I am 21 and I am waiting. I wait for the university to spit me back out into the world, for the past four years to suddenly, and unabashedly, mean something. I wait and I watch friends and roommates and chosen strangers arrive upon the doorsteps to the rest of their lives: grad school admissions and gap years and start ups, sprinkled with full time offers from the companies spilling from my father’s news coverage sometimes, a marriage every now and then, a baby shower. I think of the palpable precarity of the void to come; feel it already shifting to make room for me, something in the way I’m handed car keys after dinner. Nonetheless, I am a good daughter, and so, I am waiting.
I think of my mother at this time in her life, the five years she spent in Taiwan. After finishing her undergrad at the University of the Philippines, she had taken her psychology turned chemistry degree to join a layman’s organization called Opus Dei, where she was assigned to the Taipei division and shortly found joining the enrollment queues of the foreign language school in order to qualify for a student visa. When I ask her about what it was like to build a life for herself in Taiwan, my mother names it in this way; all the tangibles, that is, find work, get a visa. She tells me, with a shrug, that the plan was to stay there forever, though to a place it seemed she had been so arbitrarily assigned.
My mother’s stories of her time in Taipei always blend into the largely quixotic. Between her jobs for Opus Dei, she had side gigs teaching English and eventually found work in an academic lab willing to sponsor her. She tells me about the bakery she’d visit every day after lab, a softness I reencounter every time we pass a Sheng Kee bread, tugging me by the hand towards the taro buns. I was the type of child willing to eat anything because it was purple. She tells me about how there were holidays for everything: Labor Day, Memorial Days, both Chinese and American New Years, Dragon Boat and Mid Autumn Festivals — a fraction of every month off for national observances, unlike anything she’d seen in the Philippines and later the United States. She tells me about the other scientists and lab techs, quiet and searching and somehow always at the lab. She tells me about the night markets she’d watch the streets preparing for on the walk home from work, gone without a trace on the walk back in the mornings, and how she regrets never having gone to one in her five years there. She smiles at the ground during those parts of her stories; something or other about never having time or never having permission from the organization to go. I blink at the void and think how perhaps I am largely waiting for the same things.
I recall, in a high school summer I’d spent as a camp counselor, how my ears had prickled at the sound of a camper and his father, ushering the child towards the parking lot in hushed Taiwanese. The intonations reignited the ghosts of my first language, Hokkien, which I’ve long since traded for English, leaving only its hollow shapes to be traced in my mouth’s memory. I remember rushing to tell my mother about how I had understood some of the camper’s words, how I heard the gentle demands in the language to go home; the quiet and comfortable resignation drifting in the air suddenly discernable to me, only beneath the surface of a candied filter obstructing my view. This was one of the first times I’d caught glimpses of my forgotten first language, caught my mind reaching for her. I asked my mother if she’d been exempted from such a search, having grown up speaking Hokkien and living in Taiwan where it is still widely used. I recall how she’d shrugged off the prospect, saying how they’d spoken predominantly Mandarin in Taipei and how there wasn’t much more to it. But I think of my mother, speaking Tagalog with her friends and learning Mandarin in her classes, telling stories in English to children now strangers to Hokkien’s sound, and I think about how hard we work to inadvertently land somewhere that isn’t home.
The memories of my upbringing are colored with glimpses of who my mother was before me. I see her with her reading glasses on, through the entryway of her bedroom door left ajar, my baby sister nestled into the crook of her arm sucking lazily from a pai tzu as my mother reads her philosophy book aloud in the same voice she’d narrate storybooks to me, rounded and theatric and full of light. My mother’s reading voice is unlike anything in her speaking. It has none of Tagalog’s hardened consonants, buh’s and kuh’s coming down like rainfall, nor the sweetened tswee’s or gwah’s of Hokkien, falling through like opening faucets. Above the ironing board I see her shoe boxes of stationary, the sticker collection I wasn’t allowed to touch as a child, and the scalloped edges of the note paper she once nestled behind car keys, congratulations on grad school in her sweet and sweeping handwriting. Still more, I see how my mother’s eyes rest on the road when she listens to my stories, how she never rushes me in book stores, the way she soundlessly, still, scoots over for me in bed when I tell her that I am empty. I imagine my mother, for those five years in Taipei, cradling a book bag through the libraries’ philosophy aisles, balancing doctrine with the reading lists of a could’ve been psychology degree, watching strangers and trying on answers. I think of her reaching for the top shelves of bakery walls and walking along sidewalks with the day’s pastry back to her apartment unit, racing the bike riders and street vendors with their push carts and daydreaming of the afternoons in the Philippines she’d spent stealing my grandpa’s car to wander through Quezon City’s roads. I think of the people she planned on writing with that stationary paper, the way her handwriting flirts between cursive and type. Of the forever that she planned on staying, my mother was only in Taipei for five years. But I think of the night markets she’d trace the residue of but never actually attend, and imagine her in this way, approaching each day there like she had eternity on her side.
I prepare myself now for my own five years, and in the waiting I wonder how far from home I will realize myself to one day be — somewhere between wanting and fearing it, and in any case afraid to be caught looking. But I catch glimpses of myself all the same: stealing my dad’s car to follow the sun down Highway 101, tilting my head towards Hokkien’s ghosts, tucking myself in next to my mother every time, and at a speed from which life might take me too, unsuspecting.
In her fifth year in Taipei, my mother had returned from lab to find a particular unread email in the purple of her Yahoo messenger: a high school classmate pursuing the burgeoning field of Information Technology in America, using his newfound skill set to reach across a decade of time and 6,432 miles of space — my father. Perhaps that’s when the waiting stopped, as I am the oldest of six and have lived in California my whole life, and my mother, in her insistence on scalloped stationeries, is hardly a woman lacking in conviction. But I am 21. And so I think of the precarity of those five years that my mother must have held, trying to discern between chemistry and psychology, between sidewalk and road — the cracks between vocation and ambition from which identity grows.
Jennifer Co (she/her) is a Chinese Filipina writer and eldest daughter from the Bay Area with an affinity for sky romanticisms. In her creative practice, Jen aims to center sensitivity, engage precarity, and always, write towards possibility. She recently graduated from UC Berkeley’s Chemistry and Creative Writing departments, and will be pursuing a PhD in Chemistry in the Fall.
From Jennifer: “My mother lived in Taiwan for the five years before she reconnected with who would one day be my dad, and thinking of her in that time was the entryway for me to engage with so much and all that colors aimlessness; decisions and distance and home and love. I’d been waiting for the chance to give words to what this contest has afforded me the first steps into chasing, and what I’m sure I will continue to stride towards in all that is to follow. I write this in gratitude, I write this in awe. And to my mother, hi mama, it is all for you.”
You can keep up with Jennifer at her Instagram (@jen_anne_co) and Twitter (@jcrunkyy).
TaiwaneseAmerican.org is pleased to support the premier Asian American Film Festival in the San Francisco/Bay Area. CAAM Fest, the Center for Asian American Media’s annual festival features amazing works in film, TV, and digital media. This year, their events and screenings are scheduled May 13-23 and available to most audiences in a virtual format to honor Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.
With new support from Taiwan Academy, CAAMFest 2021 is proud to showcase “Direct to Taiwan,” a four-film presentation including two features and two shorts. Explore the rich diversity of Taiwanese cinema in this dynamic collection of stories.
We invite you to join TaiwaneseAmerican.org in supporting the Asian and Asian American arts community by virtually attending the films and festivities!
Join us at these screenings:
TAIPEI SUICIDE STORY, directed by KEFF
Taipei Suicide Story | Directed by KEFF (2020) | Drama
Language: Mandarin Chinese with English Subtitles | Length: 45 minutes
At a suicide hotel in Taipei, a receptionist (played by Tender Huang) and a hotel guest (played by Vivian Sung) find their lives crossing at an unexpected intersection. As he begins to defy hotel guidelines and as her emotions begin to rapidly complexify, the pair form an unusual friendship — one that is necessarily transient and yet, perhaps resultantly, strangely profound. Directed by KEFF, TAIPEI SUICIDE STORY tells a gripping tale that reflects on the confluence of unshakeable isolation and genuine human connection — and how the stakes of that relationship are heightened at the precipice that delineates between life and death, and across the immutable passage of time.
TAIPEI SUICIDE STORY, a film by KEFF won the Slamdance 2021 Narrative Grand Jury Prize Award, Audience Award and Acting Prize for the star of the film, Tender Huang.
