Den Tigerfrauen wachsen Flügel

Taiwan has undergone the most rapid political and economic changes in all Asia. Within a period of just three decades the country has transformed itself from an agricultural state into one of the world’s leading sites for high-tech industries, and from a military dictatorship under Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang (KMT) party, to a democracy. This development has led to dramatic changes within Taiwanese society. Nowhere can these changes be more clearly observed than in women’s living conditions.
This film is the portrait of three women from three different generations. Opera singer Hsieh Yueh Hsia experienced the Japanese occupation and the takeover of Taiwan by the National Chinese forces; she believes in traditional values and a strict hierarchy within the family. Members of the next generation have seen a shift away from the traditional role of women in Taiwanese society towards that of a modern woman, engaged in a struggle for independence and equality. Writer Li Ang experienced the military dictatorship’s repressive value system; she also saw, as a young adult, the country’s transition to a democracy. Young film director Chen Yin-jung, however, is a firm believer in modernity and globalisation.
This film is not only concerned with the individual biographies of these three women, it also seeks to create a portrait of Taiwanese society during the heady days of transition from one political system to another. A documentary that shows a multifaceted Taiwan that is both traditional and modern, and a people that can be cosmopolitan and close-knit, buoyant and melancholic.