"In the world I grew up in, the word a person used for 'bicycle' told you a lot about them...'Thih-bé' (iron horse) meant he was a native speaker of #Taiwanese..Such a beautiful expression..What a pity 'thih-bé' is now in decline. That's just life: something may be inherently superior but end up getting replaced anyway..replaced by 'chiao-t'a-ch'e' (foot-pedalled vehicle). It's foolish, if you ask me. A kind of cultural devolution."

#AmReading THE STOLEN BICYCLE by #WuMingYi tr. by Darryl Sterk

The Man with the Compound Eyes by Wu Ming-Yi... I loved this (I read his later book The Stolen Bicycle first, which made me pick up this one).

It might be one of the saddest, and yet most beautiful books I've read. A mixture of magical realism, environmental concerns, and Taiwanese indigenous culture, it was written over 10 years ago, and the environmental issues it predicts have only gotten worse and more hopeless since. In the end it's down to a small black and white rescue cat to give the main protagonist a reason to keep living, which seems apt.
#TheManWithTheCompoundEyes #WuMingYi