About the filmmaker: KEFF is a Taiwanese American writer/director and a recent graduate of the NYU Graduate Film program. His first short, “Secret Lives of Asian at Night”, was supported by the Spike Lee Film Fellowship, and award the Jury Prize for Best Asian American Film by the Director’s Guild of America.
Radio! Ready Oh! | Directed by Hong Zipeng | Comedy
Language: Mandarin Chinese with English Subtitles | Length: 94 minutes
On a serendipitous New Year’s Eve, a young interviewee lands a position at a company by mistake and encounters a series of quirky events. The only person who can save this miserable situation is locked in the storage room. While a radio station is facing bankruptcy, an evil cult is out for revenge, and a gathering of crazy DJs, a new battle is about to begin. It is believed that all problems would be resolved before the clock strikes 12, but with this New Year, here come new problems.
About the filmmaker: Director: Tzu-Peng HUNG graduated from Shin- Hsin University, Department of Film and Media study. His works are various, including horror movies like CIRCLE OF NOOSE and TV dramas like THE FEARLESS. RADIO! READY OH! is his first feature focusing on comedy, semi-based on his past personal experiences. He would like to use this title to cheer up the world, for there is always the silver lining.
Swingin’ | Directed by Shang-Sing Guo | Coming of Age Stories, LGBTQ+ (Shorts)
Language: Mandarin Chinese with English Subtitles | Length: 20 minutes
When sixth-grader boy Qiu is bullied in school for having gay dads, his stepfather Howard, a flamboyant Jazz trumpet player, must confront his own nightmares of childhood bulling before he can provide his son a feeling of security. Swingin’ is the first dramedy/music film of its kind since Taiwan became the first (and only as of today) country in Asia to legalize same-sex in 2019.
About the filmmaker: An alumnus of Berlinale Talents and NYU Graduate Film Program, GUO writes, directs and acts for both film and theatre. Notable works include: Kong Peh Tshat or: How I Learned to Tell a Lie (2012) that competed in festivals including Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, and: Only Meal of the Day (2010) that traveled to festivals worldwide.
Kuroshio Current | Directed by Kun-Yu Lai | Shorts (World Premiere)
Language: Mandarin Chinese with English Subtitles | Length: 20 minutes
A man searches for the amulet his mother gave him before he left for America. He embarks on a surreal journey where he faces his regrets as well as his new future. Writer/director Kun-Yu Lai perfectly captures the sorrow that lies within the immigrant experience, where starting anew creates both tragedy and opportunity.
About the filmmaker: Graduated from Chapman University Film Production, Kun-Yu Lai is a multi-functional filmmaker base in the U.S. Using emotional connections as bones and Taiwanese elements as fresh, he dedicates making films to discuss the people and the society. His works have been selected by San Diego Asian Film Festival, Bolton Film Festival, and The Lift-off Sessions.
CAAMFest on Demand will feature 80+ films available for people to watch at their own convenience between the festival dates. Most of the films will include pre-recorded Q&A’s and shorts will be curated into 14 programs.
Free Films & Events: https://caamfest.com/2021/free-screenings-and-events/
How to View CAAMFest On Demand: https://caamfest.com/2021/how-to-on-demand/
CAAM, the Center for Asian American Media, presents CAAMFest, celebrating 39 years of Asian American stories, May 13th through 23rd in San Francisco and online. CAAMFest offers a diverse showcase of live streaming, on-demand, and drive-in programs featuring emerging and veteran filmmakers from around the world. For showtimes and tickets, go to CAAMFEST.com.
74 years have elapsed since the 1947 February 28 Massacre in Taiwan, when building resentment over inflation, constant military occupation, and police brutality culminated in an island-wide protest. When local Taiwanese leaders demanded administration reforms, free elections, and accountability for government corruption, the Chinese Nationalist army began a violent campaign to impose martial law, executing teachers, students, and commercial leaders. An estimated 20,000 were killed.
It would be an oversimplification to suggest that all roads lead back to 228; but everything at stake, everything the Taiwanese people fight for today, is colored by the griefs and violences this incident enacted. From Taiwanese solidarity with Hong Konger’s protests against police brutality to the creation of a 228 Memorial Park and Museum in Taipei, resistance today requires two components: mission and memory. Taiwan’s experiences of state-sponsored amnesia in the aftermath of 228 have become, powerfully, the subversive genetics of its very spirit.
Overseas, especially in Taiwanese American communities originally activated by a blacklisted diaspora, 228 feels like a permanent cultural marker. Sandwiched between the jubilance of Lunar New Year banquets and the pride of Taiwanese American Heritage Week, 228 programs are solitary fixtures of community solemnity. The older generations congregate over shared trauma: family members they have loved and lost, classmates who have disappeared, heirlooms never recovered. For the younger generation, myself included, “remembrance” is a staggering imperative. It requires memory, testimonial of something we have never truly witnessed. The legacy of 228 feels both embedded into the very fabric of my family history and mythologized oceans, decades away. I admit, for all that we are begged to remember, what we know at all feels so fragile, a generational game of telephone.
The degrees of separation are accumulating: my sister and I were born and raised in the United States, conscious but without firsthand context. Our parents were children during martial law; their memories of 228 are thus tethered to an adolescent understanding of classroom crime and punishment. Years from now, our children will be even further removed. The family histories will seem ancestral– healed over time, but deeply, so deeply buried.
So I ask: what does remembrance look like for us, and for future Taiwanese Americans?
Today, my remembrance will look like learning, leveraging the memories of others when my own feels incomplete. Every year, we ask each other to “remember 228.” Let this be our collective tender, gentle reminder that the prerequisite of this is knowledge, of bearing witness to the scholarship and works of others.
To that note, we’ve curated a (by no means exhaustive) list of resources about 228 for our current and future selves. We hope you’ll begin your memorial experience here.
(Transcript) On February 28, 1947, the arrest of a cigarette vendor in Taipei led to large-scale protests by the native Taiwanese against the corruption and repression of Chiang Kai-shek’s Chinese Nationalist government, which had come over from China after Japan’s defeat by the Allied forces in 1945. Following the protests, troops that Chiang’s government secretly sent from mainland China rounded up and executed an entire generation of leading figures, including students, lawyers, and doctors. Scholars estimate that up to 28,000 people lost their lives in the turmoil. During the “White Terror” of the subsequent years, the Nationalists ruled Taiwan under martial law, which ended only when democratization set in during the mid-1980s. The “228 Incident” remains a defining event in the political divide that exists in Taiwan today.
“In this sense, the 228 Massacre still has many lessons to teach us today. It is another question, however, whether these lessons have been learned. That being said, it is not without reason that the historical legacy of the event remains contested.”
How did the Formosan people get to know what exactly happened in the year 1947? At that time, there wasn’t any internet, television, so people could only know by press and radio. By the horizon of Formosan intellectuals, we shall witness the story of the 228 incident. (English Translation: Kuan-Wei Wu 吳冠緯, Zong-You Ke 柯宗佑)
Since the lifting of Martial Law in 1987, the Taiwan government has not formally issued a finding on the truth of the “White Terror Period.” Therefore, it is still unclear who perpetrated state violence and how many victims were tortured, imprisoned, or even executed during the authoritarian period. The current scope of the truth investigation also lacks a gender perspective as there are no comprehensive documents about historical accounts of women’s victimization under authoritarian rule. This lack of a comprehensive truth investigation of past wrongdoings makes the current discourse on transitional justice an easy target of political manipulation that could impede social reconciliation. Immediate legal reforms on access to the national archives could offer opportunities to usher in a new era for transitional justice by building a foundation for a historically accurate and comprehensive collective memory, hence a new narrative for Taiwan’s future.
Taiwan Bar was founded in 2014 as a digital content creator dedicated to making topics such as Taiwan’s history, law, and philosophy easier to understand. In this video, Taiwan Bar approaches the 228 Incident from a political, economic, and cultural perspective to provide a fundamental understanding of the events and circumstances that culminated in the massacres. (Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles)
When we commemorate the 228 Incident, we’re not just talking about what happened on February 28, 1947. 228 marked the beginning of the era known as the White Terror. In a follow-up video, Taiwan Bar delves deeper into the actions of the oppressive government and how we got to where we are today. (Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles)
Children, parents, and grandparents sit down to talk about their memories of the 228 Incident and what role it plays in their lives. (Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles)
One of the leaders of the Sunflower Movement in 2014, Lin Fei-Fan, draws attention to indigenous activists, who fight for a community oft overlooked in the discussions of transitional justice.
