Taiwan’s Got It! A Talent Competition for All

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Taiwanese identity is contested, challenged, and complicated for a variety of reasons. Its ongoing interrogation, though, presents a ripe opportunity to further challenge our own assumptions about belonging and personal choice. The people of Taiwan are not simply the indigenous, benshengren, or waishengren.  They include expats, more recent migrants, foreign exchange students, and more. And, interestingly, the concept of Taiwanese identity has become less tethered to race and ethnicity, and more…

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Meet High Schooler-Founded Social Impact Small Business ‘Formosa’

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IMAGE CREDITS: FORMOSA Many high school students who are of Taiwanese ethnicity spend a summer teaching English in Taiwan. Through programs such as Vox Nativa (Vox) and Connexpedition, these students have the opportunity to create connections with the native Taiwanese community. However, for Bay Area rising high school seniors and best friends, Marianne and Serena, they took their treasured memories from their summer teaching Indigenous Taiwanese children with Vox and launched a small business…

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Taiwanese Cha Cha Cha: Judie Yang on Language, Culture, & Family

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Judie Yang is a polyglot: she can speak English, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Japanese, and Spanish. Although she doesn’t always introduce herself as a polyglot, language has always been a huge part of her identity and is a common theme that runs through all her films, including Taiwanese Cha Cha Cha, a narrative short-film now playing at the Austin Asian American Film Festival. Taiwanese Cha Cha Cha explores the connections between language, culture, and family in Taiwan as it follows a young woman…

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Between the Notes: Jordan Hwang brings the Taipei Music Academy & Festival to Austin Asian American Film Festival

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The film begins with the universal cues of an orchestral warm up: a retrieved violin bow, the tell-tale crisp sleeves and cuff links of performance attire, the scrambling annotations, the conductor’s swelling flourish. This could be anywhere, until we catch glimpses of something cheerfully familiar, locating us in the heart of Taiwan: the interior of a double-decker bus (equipped with karaoke screens), a cup of bubble tea.  Hwang’s recent documentary Between the Notes, now playing…

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From Taiwanese Californian to Taiwanese Missourian: My Taiwanese American Story

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There is only one Taiwanese restaurant in the city of St. Louis. When I introduce Taiwanese culture to my new college friends, I bring them to Tai Ke (台客), and my friends are always surprised when they find themselves eating a dish resembling Chinese food instead of Pad Thai. Yep, they thought Taiwanese people lived in Thailand. In a way, it is kind of funny because this is one of the quintessential experiences of every Taiwanese American: being mistaken as Thai. https://www.instagram.com/p/BbVSRXAjOOz/ Originally…

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Two Perspectives on Late Life: The Chien-Ming Wang Story

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https://www.instagram.com/p/B0AKwjfFE1u/ Editor's Note: I'm thrilled to present two perspectives on LATE LIFE: The Chien-Ming Wang Story - both from bay area-raised college students who chose to pursue college in the Midwest. Derek is a student at the University of Michigan, and Vivienne is a student at Washington University in St. Louis. DEREK SHAO In baseball, the term “late life” is used to describe sudden and unexpected movement as a pitch crosses home plate. It is a fitting metaphor…

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Roll Call: Supporting Taiwanese American Creators & Small Businesses During COVID-19

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We're feeling so inspired by Taiwan's global leadership in managing and extending help for the COVID-19 pandemic. As we continue to prove that #TaiwanCanHelp, let's also highlight the ways that #TAsCanHelp (Taiwanese Americans Can Help)! If you're a Taiwanese American creator, small business, or organization, we'd love to hear about how we can support you - whether that's by showcasing your online merch, tuning into your next livestream, or sharing your story. Please use our contact form below…

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From Ilha Formosa to Passport to Taiwan: Comparing the 2006 and 2018 Taiwanese Tourism Bureau Campaigns

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Editor’s Note: There are so many ways to advocate for Taiwan: on the streets with Keep Taiwan Free, in DC with organizations like the Formosan Association for Public Affairs, and, like Washington University in St. Louis freshman Vivienne Chang shows, in the classroom by incorporating thoughtful research and analysis on Taiwan into open-topic schoolwork. We were so moved by her decision to, in her words, “write every optional paper I get for each class about something that is related to Taiwan.”…

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