Song Zelai, born in 1952, is a prominent Taiwanese writer whose work focuses on the struggles and hopes of the Taiwanese people. He chronicles their lives as they try to make sense and survive a sea of political, economic, and social change that continues to shape the island's culture and identity.
The Japanese colonization, the Kuomintang oppression, the threat of Communist China, the loss of Taiwan's UN seat, its diminishing international relevance, and the shift from agriculture to industry are common themes in literature from Taiwan. Song deals with them deftly, if not directly, by exploring the effects of a changing reality on the psyche of the Taiwanese people.