Each year, on the eve of 228, memorials of Chiang Kai-Shek are vandalized in protest against the dictatorship of the past. James X. Morris comments on the symbolism of these actions and how the rest of the Taiwanese public has reacted to these statements.
Martial law has ended, and open discussion of the White Terror has been encouraged more and more. With the words “transitional justice” being thrown around in conversations, what exactly does that mean for Taiwan?
Inspired by actual events, American political thriller Formosa Betrayed portrays the terrifying reality of life during the White Terror. After the murder of a Taiwanese professor, an American agent is sent to Taiwan to track down the killer. In the process, he unravels the complex (corrupted) political structure set in place by the Kuomintang government.
Set in 1962, in the midst of the White Terror, Detention started out as a video game, and was later adapted into a movie. During the era of censorship and restriction of free speech, a high school teacher secretly holds a study group for banned books. When the teacher disappears, the students find themselves trapped in the empty school, and as demons emerge, they are left to face the truth of their school’s dark history.
“We are in year seventy-two of revolutionary time and counting. This is the moment that the nascent, unrealized Republic of Taiwan lives or dies. Whether we will reach year seventy-three or year one hundred depends not least on the investment of those who care about Taiwan and their commitment to meeting the challenges and contingencies that fortune will throw our way.”
“February 28, 1947 seems so long ago when you’re only eighteen. But the shadow of the martial law remains, and I see it in my grandparents and in my parents. For my peers, whose families never left Taiwan, martial law defined their lives and informed their memories. They weren’t allowed to talk about it. The government distorted the facts. And now that cracks are forming in the propaganda, they no longer know how to talk about it. It’s one thing to learn about a politically fractured country. It’s another to live in it, to have a shattered sense of history and identity.”
“How one feels about the 228 incident becomes the guiding factor in the formation of their political position. This holds true for an entire generation, and the generations to come.”
All year long, we enjoy showcasing the best and most promising of Taiwanese America (and Taiwan). It has been our proud mission to highlight the amazing stories and people of our community. During this most challenging year in the midst of a global pandemic, inspirational stories have kept our spirits up. Now, with the year’s end in sight, the annual superlatives lists have started popping up, and we’ve taken note. During the past couple of months, what started out as a simple list to remind ourselves what to share with you soon became a longer list of Top 10’s, Top 20’s, and Best of 2020 articles. It’s been a lovely thing seeing that so many mainstream sites and publications have been recognizing notables from our Taiwanese American community, too. So instead of creating our own list, we share with you some of the lists that have caught our attention. Take a look, click through, and share this list of lists with your friends and family!
BOOKS We get a warm fuzzy feeling when our Taiwanese American author friends finally get the recognition they deserve. Still trying to figure out what to read when you hunker down during the winter season or what gift you’d like to send someone dear to your heart? Check out these works that have made some prominent lists:
FILMS Are you less of a reader and more of a screen person? Well, we understand. Check out some of these memorable films by Taiwanese American and Taiwanese directors, which made some notable cuts.
OTHER MEDIA It says something when Taiwanese Americans venture into all corners of the entertainment media world. After all, increasing our representation starts with exploring our roots, original storytelling, and challenging stereotypes–from script to stage to spotlight. We’re super proud of the reach these creatives have extended.
Two Horny Goats podcast by Roxy Shih and Priscilla Liang (aka Priska)
FOOD & DRINK Who doesn’t love some good food? Basically, Taiwanese food anywhere and everywhere makes our Taiwan #1 lists anytime. Although it may be a novelty to folks unfamiliar to our culture and influences, we’re pleased when we get some mention at all… even if it’s for a ramen list or some fusion recipe. If someone learns about Taiwan, we’ll still drink to that! Cheers!
Eric Sze and Andy Chuang–co-founders of 886 Restaurant in NYC
TAIWAN’S CHANGE MAKERS Past and present, let’s not forget the influential Taiwanese who have helped shape Taiwan’s trajectory on the international stage. Moreover, during a year where democracy and freedom have come under scrutiny in light of a global pandemic, Taiwan definitely deserves accolades for the shining beacon and fine example it represents. We begin by paying respects to the father of Taiwan’s democracy who passed away in 2020–former president Lee Teng-hui.
President Lee Teng-hui (January 15, 1923 – July 30, 2020)
IN OUR EYES, TAIWAN IS #1 So, fine. For some reason, Taiwan came in at #3 on a list of COVID-resilient countries. But for those of us who have been following Taiwan’s successes and strategies under the leadership of President Tsai, former Vice-president Dr. Chen Chien-jen, and Taiwan’s CDC, we know that Taiwan is the only place in the world right now that is normal. And, their COVID stats are beyond admirable. But, keep at it. Be excellent, and more will continue to notice.
Well, that’s it for now–the best of “the bests.” Did we miss any lists that you’ve come across? Let us know! Hopefully, we’ll see more friends and folks whom we’ve come to admire over the years. We know in time even more Taiwanese and Taiwanese Americans will continue being applauded on mainstream lists in acknowledgement of their work and impact.
Save 10% on Formosa Chocolates with code “TAORG” + ‘Formosa’ cooler as free gift with purchase on all orders with a dozen or more bonbons
Shop Miss Modi’s “Taiwan Street Food Collection” (10% of net proceeds benefit TaiwaneseAmerican.org at no additional cost to you)
Support independent bookstores and TaiwaneseAmerican.org by purchasing print books from Bookshop.
COZY DRINKS: A TASTE OF TAIWAN FOR THE HOLIDAYS
01. Us Two Tea | Authentic, loose-leaf Taiwanese tea sourced from second generation farms
“Us Two Tea represents the second generation of Asian Americans – an Asian founded and owned tea brand that promotes our culture, values, and lifestyle. We are a brand that represents quality, authenticity and unity. We want to inspire our next generation to be more confident about our culture and stay true and authentic to who they are – to be proud of being an Asian American.”
02. Té Company Tea | Fine Taiwanese tea, sourced from small farmers & showcased in a casual, friendly atmosphere
“What we find so interesting about Taiwanese teas is how they are shaped by its people. A beautiful batch of tea comes from a wonderful marriage between the bounty of the land and the skillset of the tea maker. For example, historical events like the Japanese occupation had a major impact on Taiwanese culture and technological advancement, including tea making. Our Iconic Taiwanese Teas set consists of six teas that each represent a part of Taiwanese heritage, while some of our other teas showcase the innovation of a younger generation of tea makers.”
Pictured Editor’s Pick: Formosa Collection | $75.00 for 6 x 10g teas, illustrated cards
03. Wild Rising | ‘Soulistic’ apothecary, fine blends inspired by classic Chinese & Western herbalism
“We are California grown, second gen Taiwanese-American kids that were raised on Chinese herbs and alternative healing. Through this humble little online shop, we hope to carry out a heart-centered mission of love, heritage and high vibrations to serve your soul.”
04. The Formosa Coffee | Taiwan-grown, New York-roasted coffee
“The coffee beans we use come directly from our farms on the mountains of central Taiwan at an elevation of 3,500-4,000ft. Grown in volcanic soil, our beans produce an exquisitely smooth taste without the bitterness and strong acidity. It is a mild coffee perfectly balanced in flavor and aroma. We roast every order on the day of shipping in New York, which means you always get the freshest coffee at peak flavor.”
GIFTS THAT KEEP ON GIVING: TAIWANESE AMERICAN SMALL BUSINESSES WITH SOCIAL IMPACT
05. Brave Gals | An empowering community where moms can feel safe and supported to chase their dreams
“We’re a company that seeks to innovate motherhood. We empower moms to know that their dreams, time, passions are all valid. We also want to bring the community together to raise awareness and give back to something very dear to our hearts, which are foster care and adoption. 10% of our proceeds will be donated to foster care and adoption. These causes help kids and young adults receive the support they need as they are in the search of their families.”
06. Project Formosa | High schooler-founded, proceeds donated to Vox Nativa
“Over the summer of 2019, we volunteered for Connexpedition, an organization that brings high school students to indigenous areas of Taiwan to teach underserved children English. Specifically, we were a part of the Vox Nativa branch of the program. Vox Nativa is a children’s choir and school based in the mountains of the Nantou Province of Taiwan. Most of their students are aboriginal kids ranging from elementary to middle school from villages around the area with the voices of angels. Founded in 2008, they have two simple goals: to improve the lives of those within the poverty stricken aboriginal communities and to promote aboriginal culture and pride through the voices of these gifted children. Throughout this experience, we’ve built connections and bonds that will last a lifetime and have inspired us to give back to these children and the program. With Formosa, our mission is to continuously sell products where we can donate profits to these children who have touched our hearts forever. All of our scrunchies are handmade with love and care, and we hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed the process of making them!”
