Arendt Studies under the Shadow of China: An Overview of Taiwanese Scholarship of Hannah Arendt

Situated against the background of Taiwan’s democratic consolidation and the escalating military threats from China, Hannah Arendt political thought has seen a significant surge in scholarly and public interest of the island. This intellectual urgency, amplified by watershed moments such as the 2014 Sunflower Student Movement, has expanded Arendt’s readership beyond academia into the broader civil society. This paper examines the trajectory of this engagement by investigating scholarly research and the history of Arendt’s translation into Mandarin. It categorizes existing Taiwanese scholarship into three primary domains: (1) exegesis of her political philosophy, (2) comparative analyses with other thinkers, and (3) the application of her theoretical frameworks to contemporary issues. Through this analysis, complemented by a review of introductory publications and available translations, the paper offers a comprehensive overview of how and why Arendt’s thought has been introduced, interpreted, and utilized within Taiwan’s unique political and social landscape.