[中英版] At Home in the Library: My Taiwanese American Story / 圖書館裡的家

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Twenty years after we moved from Ohio to California, my parents received a letter from the children’s librarian in our old town. She had addressed it to “Resident,” not knowing if she had the right address for our family. “The other day while uncluttering a box in my basement,” she wrote, “I discovered a letter written by a girl named Cindy Lee. It was dated 12/30/00.” She asked for news of us, wished us well, and closed by noting, “The fear of the virus has kept us all close…

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Field Notes from Pride in Taiwan: LGBTQ*, Taiwanese-American, & Everything In Between

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Taiwan was one of the few places worldwide able to celebrate LGBTQ* visibility and acceptance during this year’s Pride Month. Hundreds of participants wearing rainbow masks marched in Liberty Square on behalf of those who could not due to the pandemic. In the face of the recent killings of Black transgender individuals such as Tony McDade, Dominique Fells, and Riah Milton in the United States, this march symbolized community, solidarity, and resilience in necessary times.  This was also…

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Taiwan ‘Zhiguang’: Taiwanese & Taiwanese American Athletes to Root For

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The term “Taiwan zhiguang,” or “the pride and glory of Taiwan,” has been used to describe the likes of Chien-Ming Wang, Yani Tseng, and Jeremy Lin, among other Taiwanese and Taiwanese American athletes. Their accomplishments range from World Series titles to Olympic gold medals, and in addition to playing their respective sports, these athletes have also become cultural ambassadors for Taiwanese and Taiwanese Americans throughout the world. With professional sports beginning to resume under…

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[中英版參考資料] Understanding ‘Black Lives Matter’: Chinese & English Resources

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  Editor's Note: This post will be updated frequently. https://twitter.com/TaiwaneseAm_org/status/1269718346460614656 [中英版] The Taiwanese American Conversation about #BlackLivesMatter | 文章+中文資源 | 情點閱此連結 LINK HERE [Master Database] Black Lives Matter 小補帖 (h/t Jocelyn Yang) | 中文資源 | 情點閱此連結 LINK HERE [Graphics Database] TaiwaneseAmerican.org Chinese/English Infographics | 情點閱此連結 LINK HERE COMMUNITY-TRANSLATED…

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We interviewed “The Half of It” writer & director Alice Wu

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  FEATURE PHOTO OF ALICE WU BY K.C. BAILEY When Netflix dropped its trailer for The Half of It almost a month ago, it rocked the internet. People quickly attached themselves to the film’s universally relatable main character Ellie Chu. Ellie is a shy and smart student who devotes her screen time to helping her best guy friend, Paul Munsky, win over Aster Flores, the hottest girl at their high school. Though The Half of It begins with a seemingly conventional premise, it quickly subverses…

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An Open Letter to my Hafu Grandfather: My Taiwanese American Story

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PHOTO OF DEREK SHAO & HIS GRANDFATHER Dear Ah Gong,  Mom didn’t tell me that you were a hāfu until I was about seven years old, and like most second graders at the time, I was too preoccupied with Wii Sports tennis and Cartoon Network to really think about what that meant. It wasn’t until I had learned more about the history of Taiwan and its relationship with Japan that I began to understand the circumstances surrounding your childhood, while also starting to make sense of experiences…

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Glowie Co on Bubble Tea Masks & The Best of Taiwanese Beauty

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If you had told me, ten or twenty years ago, how popular and how ubiquitous Asian beauty products and Asian beauty concepts would become in the West, I wouldn’t have believed you. I don’t think many of us would have predicted the rise of Asian cosmetics here. But it’s happened. Luxury, mid-range, and budget Korean and Japanese brands have found their way onto shelves at both specialty retailers like Sephora and at mainstream, mass-market chains like Walgreens. Taiwanese brands have benefited,…

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The Overlooked Japanese Roots of Taiwanese Americans

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[embed]https://open.spotify.com/episode/6s3umRithl6eQr9trOdCYk[/embed] Ever wonder why old Taiwanese people pick Japanese songs at karaoke (shouldn’t they be picking Chinese songs)? Or perfectly line up their shoes with toes facing out? How about a general affinity for Japanese culture, and their inability to speak Mandarin despite being from Taiwan?  That’s because they’re more Japanese than Chinese, and they should be, if they were born and spent formative years in Taiwan before 1945…

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Miss Modi celebrates Taiwanese heritage with a Taiwanese Street Food collection

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10% of proceeds from Miss Modi’s “Taiwanese Street Food Collection” will be donated to TaiwaneseAmerican.org My name is Casey (Hsiu-Wan) Yui, founder of Miss Modi (@missmodi2018).  I immigrated to New York from Taiwan with my family at the age of 17.  Like all new immigrants, I barely spoke English and struggled to learn the language and different culture.  After graduating high school, I worked hard to obtain a degree in Interior Design at Pratt Institute, NY. After 20 years…

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