2014 Taiwanese American Conference West Coast

Dates: Friday, July 11, 2014 – Sunday, July 13, 2014
Time: 9:00am
Location: University of Washington, Seattle
Address: NE 45th St & 17th Ave NE, Seattle, WA
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/296456323857399

Come and take part in the 2014 Taiwanese American Summer Conference – West Coast (TAC-WC)! This year’s TAC-WC’s main organizer is Taiwanese Association of Greater Seattle (TAGS) and will take part from Friday, July 11th, to Sunday, July 13th, at the University of Washington’s Seattle campus.

The theme of this year’s conference is “Strengthen Our Footing In The New Land, Foster Our Vision For Our Homeland.” The conference celebrates our success in North America as Taiwanese Americans, as well as highlights some of the issues important to us. To achieve that goal, we have invited many speakers to our conference. Taiwanese American Professionals – Seattle (TAP-Seattle) has coordinated with the organizers of TAC-WC to provide a series of English-speaking workshops for our Taiwanese-American population. The English-speaking workshops include Julia Lin, the author of Miah, and Brock Freeman, the Director of ACT. Our keynote speakers are Chang Jung Christian University Graduate Institute of Taiwan Studies Professor Emeritus Chuang Wan-Shou (莊萬壽), author Cao Chang-Qing (曹長青), and Doctor Yang Si-Pei.

If you have any questions, please contact the TAP-Seattle liason, Eric Chang at 310-426-8308 and eric.chang@tap-seattle.org. You can also contact the main conference organizer, John Chou at 206-660-2778 and johnclchou@gmail.com or John Yang at 425-605-2468 and john.f.yang@comcast.net

More information about the conference, including how to pay and sign up, can be found here:
http://www.tacwc.com/. The payment instructions on tacwc.com is for mailing through a physical address. If you wish to pay and sign up electronically, please complete the registration form at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pukuJbmX73iwkwbxkBuchIkVSBOBHckB-uRZMWIJOu0/viewform?c=0&w=1 and make a PayPal payment to info@tap-seattle.org. Please complete a separate registration form for each attendee.

The following are selected topics of English speakers:

Speaker: Julia Lin

Topic – Role of the Taiwanese Immigrant:
What makes us Taiwanese and how does that impact our role in North American society? What are our responsibilities to Taiwan, especially as the second generation of Taiwanese immigrants become mature adults? What does the future hold? As an assimilated “generation 1.5” immigrant, Julia Lin will share some thoughts about these and other questions from both historical and contemporary perspectives bolstered by selected readings from her books.

About Julia Lin:
Julia Lin was born in Taiwan and lived there and in Vietnam before her family immigrated to Canada when she was nine. Since then, Julia has lived in Vancouver and its environs, Toronto, and northern British Columbia. She holds a graduate degree in Immunology (M.Sc., University of Toronto) and a post-graduate degree in computing education (University of British Columbia) and has taught high school math, science, and computing science in British Columbia for a number of years. Her writing mentor, M.G. Vassanji, encouraged her to complete the short story collection, Miah, after she submitted the first stories in the 2009 Humber Creative Writing Program. Julia lives in Vancouver.

Speaker: Brock Freeman

Topic – House of Cards: Taiwan in the Washington D.C. Game
Taiwan has a long history in the Washington D.C. game. It caused a historical power play of Congress against the Executive branch, resulting in the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act. What can be learned from the history of Taiwan in the D.C. game, and how can refinements in how we play the game in the future move the Taiwan issue forward?

About Brock Freeman:
Brock Freeman is the Director of American Citizens for Taiwan, and all volunteer NGO that works to raise awareness of the importance of Taiwan’s democracy to America’s own democracy, security, and economy. ACT created a solution, targeted at the Internet generation, to see current Taiwan related legislation in the U.S. Congress, and then quickly and easily message members of Congress to support that legislation. Mr. Freeman’s background is in product/process techno-functional management consulting, and has experience in the United States, Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan. American Citizens for Taiwan can be found at ACTtaiwan.org.

Cost for Saturday and Sunday:
(7/12) Saturday: $40 early bird fee, if paid before June 15, $60 regular (Fee includes admissions to the workshops below as well as the keynote speaker in the morning and Taiwan Night)
(7/13) Sunday: $20 early bird fee, if paid before June 15, $40 regular

About the conference: The Taiwanese American Summer Conference has been organized by Taiwanese American Associations for the past 30 years across North America. It provides people with an opportunity to understand Taiwanese and Taiwanese-American issues so as to strengthen the Taiwanese-American community.

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