Global isolation and economic stagnation have coalesced into a crippling epidemic of self-doubt. A grand tour of Jieru You’s life takes all of five seconds. Stool. Window. Bed. He logs long hours working at a nearby pharmacy inside the congested southern Taiwan port city of Kaohsiung. Today, he’s spending this rare moment of spare time slouched on the stool, bone-tired and wallowing in a thick muck of self-pity. “Taiwan isn’t suitable to live in. Only ghosts are willing to dwell in such a place,” You says, rubbing his face. The polluted, acrid air of Kaohsiung is stinging his eyes. | 