http://www.amazon.com/Playing-Isolation-History-Baseball-Taiwan/dp/0803211406

Fascinating social history, October 11, 2007
By  R. Shouse (State College, PA United States) - See all my reviews


As a teacher and researcher whose focus includes Asian education, I've always
wondered about the role of sports in K-12 Asian schools, particularly those
in Taiwan. With Taiwan's tremendous emphasis on academics, I wondered how it
was that Little League Baseball could thrive there. In "Playing in
Isolation," Junwei Yu (盂峻瑋) offers readers insight not only into this
question, but also into the entire history of the sport in Taiwan. Baseball
came to the island with the Japanese and became very popular in Taiwan even in
the first half of the 20th century, especially among the island's native
population. Yu describes how baseball offered a cultural and political outlet
for these people, as well as how the ruling KMT party gradually co-opted the
sport for political purposes in the 1970s. Also describe in fascinating detail
are the corruption scandals associated with sport. This is a terrific read for
sports fans, political buffs, and sociologists.