Taiwanese Americans have a lot to offer the world, but our community has often gone unrecognized. With the help of sites like TaiwaneseAmerican.org, however, that’s going to change.

Founded in 2006 by Berkeley-based pediatrician and Taiwanese-American community leader Ho Chie Tsai, TaiwaneseAmerican.org features the people, events, organizations, and issues making an impact on our world.

Creating the website was “a natural extension of everything I’ve done in my life,” Ho Chie told me. He had been active in the Taiwanese-American community for years, founding a grade-school-aged summer camp at the Taiwanese American Foundation and launching the first Taiwanese American Students Club at his alma mater, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Ho Chie had already made a point of staying connected to Taiwanese America. “Often,” he said, “my Taiwanese American friends would call me and ask if I knew what events were happening in their area, and more often than not, I would know. When I finally had time after my pediatric residency training, I was sitting at a cafe in Berkeley when the idea for a website to answer my friends’ questions just popped into my head. Within two days, I launched the site.”

His vision was a website that would provide a “sense of cohesiveness to our fragmented community,” uniting “Americans of Taiwanese heritage. My hope is that we serve as a platform to bring our community together under one roof.”

The diversity of Taiwanese America has often made cohesiveness difficult. As Ho Chie said, Taiwanese Americans can identify as “Taiwanese Taiwanese, Chinese Taiwanese, Hakka, aboriginal, 1st gen, 1.5 gen, 2nd gen, 3rd gen, 3rd culture, mixed-race hapa…It’s really quite complex and not always rosy.”

He didn’t let that discourage him. “We see our mission as highlighting the common denominator for all these folks. Taiwanese identity is changing, and it encompasses all of us. We’re proud of that and our links to this diverse heritage.”

As a connected community, we can accomplish a lot, as TaiwaneseAmerican.org‘s “Write in Taiwanese” campaign, conducted for the 2010 Census, demonstrated.

“If you’re Taiwanese,” Ho Chie said, “you may have seen it because it went viral.”

The U.S. Census, which happens once every decade, lacks a “Taiwanese” checkbox. Historically, Taiwanese Americans have identified as “Chinese” in the census. Ho Chie said, “We wanted people to know that they had the option of checking off ‘Other Asian’ and writing in ‘Taiwanese.’ The 2000 US Census identified about 144,795 Taiwanese, but we’re pretty sure there’s way more –at least half a million. We felt compelled to contribute to this effort, so we partnered up with the Taiwanese American Citizens League (TACL) to see how we could help get a more accurate count of Taiwanese in the United States,” leading to greater representation.

After some discussion, Ho Chie and the TaiwaneseAmerican.org staff decided to “take the publicity to another level. Our west coast representative Jon Lee, who also was the associate producer for the movie Formosa Betrayed, brought together a team of friends to form a production company, Slideshow Pictures. They wrote a script, produced the project, and brought on filmmaker Karen Lin to direct. Our creative director and web manager, Anna Wu, worked on the website and photo-documentary. I took on the fundraising aspect and outreach. In March of 2010, we launched the project and watched it go viral in days… even on to the news in Taiwan. I think it goes to show how much Taiwanese pride is out there, and we were really proud that we could do something concrete to bring it out.”

Pride and numbers are key to Ho Chie and TaiwaneseAmerican.org‘s mission. “Growing up in the Midwest as a minority,” Ho Chie said, “I probably internalized a sense of shame about being different, about being Asian.” That changed when his parents sent him to a Taiwanese American Foundation summer camp. “By connecting with others just like myself, I discovered a sense of pride in my identity and community.” Along with Ho Chie’s work with Taiwanese-American youth, TaiwaneseAmerican.org helps pay that pride forward. “I really want to serve future generations of Taiwanese Americans in this country and their unique issues.”

Since Taiwan is so important to him, I asked Ho Chie what his most memorable experience there was.

“My last trip in December 2010. I traveled with friends who were also staff members of TaiwaneseAmerican.org, and it was great because I video blogged the entire trip from beginning to end. We explored restaurants, night markets, and met up with Taiwanese celebrities. I just loved every minute of my one week there.”

Ho Chie’s message is simple. “Everyone at any age has something awesome to contribute to this world. Explore your personal passions, think about the unique gifts and skills you have because that will help you find your purpose. But most importantly, determine who you want to make an impact on. Serving the people you care about makes life just that much more fulfilling.”

Ho Chie impressed me with his warmth and dedication to the Taiwanese-American community. He also got me excited about the future of TaiwaneseAmerican.org. “We’ve been working behind the scenes to be more than just a website or Facebook group. We actually have over a dozen board and staff members, contributors and affiliates helping us build the nonprofit organization behind the website.” Of course, he said, “I really couldn’t do it without the help of all these talented folks.”

As we wrapped up, I asked Ho Chie what else he’d like to share with our readers.

“Support sites such as Taiwan543 and all the organizations, events, and emerging superstars in our community. And support Asian America as a whole. We really believe in lifting up others around us. It’s also an excellent way to approach life.”

As a fellow Taiwanese American, I couldn’t agree more.

TaiwaneseAmerican.org
TaiwaneseAmerican.org on Facebook
TaiwaneseAmerican.org on YouTube

Interviewer: Jude Chao
Editor: Tiffany Hsu
Photographer: Anna Wu