LITTLE & LUXE: SMALL LUXURIES FOR LOVED ONES (INCLUDING YOURSELF!)
07. Formosa Fine Chocolates | Belgian technique, American artistry, Taiwanese hospitality
“We at Formosa Chocolates proudly produce luxury chocolates in the San Francisco Bay Area with Belgian technique, American artistry and tastes, and Taiwanese hospitality and gift-giving tradition. Whenever possible, we use local sustainably-sourced ingredients. We aim to create a stylish and sophisticated chocolate experience that gifters will be proud to present to recipients.”
08. ILHA Candles | Fragrant, hand-poured soy candles, made with love in Queens, NY
“Shop our custom scent we created in collaboration with TaiwaneseAmerican.org, an organization that connects and represents the diverse experiences of the next generation of the Taiwanese American community.”
09. Cathy Erway’s “The Food of Taiwan: Recipes from the Beautiful Island”
“Acclaimed author Cathy Erway offers an insider’s look at Taiwanese cooking–from home-style dishes to authentic street food. While certain dishes from Taiwan are immensely popular, like steamed buns and bubble tea, the cuisine still remains relatively unknown in America. In The Food of Taiwan, Taiwanese-American Cathy Erway, the acclaimed blogger and author of The Art of Eating In, gives readers an insider’s look at Taiwanese cooking with almost 100 recipes for both home-style dishes and street food. Recipes range from the familiar, such as Pork Belly Buns, Three Cup Chicken, and Beef Noodle Soup, to the exotic, like the Stuffed Bitter Melon, Oyster Noodle Soup, and Dried Radish Omelet. Tantalizing food photographs intersperse with beautiful shots of Taiwan’s coasts, mountains, and farms and gritty photos of bustling city scenes, making this book just as enticing to flip through as it is to cook from.”
10. Yun Hai Shop 雲海 | Premium ingredients for Taiwanese pantries
“Yun Hai 雲海 offers a selection of premium ingredients for Chinese and Taiwanese cooking. We source directly from artisans, farms, and soy sauce breweries in Taiwan. Terrain, technique, history, and humanity come together in the traditional foods we distribute.”
11. Mama Liang’s | Bringing Taiwanese comfort food to your home
“Our family passed down traditional and popular Taiwanese recipes over two decades ago and we shared with patrons at our Cupertino restaurant, Liang’s Village. Our classical flavors draw inspiration from a heritage of family recipes and creative innovation. Our brand is part of the Taiwanese food revolution and we want to set the standard for those who are not afraid of bold cultural dishes of creative innovation. We are the leaders in bringing modern Taiwanese food out into the open for those to enjoy conveniently at home and can’t wait to keep everyone’s bellies full.”
12. Yoseka Stationery | Curated Asian stationery in Brooklyn, NY
“Yoseka Stationery is the US branch of Yoseka, which was founded in 1981 in Taoyuan, Taiwan, where I (Neil) grew up. My wife (Daisy) and I started Yoseka Stationery in 2017 as a way of introducing Asian stationery to the US. ”
13. 886 | New York influenced Taiwanese food with locally sourced ingredients
“886 is Taiwan’s international calling code. A concept by Eric Sze and Andy Chuang aiming to fuse their Taiwanese upbringing with American modernization.”
“I realized there are a lot of talented women jewelry designers from my Asian heritage who aren’t able to cross the cultural gap to America. So I started Miss Modi to serve as that bridge. As food is typically the first bridge between cultures and given the worldwide popularity of Boba and Xiao Long Bao, our Taiwanese Street Food collection literally flew off the shelves when we debuted it in Los Angeles last year. For me as a Taiwanese American, it truly made me so proud to see that these little things that bring back sweet, warm memories of my life in Taiwan were now so widely loved and accepted by non-Taiwanese here in America.”
15. Mogutable | Curated, well-made objects for everyday life
“We are Yingchi and Yuchen, the people behind Mogutable. Originally from Taiwan, we are a Brooklyn-based sister duo. Our shop features a selection of unique, well-designed, aesthetically-pleasing objects, sourced from our favorite artisans, locally and internationally.”
17. Glowie Co | Authentic Asian beauty products from Taiwan, Japan, and Korea
“Having come from seven years at Sephora HQ, Annie brought extensive experience working on launches for brands such as Dyson and the Ordinary. To bring T-beauty to the masses, she and fiancé Phil Tamaki, formerly in marketing at Taiwanese company ASUS, joined forces with two other co-founders whose existing importing and logistics infrastructure put Glowie Co instantly ahead of much of the competition. Glowie Co customers often rave on social media about the store’s prompt and professional shipping. In a market plagued by slow fulfillment times and frequent issues with vendor reliability, that’s a breath of fresh air.”
“This all began because I really needed to create something again. After working as a television documentary producer for over 10 years, I had taken an extended leave to parent full-time. While that experience has had its own magic, I can’t seem to quit producing one way or another. Now I produce the loveliest soap, and get to immerse myself in a world where art, science, and a little bit of alchemy collide. I grew up on the west coast of Canada, and now I live on the north shore of Massachusetts, so I harbor a deep love of mountains, trees, and nature. It gives me great pleasure to take inspiration from that, as well as from my Taiwanese heritage.”
GIFTS TO IMPRESS: SOMETHING SPECIAL FOR YOUR SOMEONE SPECIAL
20. The Wax Apple | A collection of handcrafted goods and everyday objects from Taiwan
“Grandmother had a driver who had taken her around for thirty years, and he was my ride too if I wanted to go out to the countryside. She would always want to come, though. Grandmother was never a homebody. I don’t think she’d spent a whole day inside her entire life. We’d go out to look around and she’d be on her phone calling people, like cousins and father’s accountant’s wife. How could they say no about joining us for lunch? She had been a teacher in the small town where she met my grandfather, and together they had traveled everywhere. One trip, she brought back gold rings with elephant hair embedded in them. She gave me one, and I found another rummaging through her things, and wear them both every day. If you went over to her house, grandmother would ask, “Did you eat yet?” and suddenly there would be pineapple cake or maybe a sliced wax apple, stuck with tiny forks. The Wax Apple is all the things that are like a day with my Grandmother in Taiwan.”
23. Uniqlay Ceramics | Reimagining handmade tableware to celebrate diversity, culture, and deeply-rooted family traditions
“Though the food we eat is a big part of our identity, culture and heritage, tableware options available are falling behind. Even though so many brands have made loud statements on diversity, there isn’t a whole lot of action. Celebrating cultures and representing minority female artists underpins everything we do at Uniqlay Ceramics. I am a firm believer that your culture and how you eat should be a source of comfort and pride. ”
24. Happy Masks | Face masks with sewn-in and washable nanofiber membrane
“Happy Masks has always been a family affair. Twenty years ago in Taiwan, my father partnered with a scientist (and family friend!) to develop a powerful nanofiber membrane filter. The SARs epidemic in 2003 then inspired them to create a face mask with this technology to protect against the airborne virus. We created Happy Masks because we wanted to make these masks available for all families. Whether it’s going to the grocery store or visiting a grandparent, our mission is to make it possible for you to do the things you love with the people you love.”
25. Bitty Bao | Bilingual board books, by Taiwanese American mamas
“In our own book finding experience, we found it difficult to come by many options for cute Chinese bilingual books, with pinyin, zhuyin, and traditional characters that showcase our culture while supporting language learning at all levels.”
26. Hello Prosper | Building bridges for stories lost in the Asian diaspora
“Educated in the Quaker school system in small town outside of Philadelphia, founder & creative director, Kelly Lan, believed there is a light in everyone – and Asian women like herself – should be celebrated and seen in popular culture, history books and art. As a proud daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, she believed in order to prosper, one must feel grounded. Learning about the lost history of our ancestors through the arts can minimize the built up of confusion for our youth and the next generation to come. Kelly began mobilizing communities around a common purpose and shared vision of co-ownership. Hello Prosper was built out of necessity — to pursue the unanswered questions that society has overlooked and encouraging families to break the culture of silence. We make products and educational materials that serve the needs of our community and keep the value we create.”
