Update #2 RE: Making History Documentary About Su Beng
Work on the documentary about Su Beng is moving along. I've selected video clips to highlight some of the key footage I've shot of Su Beng over the years. And I've recorded a voice-over narration to accompany them.
But now that I am up in Canada visiting my parents for the holidays, I've switched gears to working on editing Su Beng's English version of TAIWAN'S 400 YEAR HISTORY. One of the perks offered on my Making History crowdfunding campaign, was a revised version of TAIWAN'S 400 YEAR HISTORY in ebook format. As I edit and revise it, I've had to refer back to Su Beng's latest Chinese language version of the book, THE TAIWANESE PEOPLE'S 400 YEARS OF HISTORY (台彎人四百年史) aka TAIWAN'S 400 YEAR HISTORY. And that requires some translation assistance.
Over the years I've gotten translation assistance from many people, but my most steadfast translator has been my mother who has been there for me from the beginning. She accompanied me to my first meeting with Su Beng and frequently accompanied me to my interviews with Su Beng in the early days of this project. And now she and I are working together on the edits and revisions of TAIWAN'S 400 YEAR HISTORY.
One thing that I'm considering is changing the title of the English version of Su Beng's book, as I previously wrote in this blog post.
The problem is with the term “400 years” in the title of the book. Archaeological findings indicate Taiwan was inhabited by indigenous people thousands of years before any major Han Chinese migration in the 17th century. Human remains dating back as far as 30,000 years ago have been found in Taiwan. So the title, TAIWAN'S 400 YEAR HISTORY is a bit misleading because Taiwan’s history is actually more than 400 years long. The term is meant to refer to Taiwan’s written, documented history, which began in the 1600s with the Dutch occupation. So, dating back to the records from Taiwan's Dutch occupation, you could say that Taiwan's written history is 400 years long.
That being said I’ve come up with some alternate titles for TAIWAN'S 400 YEAR HISTORY:
400 YEARS OF TAIWAN'S HISTORY
TAIWAN'S 400 YEAR WRITTEN HISTORY
TAIWAN'S 400 YEARS OF WRITTEN HISTORY
TAIWAN'S 400 YEARS OF DOCUMENTED HISTORY
Which new title would you vote for? Or would you like to offer a suggestion? Any questions, comments or suggestions on this would be most welcome!
one year ago today
My Making History crowdfunding campaign ended successfully funded at $16,730, approximately 12% over my fundraising goal! I am so grateful to everyone who has and continues to support my project to document the life of Su Beng. December 25th will forever be a day of extra special significance for me.
Since I've been home for the holidays, I'd like to share some Christmas cheer with you. Every year my Mom and I have a tradition of baking and decorating Christmas cookies. Here are some photos of our efforts this year for you to enjoy:
