwans past. It was recently adapted into a popular Taiwanese TV miniseries, Seqalu: Formosa 1867.
Yao-Chang Chens historical novel Puppet Flower retells the story of the 1867 sinking of the American merchant ship the Rover and its aftermath. He brings to light the pivotal role of this incident in Taiwanese history, merging documented events and literary imagination.
