Titled “Chronicles” though, Kuo’s works were not simple, straightforward records but mingled with his personal observations and opinions.
During these two years, the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis and the first direct election of the President and Vice President of the Republic of China not only rendered Taiwan politically charged, but also revealed the tangled relationships between Taiwan and China. Political engagement and democratic reform became imperatives, and movements for gender equality and women’s rights had ensued.
J. C. Kuo’s oeuvre tends to be sharply critical in style with common and direct artistic expression, addressing contemporary issues (e.g., the gap between haves and have-nots, excessive consumption, religious myths, the decline of traditional cultures, the interpersonal estrangement, and the rampant popular media) arising from the political development after the lifting of martial law and the social change induced by the economic boom in Taiwan.
