Ever since I was a child, I have been fond of the island of Taiwan. It comes as no surprise. My mother and father fondly bestow on Taiwan a love incomparable even to the American citizens’ affection for George Washington. Growing up in Kaohsiung and Tachia, they lived through the era of Chiang Ching Kuo. My mother frequently recounted to me her childhood experience of diving desks during air raid drills and being beaten for speaking Taiwanese in the classroom. My father often discussed to me the classroom propaganda against China propagated by Chiang Ching Kuo. Both described the lack of free speech, the impediments to personal liberty, and the strict behavior dictated at school. Over the years, my parents saw the privilege of witnessing a gradual transformation. Seeing liberalization as Taiwan’s passport to the future, they both campaigned vigorously for Peng Ming Ming in the election of 1996. Although I do not remember anything about it, my parents tell me that I attended a rally with an inflatable sign cheering on the Democratic Progressive Party. In the elections of 2000 and 2004, my parents wildly cheered the crucial victories for the Taiwanese people. However, upset at Chen Shui Bian’s lost opportunity to declare independence once and for all, they became frustrated. They lamented the downward spiral of the economy which descended Taiwan into the disastrous 2008 election.
As my eyes grew wider, I inherited a zeal for the island of Taiwan and its people. I was only ten months old when I first visited Taiwan. As a juvenile, my jejune attempts to understand Taiwan lacked progress. Over the years I have come to appreciate my background. As a toddler, I traveled to Taiwan every summer to visit my relatives in the cities of Kaohsiung and Taipei. Tired of the monotony of school life in America, I saw my vacations in Taiwan as a chance to enjoy myself and learn about my Taiwanese heritage. I breathlessly admired the picturesque Taroko canyons with hints of red and blue. I felt at peace at Taidong, watching the dark blue ocean calmly wash ashore and descend again. At Taipei, I marveled at the Taipei 101, a staircase into the clouds. In Hualien’s coastal areas, I biked for hours with a fusion of red and purple clouds above me in the sky and a sparkling ocean below. At the docks, my hair billowed behind me and my tongue tasted bits of sea salt. In Kaoshiung, I visited the newly opened Dream Mall, amazed.
Every time I journeyed to Taiwan to visit my cousins, my parents emphasized to me how much my cousins studied. Attending the after-school tutoring courses that lasted into the night, my cousins worked tirelessly. They seemed to study all the time, except when I was around. For a good reason, too, because they progressed academically and learned books as fast as they could. For example, Taiwan’s math curriculum is moved along faster than that of America. In fact, my relatives in Taiwan mailed me math textbooks in order bolster my academics. When my cousins learned to do algebra, I was taught in school how to add, but I learned algebra at home. Refusing to learn less and partly spurned by my dad, I learned math independently of school at home. The math at school became reinforcement. When the final high-school exam drew near, my graduating cousins in Taiwan crammed, worried, and were distressed. Not without reason, of course, for that test determined the rest of their lives. In any rate, the prodigious pressure of Taiwanese students is exemplified by this high school test.
As a student in America, I constantly delved into the depths of science and math, devoting hours and days and years to my enthusiastic joy for learning. My dad, Professor of Computer Science, knew a Taiwanese Chemistry Professor. I was introduced to him in 4th grade, and I began to study electrolysis and the processes of oxidation and reduction under his instruction. Through my years in middle school and high school, science and math have consistently been my favorite subjects. In my sophomore year of high school, I took college-level Calculus and college-level Chemistry classes. In my junior year of high school, I took AP Physics, AP English, AP American History, AP Calculus BC, and AP Spanish. Now, as a senior, I am taking AP Biology, AP Physics C, and Linear Algebra. Although I enjoy learning about all subjects, I can say that science has most interested me. Whenever teachers or friends asked me about my future career, I would always reply that I want to be a scientist. Regardless of my future field of study, I aspire to improve and better the quality of human life through the application of scientific discoveries to create useful real-life applications. During my high school years, I kept in mind the intense academic competition that my cousins experienced in Taiwan.
The summer after junior year, I traveled to Hong Ye, a poor indigenous village in southeastern Taiwan that is known for its little league baseball team, to help the local indigenous Bunong inhabitants. I lived in the local church for two weeks. Hong Ye, about an hour drive from Taidong, was nested on the mountainside. The humidity, heat, and overbearing sun were intolerable. The proper sanitation was not ideal in a tropical, warm environment. And, there was no air conditioner in the village. At Hong Ye, I taught local middle school and high school students English lessons concerning numbers, body parts, verbs, and animals. I was able to discuss with them their experiences of Taiwanese life. They were mostly resigned to their fate as destined to work in the local spa or restaurant. Most of their parents did not have jobs. Few could afford to leave home and attend college. This experience showed me the opposite polar end of Taiwan. The glitz, drama, and luxuries of Taiwanese city life were nonexistent.
As a young baby, my parents proudly brought me to Taiwan to experience their homeland. Growing up, I was enamored with the culture, beauty, and life, traveling by rail to virtually every tourist attraction. As I interacted with my cousins, I became aware of the differences in academics in Taiwan, which I strove to match in America. Growing a bit older, I experienced Taiwan’s political transformation to democracy as a Taiwanese American. Taiwan has grown up with me. Taiwan is part of me. Taiwan is me.
A photo I took while on the road to Hualien from Taitung of the Pacific Ocean.
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