27. [Preorder] Eyes that Kiss in the Corners by Joanna Ho, ill. Dung Ho
“A young Asian girl notices that her eyes look different from her peers’. They have big, round eyes and long lashes. She realizes that her eyes are like her mother’s, her grandmother’s, and her little sister’s. They have eyes that kiss in the corners and glow like warm tea, crinkle into crescent moons, and are filled with stories of the past and hope for the future. Drawing from the strength of these powerful women in her life, she recognizes her own beauty and discovers a path to self love and empowerment. This powerful, poetic picture book will resonate with readers of all ages and is a celebration of diversity.”
28. [Preorder] I Dream of Popo by Livia Blackburne, ill. Julia Kuo
“From New York Times bestselling author Livia Blackburne and illustrator Julia Kuo, here is I Dream of Popo. This delicate, emotionally rich picture book celebrates a special connection that crosses time zones and oceans as Popo and her granddaughter hold each other in their hearts forever.
I dream with Popo as she rocks me in her arms. I wave at Popo before I board my flight. I talk to Popo from across the sea. I tell Popo about my adventures.
When a young girl and her family emigrate from Taiwan to America, she leaves behind her beloved popo, her grandmother. She misses her popo every day, but even if their visits are fleeting, their love is ever true and strong.”
36. Yoseka Stationery | Curated Asian stationery in Brooklyn, NY
“Yoseka Stationery is the US branch of Yoseka, which was founded in 1981 in Taoyuan, Taiwan, where I (Neil) grew up. My wife (Daisy) and I started Yoseka Stationery in 2017 as a way of introducing Asian stationery to the US. ”
37. Fomato | Stationery by Taiwanese American Emmie Hsu
“I grew up in Kansas and spent several summers in Taiwan, where my sisters and I wandered around eating street food, petting stray dogs and scratching our 200+ mosquito bites, and then going into stationery shops and rubbing our grimy hands all over their beautiful cards, stationery and stickers. The interesting items we drooled over in those shops inspired me to start this line.”
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before meets The Farewell in this incisive romantic comedy about a college student who hires a fake boyfriend to appease her traditional Taiwanese parents, to disastrous results, from the acclaimed author of American Panda. Chloe Wang is nervous to introduce her parents to her boyfriend, because the truth is, she hasn’t met him yet either. She hired him from Rent for Your ‘Rents, a company specializing in providing fake boyfriends trained to impress even the most traditional Asian parents. Drew Chan’s passion is art, but after his parents cut him off for dropping out of college to pursue his dreams, he became a Rent for Your ‘Rents employee to keep a roof over his head. Luckily, learning protocols like “Type C parents prefer quiet, kind, zero-PDA gestures” comes naturally to him. When Chloe rents Drew, the mission is simple: convince her parents fake Drew is worthy of their approval so they’ll stop pressuring her to accept a proposal from Hongbo, the wealthiest (and slimiest) young bachelor in their tight-knit Asian American community. But when Chloe starts to fall for the real Drew–who, unlike his fake persona, is definitely not ‘rent-worthy–her carefully curated life begins to unravel. Can she figure out what she wants before she loses everything?
Three generations of Taiwanese American women are haunted by the myths of their homeland in this spellbinding, visceral debut about one family’s queer desires, violent impulses, and buried secrets. One evening, Mother tells Daughter a story about a tiger spirit who lived in a woman’s body. She was called Hu Gu Po, and she hungered to eat children, especially their toes. Soon afterward, Daughter awakes with a tiger tail. And more mysterious events follow: Holes in the backyard spit up letters penned by her grandmother; a visiting aunt arrives with snakes in her belly; a brother tests the possibility of flight. All the while, Daughter is falling for Ben, a neighborhood girl with strange powers of her own. As the two young lovers translate the grandmother’s letters, Daughter begins to understand that each woman in her family embodies a myth–and that she will have to bring her family’s secrets to light in order to change their destiny.
A chance discovery of letters written by her immigrant grandfather leads Jessica J. Lee to her ancestral homeland, Taiwan. There, she seeks his story while growing closer to the land he knew.
Lee hikes mountains home to Formosan flamecrests, birds found nowhere else on earth, and swims in a lake of drowned cedars. She bikes flatlands where spoonbills alight by fish farms, and learns about a tree whose fruit can float in the ocean for years, awaiting landfall. Throughout, Lee unearths surprising parallels between the natural and human stories that have shaped her family and their beloved island. Joyously attentive to the natural world, Lee also turns a critical gaze upon colonialist explorers who mapped the land and named plants, relying on and often effacing the labor and knowledge of local communities.
Two Trees Make a Forest is a genre-shattering book encompassing history, travel, nature, and memoir, an extraordinary narrative showing how geographical forces are interlaced with our family stories.
2020 National Book Award winner – From the infinitely inventive author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe comes a deeply personal novel about race, pop culture, immigration, assimilation, and escaping the roles we are forced to play.
Willis Wu doesn’t perceive himself as a protagonist even in his own life: He’s merely Generic Asian man. Sometimes he gets to be Background Oriental Making a Weird Face or even Disgraced Son, but he is always relegated to a prop. Yet every day he leaves his tiny room in a Chinatown SRO and enters the Golden Palace restaurant, where Black and White, a procedural cop show, is in perpetual production. He’s a bit player here, too, but he dreams of being Kung Fu Guy–the most respected role that anyone who looks like him can attain. At least that’s what he has been told, time and time again. Except by one person, his mother. Who says to him: Be more.
Playful but heartfelt, a send-up of Hollywood tropes and Asian stereotypes, Interior Chinatown is Charles Yu’s most moving, daring, and masterly novel yet.
David Tung Can’t Have a Girlfriend Until He Gets Into an Ivy League College | Ed Lin
In David Tung Can’t Have a Girlfriend Until He Gets Into an Ivy League College, novelist Ed Lin conjures up “a fast-paced, acid-tongued, hilarious teen drama for our age,” says Marie Myung-Ok Lee, acclaimed author of Somebody’s Daughter and Finding My Voice. Both playful and wryly observant, Ed Lin’s YA-debut explores coming-of-age in the Asian diaspora while navigating relationships through race, class, and young love. David Tung, our nerd-hero, is a Chinese American high-school student who works in his family’s restaurant, competes for top grades at his regular high school located in an upscale, Asian-majority New Jersey suburb, and attends weekend Chinese school in NYC’s working-class Chinatown. While David faces parental pressures to get As and conform to cultural norms and expectations, he’s caught up in the complicated world of high school love triangles–and amid these external pressures is the fear he will die alone, whether he gets into Harvard or not!
A stunning, heartbreaking debut novel about grief, love, and family, perfect for fans of Jandy Nelson and Celeste Ng.
Leigh Chen Sanders is absolutely certain about one thing: When her mother died by suicide, she turned into a bird.Leigh, who is half Asian and half white, travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. There, she is determined to find her mother, the bird. In her search, she winds up chasing after ghosts, uncovering family secrets, and forging a new relationship with her grandparents. And as she grieves, she must try to reconcile the fact that on the same day she kissed her best friend and longtime secret crush, Axel, her mother was taking her own life.Alternating between real and magic, past and present, friendship and romance, hope and despair, The Astonishing Color of After is a stunning and heartbreaking novel about finding oneself through family history, art, grief, and love.
Taiwan in 100 Books is the distillation of hundreds of titles and decades of reading into a riveting narrative of Taiwan from the early seventeenth century to the present. Long-time resident John Ross, the author of You Don’t Know China and Formosan Odyssey, delves into the most acclaimed, interesting, and influential books on Taiwan, along with some personal favorites. Most entries are non-fiction works originally published in English (translated Chinese-language books will be covered in a separate upcoming title). Relive Taiwan’s most dramatic historical event in Lord of Formosa and Lost Colony. Learn about the White Terror in A Pail of Oysters, Green Island, and Formosa Betrayed. Discover dated “time capsule” accounts such as Flight to Formosa and Taipei After Dark, and others like John Slimming’s Green Plums and a Bamboo Horse that have stood the test of time. Turn the pages of obscure books such as The Jing Affair and Dragon Hotel, undeserved best-sellers like the The Soong Dynasty, and some of the best academic works. Experience unique facets of life in Taiwan in Shots from the Hip: Sex, Drugs and the Tao and Barbarian at the Gate: From the American Suburbs to the Taiwanese Army. Follow authors on their quests, whether conservationists going undercover to expose the illegal wildlife trade, adoptees returning to find their biological parents, or foodies in search of the perfect beef noodle soup. Taiwan in 100 Books is an accessible introduction to works on the country and and an enjoyable shortcut to understanding the country’s history and culture. It’s also a bibliophile’s elixir packed with the backstories of the authors and the books themselves; there are tales of outrageous literary fraud, lost manuscripts, banned books, and publishing skulduggery.
