City of Yearning: Space, Time, and Movement in Tsai Ming-liang’s Turn of the 21st Century Taipei — Jan 2024 - Jun 2025

Skills:

Mandarin Chinese
Illustration/Drawing
Map Storytelling
Historical Archival Analysis
Research

For my undergraduate honors thesis, I conducted an urban historical and literary analysis of three Tsai Ming-liang films set in 1990s-2000s Taipei, a period of rapid urban and political change. To make my project more accessible to a wider audience, I made a zine (short for “magazine”, used to describe handmade and self-published booklets) that presents my research using analytical text, personal memoir, film stills, maps, timelines, photographs, and original illustrations.

A woman with short dark hair wearing a brown hat and large earrings, surrounded by tropical flowers and a cityscape with tall buildings, airplanes, and a parrot against a cloudy sky.

Advised by Ato Quayson and Ban Wang

コルトバの鐘
Changin' My Life

Queue the theme song of my project, a song I chose by Changin’ My Life, an early 2000s J-pop band. Here, I pay homage to Japanese media influence and globalization in 90s/00s Taipei!

Winner of the North American Taiwan Studies Association Undergraduate Paper Competition;

Winner of the Golden Medal for Undergraduate Research at Stanford (top 10% of all honors theses), Nominee for the 2025 David M. Kennedy Prize at Stanford (top 4 individual honors theses);

Recipient of the Stanford VPUE Major Grant for Independent Research.

“Extraordinarily well researched and beautifully written.” — Stanford Undergraduate Research Medals Committee

“Very clear […], succinct and concise.” North American Taiwan Studies Association Awards Committee

Summary

In 1987, President Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law in Taiwan, ending a 38-year-long consecutive period of Kuomintang (KMT) Nationalist military rule. As a result, Taiwan experienced a period of massive change in the 1990s and 2000s: urbanization, democratization, and globalization occurred simultaneously and rapidly in Taipei, the national capital. Through developments in entertainment spaces, housing, and infrastructure, the experience of space and time in Taipei fundamentally transformed.

This project seeks to understand Taipei at the turn of the millennium by conducting close readings of three films directed by Tsai Ming-liang: Rebels of the Neon God (1992), Vive L’Amour (1994), and What Time Is It There? (2001). Combining urban studies and media studies analytical frameworks, I first situate the film in its urban history, examining Taipei’s economic, housing, and development policies of the time, then analyze filmic elements, including mise-en-scène, character relationships, and narrative arcs. 

I argue that rapid economic, political, and infrastructural developments of 1990s and 2000s Taipei fundamentally disrupted notions of space and time for characters in these films. However, they still engaged in what I call asynchronous parallelism, engaging with urban transformations and creatively yearning for connection. Studying Taipei through asynchronous parallelism allows us to understand urbanization not only as its material developments in time and space, but also as creative and emotional engagements with time and space. It also allows us to understand Taipei beyond a location of urban alienation and disillusionment with rapid change; in my thesis, I show that Taipei at the turn of the 21st century was also a city of yearning, desire, and even hope.

Click here to read the full zine:

Click here to read the full academic paper:

Cover page of an academic thesis titled "City of Yearning: Space, Time, and Movement in Tsai Ming-Liang's Turn of the 21st Century Taipei." The thesis is by Camille Luong, submitted on May 12, 2025, for an honors program in Urban Studies at Stanford University, advised by Ato Quayson and Ban Wang.

Selected pages from zine:

Photograph of a young person with short dark hair and light skin, sitting at a table, leaning on their elbow, with a contemplative expression. The background includes a blue bus or tram and part of a moonlit street scene at night.
A comparison of maps showing the locations of Taiwan, China, and Japan, with handwritten annotations. The left map depicts East Asia with China, Japan, and Taiwan labeled, and the right map focuses on Taiwan with notes indicating the locations of Danshui port and Keelung port.
Handwritten notes on graph paper discussing topics like space, time, and human feelings, with doodles of a planet, a person with a tissue, and a smiling face.
A detailed map of Taipei's walls and gates during the Qing Dynasty, with handwritten annotations indicating various gates such as North Gate, West Gate, South Gate, and East Gate, and additional notes in English and Chinese. The map features colorful markings and labels describing historical architecture.
A split image showing two views of a city skyline, with the left side depicting a nighttime cityscape with illuminated buildings and traffic, and the right side showing a daytime view of Taipei with buildings and a clear sky. overlayed with large white Chinese characters and English texts explaining the meaning of Taipei
An urban street scene in Taipei with cars, pedestrians, and tall buildings covered in numerous signs and advertisements written in Chinese characters, with a portion of a concrete overpass visible in the foreground.
A collage of colorful text boxes with definitions and descriptions about asynchronous parallelism, set against the background of a grocery store aisle with shelves of snacks and drinks. There is also a person in a brown jacket and tie in the store.
The image features a colorful, artistic mural with surreal, imaginative elements. There are three people depicted: a woman with black hair and a black dress, a woman with short hair and a black dress, and a mysterious floating face with short black hair and serious expression. The background contains green vertical lines and various surreal elements like a large, open mouth with a camera lens inside, teardrops, and a floating face in the background. The overall style is vibrant and abstract.

Exhibitions & Public Events

Destination Unknown: 同路人 Zine &Exhibition

New York, NY; January 3, 10, and 11 2026

A woman standing behind a table at a booth, holding a pamphlet, with informational brochures and flyers displayed on the table. The background features a brick wall with several maps or posters pinned to it and a large plastic sheet on the right side.

Asian American Arts Alliance Film & Media Town Hall

New York, NY; July 8, 2025

A young presenter in a blue shirt giving a lecture at the International Center of Photography, with a slide showing images from a 90s/00s Taipei film titled 'City of Yearning.'
A woman in a blue shirt is giving a presentation in a conference room at the International Center of Photography. She is holding a microphone and a remote, speaking to an audience. Behind her is a large screen displaying a slide titled 'Process!' with images of people working on projects.

North American Taiwan Studies Association Annual Conference

Palo Alto, CA; June 30 to July 2, 2025

Two women standing in a wood-paneled room, one handing a framed certificate to the other, both smiling.

Stanford University Honors Thesis Awards Ceremony

Palo Alto, CA; June 14, 2025

Four people standing in front of a sign that says 'Stanford Faculty Club'. One woman is holding an award and a plaque. They are outdoors, surrounded by trees and greenery.

Stanford University Urban Studies Zine Launch Party

Palo Alto, CA; May 2025

Two smiling women holding brochures in front of a white building with a window, one with short dark hair and the other with dreadlocks, both dressed in blue.
Two women are conversing at a booth with informational materials and circular pins on display. Other people are in the background, and photos with text are pinned on the wall behind them.
A young person giving a presentation at the International Center of Photography. The presentation slide shows images of three people and text about a student project on Taipei film.
A young woman giving a speech at a podium during the NATSA 2025 Undergraduate Paper Award ceremony. A large screen displays her award details, including her name, Camille Luong from Stanford University, and her paper title, which discusses space, time, and movement in Taipei.
A group of four people standing outdoors in front of a sign for Stanford Faculty Club, with trees and foliage behind them. One woman is holding a medal and a plaque.
Group of young women sitting outdoors with one reading a booklet and others smiling and talking.