In spring 2023 Taiwan's former president Ma Ying-jeou traveled to mainland China. Although the trip was described as an “unofficial visit,” his itinerary was laden with political symbolism. Visiting historical sites important to the Nationalist period (1928–49), Ma emphasized the purported ties between Taiwan and mainland China through cross-strait travel. Ma's trip resonated with one of the signature policies during his presidency: promoting reconciliation between Taiwan and mainland China through cross-strait tourism. Did Ma's tourism policy work? Examining the geopolitics and everyday practices of cross-strait tourism, Ian Rowen's book One China, Many Taiwans provides a clear-eyed assessment. Instead of leading to mutual understanding or political reconciliation, Rowen argues, “tourism actually aggravated tensions between the two polities, polarized Taiwanese society, and pushed Taiwanese popular sentiment farther towards support for national self-determination” (3). Instead of treating cross-strait tourism as something conditioned by Taiwan's geopolitical challenges, this book urges its readers to also...

You do not currently have access to this content.