Becoming Taiwanese: Ethnogenesis in a Colonial City, 1880s to 1950s | Evan N Dawley
What does it mean to be Taiwanese? This question sits at the heart of Taiwan’s modern history and its place in the world. In contrast to the prevailing scholarly focus on Taiwan after 1987, Becoming Taiwanese examines the important first era in the history of Taiwanese identity construction during the early twentieth century, in the place that served as the crucible for the formation of new identities: the northern port city of Jilong (Keelung).
Part colonial urban social history, part exploration of the relationship between modern ethnicity and nationalism, Becoming Taiwanese offers new insights into ethnic identity formation. Evan Dawley examines how people from China’s southeastern coast became rooted in Taiwan; how the transfer to Japanese colonial rule established new contexts and relationships that promoted the formation of distinct urban, ethnic, and national identities; and how the so-called retrocession to China replicated earlier patterns and reinforced those same identities. Based on original research in Taiwan and Japan, and focused on the settings and practices of social organizations, religion, and social welfare, as well as the local elites who served as community gatekeepers, Becoming Taiwanese fundamentally challenges our understanding of what it means to be Taiwanese.
The Taiwanese United Fund is a non-profit organization dedicated to sharing Taiwanese culture and heritage, by organizing events that spread or support Taiwanese arts and culture, and by providing grants to people and organizations who share this mission of spreading Taiwanese culture and heritage. Find out more about TUF at their website.
Gifting a donation on behalf of someone this holiday season is a great idea for your friends or family who love supporting Taiwanese arts and culture, or just like to support the Taiwanese American community.
TUF is providing small tokens of appreciation for your support and generosity:
Every donation over $10 will receive a Taiwanese winter-themed card featuring the artwork of Taiwanese-Canadian artist Jackie Chang.
Every donation over $50 will receive a copy of a soon-to-be-published biography of Taiwanese-American community organizer and philanthropist Wu Li Pei.
TaiwaneseAmerican.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization registered in the State of California. We are run by an all-volunteer staff, and we are supported by personal funds and passion.
Please consider supporting TaiwaneseAmerican.org by making a monetary donation. All donations are tax-deductible, and letters acknowledging your donation will be sent by the end of the fiscal year.
FEATURE IMAGE: HELLO FROM TAIWAN, dir. TIFFANY FRANCES
We are beaming with Taiwanese American pride as our stories come to life and are being projected across the country! A global pandemic may have paused in-person film festivals and gatherings in America, but that hasn’t stopped organizers from creating virtual film festivals accessible to a wider audience. Lucky for us because there are more than a handful of excellent Taiwanese and Taiwanese American films being showcased by several organizations or annual film festivals in the next month that we think you’ll appreciate. We’re also pleased to see that a couple of the shorts focusing on the Taiwanese American experience that we’ve sponsored (Ahma & Alan, Hello from Taiwan) are being showcased. And, special shout out to the Taiwanese American Film Festival in LA, now in its 4th year.
For your convenience, we’ve gathered highlights and provided some links to guide your way to all these virtual gems. Browse through and discover some amazing stories and award-winning films. Then, grab your popcorn (chicken) and bubble tea, and enjoy the show in the comfort of your own home!
HOME WITH TAIWAN CINEMA: Love & Hope Now through December, 2020 hosted by the Taiwanese American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Chicago in collaboration with Asian Pop-up Cinema INFO: https://www.asianpopupcinema.org/love-hope COST: FREE
TAIWAN SHOWCASE Friday, October 23 – Saturday, October 31, 2020 hosted by the San Diego Asian Film Festival INFO: https://sdaff.org/2020/taiwan-showcase/ COST: $8 per film, VOD
TAIWANESE AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL Saturday, October 24 hosted by Taiwanese American Professionals in Los Angeles INFO: https://www.taff.la/ COST: $50 All Access Pass or $17 per block or feature film / Watch Party
UNSPOKEN TAIWAN Sunday, October 25 – Saturday, October 31, 2020 hosted by East Asian Studies Center at Indiana University, Bloomington INFO: https://taiwan.indiana.edu/ COST: FREE, VOD, links provided after registration
TAIWANESE AMERICAN FEATURE FILM Thursday, November 5 – Saturday, November 15, 2020 hosted by Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival INFO: https://paaff.org/# COST: $10, VOD
Jeff is the CEO of Turing Chain and author of the best-selling blockchain online course in Taiwan. He is a scholar at Blockchain X-Lab and Global fellow at Clinton Foundation Global Initiative.
Schedule (in PDT timezone): 8:00 to 8:15pm: Introduction of NATEA-SV & Dosudo 8:15 to 9:05pm: Jeff’s talk 9:05 to 9:15pm: Q/A 9:15 to 9:30pm: Open Mic/virtual social
This is a joint-event organized by: Dosudo (讀書肚) and NATEA Silicon Valley Chapter (北美台灣工程師協會矽谷分會)
The United States Census is a count of everyone living in the United States mandated by the U.S. Constitution. It only happens every 10 years! A few key things to remember:
You count, regardless of citizenship status. The 2020 Census does not ask whether you or anyone in your home is a U.S. citizen, and the law prevents the census bureau from sharing your information with law enforcement.
Your answers are used to create statistics about our country. It will not be used to determine eligibility for government benefits. Every answer to every question is strictly confidential.
There are three ways to complete the 2020 Census. The form will be available online, by phone, and by mail. Online and phone responses may be completed in Chinese.
If you are from Taiwan or have Taiwanese heritage, we urge you to remember to check the “Other Asian” box and write in “Taiwanese.”
In 2010, our estimate for Taiwanese Americans and Taiwanese living in the United States was 500,000 people, but our official Census count was only 215,441. Under-counting is a common problem for Asian American communities because the count depends solely on self reporting – so please also tell your family and friends about completing the 2020 Census!
Now more than ever, we are witnessing the importance of the Census count as we go through the COVID-19 crisis. The stimulus bill for COVID-19 has set aside money to help states and hospitals, but how much money is allotted to your state and hospitals depends on the data generated by the upcoming Census.
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 to share an anecdote/advice, or nominate a small business/organization we can highlight.
We’ll be sharing submissions/features from around our community in the post, updated daily. Please note that, unless otherwise stated, we are not affiliated with these businesses/organizations and do not receive commission if you choose to make a donation or purchase.
How they’re helping: Taiwanese restaurant Love Bao, based in North Carolina, donated 100 popcorn chicken bentos (YUM) to communities in need this week.
How they’re helping: Funded by community donations, Taiwanese restaurant 886 has been donating delicious bentos to local New York City hospitals. They’re also fundraising for their staff (link at their Instagram bio).
How they’re helping: Madeleine Editions, launched by Taiwanese American Eva Lou, is offering their entire award-winning collection of multimedia, multilingual stories for children 3-8 completely FREE until March 27th. Download them now via any Apple device, and they’re yours to keep forever.
How they’re helping: Taiwanese American business owner Stephen Chen and his company are giving away free UTI testing kits (including free shipping) so that friends and family can test from home in an effort to alleviate hospital/emergency crowding.
How they’re helping:TAP‘s (Taiwanese American Professionals) Seattle chapter donated Taiwanese lunch boxes (from Monga Cafe) to EvergreenHealth’s health provider and staff.
How they’re helping:YiFang Fruit Tea in Chinatown NY set up a GoFundMe where they raised money to send meals, drinks, and N95 masks to NYU Langone Tisch Hospital and to Harlem Hospital.
Cindy Chu & Creative Queens | Creatives/Small Business
Ways to support: Cindy’s Patreon supports her new podcast, CREATIVE QUEENS, which highlights women of color creatives, as well as her other screenwriting projects that are dedicated to better representing Asian Americans and WOC. QUEENS also has a merch store.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B85DW4lJyuJ/
Lillian Liming Calligraphy | Creatives/Small Business
Ways to support: Lillian is a New York-based modern calligrapher who shares this beautiful art form through thoughtfully designed creative workshops and events. She has free printables on her website right now, as well as digital calligraphy worksheets for purchase.
Ways to support: Taiwanese American musician Peter Lin has an online store for his digital works, as well as a YouTube channel, Yardbird Entertainment, that hopes to bring jazz to a wider audience and empower other musicians to create opportunities in their own communities.
