Department of Cultural Affairs

Comics are a storytelling medium, a vessel for creators’ energies, and a delightful way for readers to discover the beauty of a city. Following comic characters through their stories, walking where they walked, and seeing the world through their eyes can create a unique and engaging connection.

In recent years, Taiwanese comics have entered their third golden age. Among the diverse themes and styles, Taipei stands out as a beautiful setting. If we start at the North Gate, we can find the places corresponding to scenes from comics throughout the city.

In celebration of Taipei City’s 140th founding anniversary, the Taipei Department of Cultural Affairs has curated the Taipei Youth Comics exhibition, which will take place from August 24 to September 8 at the Longshan Cultural & Creative Base. In this city filled with dreamers, how do Taiwanese comic artists perceive the land beneath their feet? How do they create characters in this context? What versions of Taipei emerge through their work?

This exhibition uses Taipei’s landscapes as a point of reference to reflect the lives and environments of the city’s youth across different eras, as depicted by various comic artists. The featured works span from pre-World War II settings to the near future, offering both detailed historical narratives and imaginative sci-fi worlds. Celebrating Taipei’s 140th anniversary, the exhibition highlights comic works set in Taipei with young protagonists. Through comic art displays, author interviews, and city-wide comic experiences, the exhibition aims to weave together stories about life, ideals, dreams, and the future of Taipei. It also seeks to introduce more people to Taipei and showcase the richness and diversity of Taiwanese comics.

Rising Manga Artist Eli Lin Brings Mysterious Manga Girl to Taipei

The exhibition’s main visual features renowned Taiwanese manga artist Eli Lin. Celebrated for her work both in Taiwan and internationally, Lin skillfully blends Taipei’s iconic elements such as the municipal flower, heath, and the city bird, the Taiwan blue magpie, together with both old and new city emblems, into traditional and modern fashion styles to create a character named “Chueh,” a Taipei girl who loves Taiwanese comics.

Through Chueh, readers explore Taipei’s various historical periods in the manga, visiting her comic friends and delving deeper into the city’s past and present.

Taiwanese original manga span a wide range of themes, many of which relate to Taipei. This exhibition features five selected comics arranged chronologically: Tomoe’s Memories of Koumeya, The Banana Sprout, Wind Chaser Under the Blue Sky, The Apocalypse of Darkness Warfare, and YAN. These works are bound up with Taipei’s urban and cultural development over the past 140 years, and their storylines also serve as a microcosm of Taipei through various periods. By showcasing and analyzing these five comics, the exhibition revisits a century of Taipei’s urban development and aims to inspire public imagination and anticipation for the city’s future.

Taipei’s Passionate, Dream-Chasing Youth from Taisho to WWII

In Tomoe’s Memories of Koumeya, we catch a glimpse of Taipei’s dining culture and urban style in the 1920s. The Taisho Era saw social activities and entertainment flourish in Taipei, with a wide range of local and international cuisines enhancing the city’s dining scene, from Western food and Taiwanese cuisine to Japanese dishes and tea.

In The Banana Sprout, two protagonists with completely different backgrounds unexpectedly meet and become friends. They decide to break away from conventional norms and create their own magazine, a manga that highlights the resilience of Taipei high school students who continue to cling to their dreams and pursue artistic aspirations during the turbulent Japanese colonial era. As the protagonists journey through Chongqing South Road’s bookstore district, the smell of paper and ink in bookstores evokes shared after-school memories for many Taipei students, with comics, novels, reference books, and popular magazines all contributing to the experience.

Last year’s International Manga Award gold winner, Wind Chaser Under the Blue Sky, takes readers through Taipei’s recovery from the devastation of the Second World War. As Taiwan’s most important city and a central hub for public transportation, Taipei’s railway system suffered extensive damage, with many stations and facilities being destroyed. After the war, the government invested heavily to rebuild the shattered transportation network, which contributed to Taipei’s economic revival. The manga also depicts how two boys, driven by their passionate love for trains and athletics, find hope and a chance to realize their dreams despite the destruction.