The Making of the Taiwanese American Identity

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Growing up in the Taiwanese American community, I learned as a child the importance of understanding how history and politics shape and define our community. We become well versed in geopolitics across the span of several centuries, including comparative cases of identity formation and nationhood. We learn the story of how groups of diverse peoples living on an island, called Ilha Formosa by Portuguese sailors on a Spanish ship, became caught between the warring visions of ambitious and powerful…

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Ai-jen Poo: Inspiring Across Generations

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I had the opportunity to connect with Ai-jen Poo, activist and keynote speaker at the Intercollegiate Taiwanese American Students Association (ITASA) East Coast Conference in New York City. Ai-jen serves as the Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and Co-Director of the Caring Across Generations campaign. She was named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in 2012 and was featured on Newsweek’s 150 Fearless Women list. Learn more about her story of how her Taiwanese roots influence…

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Dinner Dumplings with Lisa Lee – Co-founder of ThickDumplingSkin.com

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TaiwaneseAmerican.org's Ho Chie Tsai takes a dinner break with Lisa Lee, co-founder along with actress Lynn Chen of the website ThickDumplingSkin.com, to talk about Asian American community activism and her personal story of Taiwanese American identity. Lisa previously served as the publisher of Hyphen Magazine and was also recognized by AngryAsianMan.com as one of 30 influential Asian Americans under the age of 30. In May 2011, she received San Francisco's Asian Pacific American Heritage…

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Meet Karin Wang, Civil Rights Advocate and Proud Taiwanese American

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TaiwaneseAmerican.org's Margaret Chen speaks with Karin Wang, a life-long civil rights advocate who currently serves as Vice-President of Programs & Communications at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC), the nation's largest legal and civil rights organization serving Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. We've followed her work for the past decade and remain impressed with all that she has been able to accomplish. With an excellent track record of leadership, Karin…

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Chen Shu-chu “Quietly Doing Good” and Now One of TIME’s 100 Most Influential

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PHOTO: HUANG MING-TANG, TAIPEI TIMESThis story has been making the rounds since TIME magazine announced its 2010 list of the world's 100 most influential people, so in case you haven't heard, we thought we'd let you in on the news: Since 1963, Chen Shu-chu has sold vegetables out of a stall in Taitung County's central market in Taiwan. She has managed to donate nearly NT$10 million ($320,000) to various charities and causes. As FocusTaiwan reports, "the 61-year-old Chen Shu-chu said during…

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