Ways to support: This luxury handcrafted chocolatier by Taiwanese American Kimberly Yang is still accepting online orders and local pickup in Emeryville, California!
Ways to support: Rayna is a Boston-based calligrapher, illustrator, and educator who explores and shares Taiwanese culture through teaching Chinese calligraphy classes and her avator character – Leon The BearBot. She has a free coloring page of Leon The BearBot on her website right now, as well as stickers for purchase.
Ways to support: Wear First is a Taiwanese-family owned apparel company selling primarily men’s shorts and t-shirts. Fun fact about the company: 25% of their employees have been with them since day 1 of when the brand was created, April 1994! Items on the site are currently all 30% off!
Ways to support: Stephanie Shih is a Taiwanese-American ceramist who explores Asian American nostalgia through recreating “the Chinatown grocery stores of [her] youth”. Visit her website to learn more!
Ways to support: Felicia Liang is a New York-based artist who shares Asian American food, travel, and culture through her illustrations. You can support her on her Etsy page!
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.” If you are inspired to do the same, or have also incorporated independent research on Taiwan into any of your schoolwork, we’d love to share your work!
The Taiwanese Tourism Bureau is a government agency under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications of Taiwan; they’re responsible for developing and executing tourism plans and policy for the country. Since its establishment in 1972, the agency has launched numerous advertisement campaigns in hopes to garner greater interest towards the country. The campaigns typically consist of a digital component, such as a video, as well as a physical component, such as the event hosted in Manhattan each year called Passport to Taiwan. In my research paper I will be specifically focusing on the videos of the advertising campaigns, comparing how the content has changed from 2006 to 2018, reflecting the perspective the Bureau hopes for how foreigners view Taiwan.
In 2006, the Tourism Bureau launched an advertising campaign called Ilha Formosa: Taiwan will Touch Your Heart, which includes a video on the various aspects of Taiwan. The program first begins with outlines of people which then morph into the letters that spell out “Taiwan”. The video then shifts over to clips of tourist attractions, such as the iconic Taipei 101 and Sun Moon Lake. Afterwards, picturesque scenes of nature appear on the screen. A flock of egrets, more commonly known as herons, fly across the lake followed by a picture of Penghu, an island shaped like a double heart. Various clips of cultural activities then appear on the screen such as the performance of pili, a traditional glove puppetry show, and the customs of an Aboriginal tribe. The video then features recreational activities, like going to the beach and mountain biking, followed by traditional foods like soup dumplings, hot pot, and beef noodle soup. Finally, pictures of people from all socioeconomic and geographic backgrounds appear smiling with the Taiwanese Tourism Bureau’s information displayed on the screen. All the while, the song “Ilha Formosa” is playing in the background.
The Bureau’s 2018 advertising campaign Touring Taiwan by Train, which has garnered over 15 million views on YouTube, also features a video showcasing various aspects of Taiwan. It first begins with a text message popping on the bottom right hand corner of the screen stating, “Made it to Taiwan!” with a clip of the Taoyuan International Airport in the background. The video continues to introduce Taiwan to the viewers through this text messaging format while showcasing various locations and things to do around the island. For instance, in the middle of the video, a person’s hand appears on the screen, straying over fields of grass. The text message “just discovered the aboriginal culture” pops up in the bottom right hand corner while a group of Aboriginal women sing and play the triangle while walking through the field of grass in the background. The words “Love me some culture [heart eyes emoji]” appears as the women dance. The video then ends with a train traveling through a forest with the words “Taiwan: The Heart of Asia” in the center of the screen.
Both the videos from the Tourism Bureau display aspects of Taiwanese culture that are meant to introduce the country as an appealing travel destination. With aspects of food, transportation, and culture in each video, the Bureau hopes to market the country as one rich with culture and activities. However, closer analysis suggests that the agency in 2018 may be marketing tourism in Taiwan as a photo opportunity rather than a cultural experience. The 2006 video places more emphasis on food, culture, and experiencing Taiwan for oneself. However, the 2018 advertisement draws attention to speed and modernity of the country that have the ability to produce many “Instagrammable” opportunities, taking photos deemed worthy of posting.
Local cuisine is an essential component in Taiwanese culture, as represented in both tourism videos. The foods included in the videos vary widely – from the street vendors at night markets selling local eats to fine dining. One thing stays certain, there is an appreciation that has yet to be developed for the cuisine. However, in recent years, instead of marketing Taiwan’s local eats, the Bureau has placed emphasis on food that looks delicious on camera but may ultimately lack cultural authenticity. One of the most prominent examples is in the Bureau’s introduction of boba or milk tea, originally founded in Taiwan and is thought to be the symbol of the country. Traditionally made of milk, tea, and tapioca pearls, boba is considered as one of the most popular drinks across the world today. However, there are vast differences in the representation of the drink in the 2006 advertising campaign in comparison to the 2018 direction, losing some cultural significance in the process.
In the 2006 advertising campaign, the video showcases the making of the drink instead of the final “look,” the arguably photogenic appeal of boba. The ad first showcases a tin machine shaking up and mixing the ingredients together. The mixture is then poured from the tin can into a glass cup. Showcasing the process of making the drink in the video emphasizes the Bureau’s attention to cultural experience. It brings the viewers along to understand how boba is authentically made instead of just displaying the final product.
It seems to suggest the vast opportunities to take pictures in Taiwan as one food item can produce four “Instagrammable” photos.
However, in the 2018 campaign’s representation of boba, there is an extremely different representation of this symbol of Taiwan. The video showcases four variations of “boba” in succession after setting the scene of being in a brightly lit and colorful night market. The first clip is that of an artificially looking green drink that ombres from light to dark with lychee chunks on the bottom. The second is that of another artificially colored drink, this time a bright red liquid, doubling up on toppings with lychee chunks and tapioca pearls. The third is of a more traditionally looking milk tea that has tapioca pearls floating on the top and sunk at the bottom of the cup. And finally, the last clip is of an ominous ombre blue drink with a red maraschino cherry on top with lychee chunks. None of these drinks have the appearance of an authentic boba drink, whether that is because of its artificial coloring or its use of too many toppings. In addition, its rapid succession of clips, as well as the colorfulness of the drink seems to be pointing out all the photo options one can have just a from a single food item. It seems to suggest the vast opportunities to take pictures in Taiwan as one food item can produce four “Instagrammable” photos. This modernized approach to introducing boba is culturally callusing, carelessly treating the culture of Taiwan as a photo opportunity instead of a collection of experiences with rich historical significance.
Tourism in Taiwan has become marketed as a photo opportunity, as showcased in the changes in content and emphasis the Taiwanese Tourism Bureau’s 2006 campaign compared to that of 2018’s. Tourists are not expected to gain a cultural understanding after the visit to the country – the pictures are what counts. The 2018 video showcased a plethora of photo opportunities with its picturesque inauthentic cuisine without displaying the process of how the food came to be, as the 2006 video depicted.
However, there is no real evidence that by having advertising campaign videos such as the one the Taiwanese Tourism Bureau has released is effective in achieving its goals – whether that be the mission in 2006 for tourists to immerse oneself into the Formosan culture or that in 2018 where the Bureau encouraged tourists to go to picturesque locations. Therefore, I consulted Jane Tung’s article “Key Success Factor in Implementing Marketing Strategies in Tourism Industry” to further understand whether the videos implemented such strategies for it to be effective. Although the article does not touch on the strategies used by the Bureau specifically, Tung is a professor at Taiwan’s National Chi Nan University and conducted her research through Taiwanese travel agencies.
Tung explains that the most important strategy in marketing for the tourism industry is market information collection. As a key component in market determination, the strategy involves acquiring information specific to the target audience and aiming all efforts towards them. The breakdown of potential markets was showcased distinctively in the 2018 advertisement campaign, whereas in the 2006 video, there seems to be weak execution of such strategy. In 2018, the Bureau implemented the use of text messaging throughout the video acting as both captions and descriptors. In fact, the first thing the audience sees on the screen is the caption “Made it to Taiwan!” with an airplane flying above and the view of the Taoyuan International Airport terminal. Text messaging is often seen as the symbol of the progressive 21st century as well as the face of the new generation. Therefore, the 2018 video seems to identify their market as millennials who are deeply connected with their social circles – texting and posting about their travels. On the other hand, the 2006 campaign by the Bureau seems to lack the strong market identification demonstrated by the 2018 campaign. In 2006, there doesn’t seem to be a segmented audience the agency wants to target as it displays footage from all the different things one can experience in Taiwan. For instance, the campaign includes clips of nature historically used to target older generations, bar-hopping used to target millennials, and street eats used to target low-budget travelers. Regardless of how accurate its depiction of Taiwan is, the 2006 campaign’s failure to identify its target may render the video as less effective in advertising tourism when comparing it to the 2018 advertisement.
