Fwd: Webinar: Rural Development and Beans: How Wandan Red Beans (萬丹紅豆) Became Famous in Taiwan

Dear Friends,

Taiwan Research Centre, CUHK, is excited to present you an online Webinar on the topic Rural Development and Beans: How Wandan Red Beans (萬丹紅豆) Became Famous in Taiwan. https://www.dropbox.com/s/4ruoatkr774gmw7/Wandan%20Red%20Beans.pdf?dl=0

Date: April 20, 2021 Time: 10:30 am (Hong Kong Time) Venue: Zoom (please register through the link below)

Abstract: Red beans (or adzuki beans) have been grown in Wandan Township in southern Taiwan since the 1960s. Initially, they were exported to Japan, but by the 1980s, it seemed that cheaper red beans from mainland China and Vietnam would replace Wandan red beans, and that red beans would make just another boom and bust crop like bananas and watermelons had been. This paper discusses how a combination of state policies, local initiatives, and apparent coincidences have made Wandan red beans and red bean cakes famous in Taiwan and what this case tells us about rural development more generally.

Speaker: Joseph Bosco (Adjunct Associate Professor, Dept. of Anthropology, CUHK; Research Associate, Dept. of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis, USA)

Moderator: Prof. Siumi Maria, Tam (Associate Director, Taiwan Research Centre, CUHK)

Discussant: Dr. Eric Siu-Kei, Cheng (Assistant Professor, Department of Cultural Resources and Leisure Industries, National Taitung University)

Registration: https://forms.gle/v3DXb9EExwcYgnJ67