Tears rolled down Chen Shih-hsin's cheeks as, olive wreath atop her head and medal around her neck, she saluted the flag that rose above the stadium. But the anthem that played for the first Taiwanese athlete to ever win gold at the Olympics was not the one she heard growing up, nor was the flag in front of her the red and blue of the Republic of China. Instead, Chen stood under the white banner of "Chinese Taipei," a nation that does not exist, the result of a political compromise stemming from divisions that have existed since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. Read more