Therefore, the main message of tourism in Taiwan being a photographic opportunity is more pronounced than that of an experience-based vacation.
In accordance with Tung’s argument that the most effective strategy of a marketing campaign is to define the market using market information collection, the 2018 advertisement campaign seems to be more effective in doing so than the 2006 one. Therefore, the main message of tourism in Taiwan being a photographic opportunity is more pronounced than that of a experience-based vacation.
However, throughout the 2018 advertisement campaign, the reason for why these photo opportunities exist is because of the destination or attractive product the visitor is holding. Often times the product comes in the form of souvenirs as it also another means to “show-off” one’s vacation other than posting pictures. According to Jo-Hui Lin, Yi-Ting Chang, and Yu-Ru Tsai of Taiwan’s National Chiayi University, “shopping is a good way to experience a different culture and purchasing souvenirs provides a way to evoke journey memories when tourists return home and remember their travel experiences”. Their article “Explore the Locality and Meaning of Tourist Souvenirs: Evidence from Taiwan” explores what “locality” means in souvenirs as well as its capacity for visitors to understand the culture of the destination.
The article explains that the word “local” is often used to describe “food, festival, or policy” rather than materialistic goods. Therefore, in order to adapt this concept to an item, such as a souvenir, the seller must transfer “‘local characteristics’ into tourism souvenirs appropriately” (Lin et. al 80). When done so correctly, it can “strengthen the link between local features and tourists’ experience, and then extend the timeliness of tourist’s memories” (Lin et. al 80). However, the authors point out that many of the souvenirs now are mass produced for maximizing profit. In doing so, it creates cookie-cutter memorandum that are not necessarily representative of the individual experience at the location. They seek to capture the generic outlook in order to relate to a wider audience, thus creating a uniformed cultural experience for all. This uniformity is showcased in the 2018 Bureau’s advertising campaign. In the trip to the night market, the video showcased eight varieties of food. This is significantly less than the number of dishes showcased in the 2006 marketing advertisement: twenty-three. The 2006 video suggests that visitors can create their own experience at the night market due to the sheer variety offered – one does not have to consume only the iconic dishes but also ones that may not be as well-known. On the other hand, the 2018 campaign places a greater emphasis on fewer dishes which limits the amount of knowledge given to a potential tourist, thus creating uniformed experiences.
The article “Explore the Locality and Meaning of Tourist Souvenirs: Evidence from Taiwan” helps explain the 2018 campaign’s message of not needing to understand the culture when visiting. Their lack of variety showcased seems to generate a uniformed experience among tourists as it limits their scope of potential things to do. Tourism in Taiwan is one-size-fits-all as visitors are expected to have the same experience due to the limited amount of information the government presents to tourists. Understanding the culture is not necessary, it seems, as long as the photos of well-known and traveled destinations have been taken.
The uniformity of cultural experiences the 2018 campaign seems to be advocating for due to the lack of variety then calls for a greater attention to the experiences mentioned. Since there is a limited scope of places and activities done, each adventure should be precise and accurate to reality. Therefore, it is important to compare the advertisements in order to determine how realistic the videos are. However, having the 2006 campaign be the benchmark for measuring how realistic the representation of the activity is, in the 2018 video is not necessarily accurate. This is because the 2006 advertisement has not been proven to be an exact replica of Taiwan, rather it showcases the variety of what the country has to offer. Therefore, I utilized Chang Pong’s article “Taiwan Will Touch Your Heart” in order to act as the benchmark for this comparison. The article largely advocates for the tourism in Taiwan through its many descriptions of activities and experiences of the island. In addition, Pong claims that the country prides itself for its “humane touch” and “holistic experiential approach”, or one that “satisfy the human being’s five basic senses” (Pong).
One of the experiences that the Bureau claims is a must when visiting Taiwan is the National Palace Museum. Pong explains that the Museum houses over 700,000 pieces of ancient Chinese artifact, all of which are “a product of uncanny workmanship” (Pong 5). She explains that in order to understand each piece fully, one would have to “visit it every three months for about 30 years” (Pong 5). The appreciation one should derive from visiting the Museum is evident in Pong’s description. This perspective of the National Palace Museum is echoed in the 2006 advertisement clip of the destination. The video first showcases the glory of the structure of the museum itself, then scans over to that of a terracotta soldiers, and finally ending with the infamous The Jadeite Cabbage: a piece of jadeite carved into the shape of a Chinese cabbage head. There seems to be an underlying respect of such artifacts as the camera zooms close to the pieces to showcase its detailing.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6ULpiqnNVX/
However, in the 2018 campaign, the video of the National Palace Museum does not carry the same respect as the 2006 one has for the Museum. The first clip showcases the exterior of the Southern Branch of the National Palace Museum in Chiayi, Taiwan which is not the location the Museum is known for. Most of the important and well-recognized artifacts are in the Taipei location, its original location. It then scans over to a stone sculpture of Buddha and then to the infamous Meat-shaped Stone: a piece of banded jasper carved into the shape of a dongpo pork, a famous dish in Taiwan. On the bottom left hand of the screen, the words “Did you see the pork belly stone?” pop up, which is not the official name of the artifact. It then goes on to show the hands of the “viewer” holding a fork on one hand and a knife on the other. The text message, “Can I take a bite? [winky eye emoji]” pops up on the screen on the bottom right hand side. We then see a museum worker profusely shaking her head and hands, smiling a little, and bowing to us, the viewers. This artifact is considered as the most influential and popular piece in the National Palace Museum is often highly regarded as a must-see before leaving Taiwan. Therefore, the artifact is deeply respected by Taiwanese locals whose behavior is expected from visitors, as Pong’s description says so itself. However, this carelessness in not addressing the artifact name correctly as well as the misappropriation of wanting to eat this piece of art showcases how the 2018 campaign culturally callouses Taiwan’s image. When comparing it to that of Pong’s article about the National Palace Museum, the 2018 advertisement seems to be misrepresenting the destination as a place of fun and casualness instead of respect, as showcased in the 2006 video.
The content of two advertisement campaigns as released by the Taiwanese Tourism Bureau showcase its differences in the message the Bureau wants to portray to potential tourists. Although the 2006 Ilha Formosa: Taiwan Will Touch Your Heart campaign does not have a specified target market and thus does not have as strong of a message, the video represents the country well through its various depictions of activities and experiences. On the other hand, the 2018 Touring Taiwan by Train campaign depicts the country as a photo opportunity where visitors can have “easily digestible”, uniformed experiences. In addition, its misrepresentation of experiences is culturally callusing to Taiwan’s image. In recent years, the number of tourists in Taiwan has been growing. According to the Visitor Arrivals statistics by the Taiwan Tourism Bureau, there were 3.5 million visitors in 2006 compared to the 11 million in 2018. It would be interesting and appropriate to investigate how that number reflects onto popular tourism sites. Did the number of tourists who visited Taipei 101, a must see in Taiwan, almost quadruple like that of visitor numbers? Or did it octuple based on the recent advertisement campaign that advocates for uniformity of experiences?
Works Cited
“2018 Visitor Arrivals by Year (1956~ )”. Tourism Bureau, M.O.T.C. Republic of China (Taiwan), 23 February 2019.
“Ilha Formosa – Taiwan Will Touch Your Heart”. YouTube, uploaded by taiwanhuayu, 13 October 2011.
Lin, Jo-Hui et. al. “Exploring the Locality and Meaning of Tourist Souvenirs: Evidence from Taiwan”. Multidisciplinary Academic Conference, 12 May 2018.
Pong, Chang. “Taiwan Will Touch Your Heart”. Ateneo de Manila University, 2015.
“Touring Taiwan by Train – 3 Min”. YouTube, uploaded by Taiwan Tourism Bureau, N.A., 29 March 2018, youtu.be/j9dtTfX7qOs.
Tung, Jane. “Key Success Factor in Implementing Marketing Strategies in Tourism Industry”. Pakistan Journal of Statistics, 2012.
Vivienne Chang is currently a freshman at Washington University in St. Louis, pursuing double majors in Economics & Strategy and Finance. She is an Executive Board member of their Taiwanese Student Organization (TSO) and was previously president of Junior Taiwanese American Student Association at her high school.
