Featured Stories

cóng mei guo lai de, by Vanessa Wan

Written by

FEATURE PHOTO PROVIDED BY VANESSA WAN When I was little, I thought I was Chinese. That’s what my parents said when we were asked the inevitable question: “What are you?”  I later learned we were not Chinese.  Assigned to research the flag of my parents’ home country for class, I went home to find out that I needed to check out books not on China but on Taiwan. As it turned out, my parents simply went along with people’s assumptions that we were Chinese because it was “easier.”…

Read More »

“Danny, Danny”: Meet San Francisco filmmaker Huan Cheng

Written by

FEATURE PHOTOS COURTESY OF HUAN CHENG, 2021 San Francisco-based filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist Huan Cheng explores the loneliness of the immigrant experience in her short film Danny, Danny. Cheng, born in Taiwan, draws upon her own experiences of arriving in the United States as a young adult in Danny, Danny, which screened at CAAMFest this year and The Method Fest in 2020, and is now available to audiences again. Cheng is a member of the Hollywood Professional Association 2021 Young Entertainment…

Read More »

Anne Hu’s Short Film “Lunchbox” Unpacks a Complicated Mother-Daughter Relationship

Written by

Independent filmmaker Anne Hu is cooking up a new project rooted in her own experience growing up Taiwanese American in a predominantly white suburb of Cleveland. Titled Lunchbox, this short drama will feature modern-day scenes of a woman cooking the foods from her mother’s cookbook, interspersed with childhood memories of her attempts to fit in with her classmates--and the effects this had on her relationship with her mother.  Writer Grace Hwang Lynch chatted with Anne to find out more…

Read More »

Lithification, and Other Processes, by Dri Chiu Tattersfield

Written by

GRAND PRIZE WINNING ENTRY, COLLEGE CATEGORY “In this subtle and imaginative story, Dri Chiu Tattersfield explores questions of identity, family, foreignness and the body. The writing is nuanced and careful and emotionally grounded, evoking a sense of place and depth of feeling. This is an accomplished work by a promising voice.” -Shawna Yang Ryan and Charles Yu, co-judges of the 2021 Betty L. Yu & Jin C. Yu Creative Writing Prizes. The day my body started disappearing began with…

Read More »

Judges Charles Yu and Shawna Yang Ryan select award recipients

Written by

We are pleased to announce the inaugural cohort of honorable mentions, finalists, and grand prize winners of the Betty L. Yu & Jin C. Yu Creative Writing Prizes, established in partnership with TaiwaneseAmerican.org in honor of Yu's parents, who are longstanding Taiwanese American community leaders. Their work will be published on TaiwaneseAmerican.org throughout the year.  We received a remarkable number of thoughtful, passionate entries, each of which was carefully reviewed and deliberated…

Read More »

Taiwan’s Got It! A Talent Competition for All

Written by

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…

Read More »

Jude Chao: ‘Skin Care for your soul’ and sexy radishes

Written by

“Internet big sister” Jude Chao on how a passion for skincare led her to share more about mental health, wellness, and the art of real living with her debut book and sheet mask line ‘Skin Care for your soul’ and sexy radishes “Internet big sister” Jude Chao on how a passion for skincare led her to share more about mental health, wellness, and the art of real living with her debut book and sheet mask line Chao is a longtime friend of TaiwaneseAmerican.org. In 2019, she shared…

Read More »

Response to Pew Research Reports Hiding Taiwanese Identity: “We made it count. Now tell our stories.”

Written by

Taiwanese American Community Response to Pew Research Reports on Asian American Communities IMAGE SOURCE: PEW RESEARCH CENTER Recently published reports by the Pew Research Center analyzing Asian American communities have included footnotes that data for “‘Chinese’ includes those identifying as ‘Taiwanese.’” As of today (May 1 - the start of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month), the methodology for Pew Research Center’s Asian American fact sheets makes no reference to why…

Read More »

From CAAMFest 2021 and Taiwan Academy: “Direct to Taiwan”

Written by

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,"…

Read More »

Taiwanese Americans: Help Report Anti-AAPI Discrimination

Written by

  Originally published March 2, 2020   I will clarify again that legitimate calls for CCP accountability are NOT at odds with real solutions addressing anti-Asian violence. As a #TaiwaneseAmerican passionate about the nuances of #AsianAmerica, I believe in discourse that is thoughtful enough to be specific. (LC 1/2) — Taiwanese American (@TaiwaneseAm_org) March 18, 2021 Taiwanese Americans, our responsibility here is two-fold: (1) You or someone you know may have been…

Read More »