Brief History of the Taiwanese Association of America, Ithaca, NY
Author: Mei-Hsi Chen
To tell the history of the Ithaca Taiwanese Association, I will begin with when Joseph H. Chen came to Ithaca, NY in 1965 to study at Cornell University (Ph.D.) (served as President), and married me, Mei-Hsi Chen, in 1967. Before us there had been Dr. Chao-hsiung Yeh who had returned to Taiwan to become a professor of civil engineering at National Taiwan University and female Taiwanese Ph.D. students like Shu-ho Wang and Yang-yang Wu. Based on a sense of mutual love and mutual love between fellow Taiwanese people, they came together to relieve their homesickness, eat Taiwanese cuisine, and provide information to Taiwanese students, gathering the Taiwanese students together regularly. This group also assumed responsibility for welcoming new students and sending off the old, as well as holding weddings and festivities.
As time passed, the number of Taiwanese students and their families increased from just over ten people to tens of people. Gradually, there were Taiwanese students with families and young students who came to the “Chinese student’s association.” There was a period of time where the Taiwanese association and the student’s association co-existed. After Mainland China opened up and many Chinese students came to study abroad, automatically joining the “Chinese student’s association,” the Taiwanese students joined with the Taiwanese association and changed their name to “Cornell University Taiwanese Student’s Association.” In the association’s heyday, when counting family members, the association had nearly 300 members. In the 60s and 70s, the association communicated in Taiwanese, but in later years, since the younger people were more fluent in Mandarin, the association members began to mix both languages. However, there were also some who said they specifically came to learn Taiwanese.
In the 80s, as Taiwan’s economy took off, there were fewer students coming from Taiwan to study abroad.
Though the founding members of the association had originally been mostly students, now we were no longer students and had obtained residency status. Thus, the Taiwanese Association was able to grow even stronger, and a generation gap gradually grew between us and the students. Students are self-reliant, and currently, residents make up the majority of the association.
Earlier, a foreign student named Peter Huang had attempted to assassinate Chiang Ching-kuo. Thus, Cornell University had been blacklisted for some time, and no one dared become the Association President; later, the school was removed from the list.
Ithaca had NCR from early on, and Mr. Wu-chuan Tsai, a fellow association member, worked there and settled in Massachusetts after retiring.
Former President Lee received his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics in 1968, and in 1995, returned to the school as an outstanding alumnus, giving two speeches in 2001, and supporting the Taiwanese North American golf tournament where he presented the Lee Teng-Hui Cup as encouragement. President Tsai, who received a Master’s in law, also returned to the school to give a speech in 2008.
Chen Chin-lien, Wu Ching-hsiung (served as Association President), Ku Yuan-kuang, and Chang Hsueh-pin returned to Taiwan after receiving their Ph.D.s and became university presidents. Ph. D. students who became government officials include Huang Ta-chou, Chen Bao-ji, Huang E-chang, Tsay Ting-kuei, Chih-Kung Lee, Pan Shih-wei, Wu Tsung-tsong (served as Association President). Mark Kao, who served as Association President back then, is now New Jersey’s most dedicated contributor to Taiwan.
There is an “Association Newsletter” which was published from time to time, led by Dr. Chao-fu Cheng (lived in Ithaca 1976-2015). He put in a lot of effort for the Association, participating in all the welcoming, sending-off, transportation, and summer activities.
Ithaca hosts two Taiwanese American East Coast Conferences, North American softball and golf tournaments, all of which are sponsored by Mr. Chun-ting Li from Syracuse. Only Ithaca has this strong of a Taiwanese American population.
When Mr. Chen-huan Lin joined the North American Chamber of Commerce, he and his family members, Li-hua Lin (served as Association President) and Li-hung, moved to Ithaca and continue to live here today.
The Liu brothers are all distinguished members of the Taiwanese Association: eldest brother Professor Fu-wen Liu (Cornell University Pomology Ph.D.), Hsien-wen, and Liang-wen (served as Association President). Liang-wen and his wife have since moved to California. Tsung-ren Chen and his wife, who served in the Taiwanese church, were important personnel on Cornell University’s elevator maintenance staff, and have since retired and moved to California. The young and promising Chun-hsien Chen (served as Association President) and his wife, who work in car insurance and maintenance, have been a great help to the Taiwanese community.
Currently, retired professor Tung-mao Yen and currently teaching professor Yung-fu Chang lead the student association, and student activities are managed by them. Chi-chi Hsu, who came to study for a Master’s degree at Cornell in 1968, has stayed in Ithaca ever since.
Along with the development of information technology and the internet, people’s interpersonal interactions have decreased, and the elderly are increasingly overwhelmed and less involved with the community. With the rise of Asian food markets, people no longer have cravings for their hometown foods. Still, however, the alumni, descendants, and relatives of Cornell University Association will continue on. Though the Taiwanese Association may one day become just a piece of history, we must say to ourselves: we did the right thing at the right time and place. Perhaps all of the records will disappear one day, and our glory will disappear, but our spirit will always remain!
Written after August 21st, 2017.
Source, Mei-Hsi Chen 08/2017
Translated from 310. 伊薩卡臺灣同鄉會的簡介 / 程美希 /08/2017
