Taiwanese Alliance for Interculture (TAI) – Establishment and Major Events
Author: Che-chia Chi
Northern California’s San Francisco Bay Area is strategically located; the scenery is picturesque, and the people have a variety of talents, so it’s a city that is perfectly suited for living in. Around the 1960s, a wave of students from Taiwan came to the Bay Area, and from that point on, there have been Taiwanese students at Stanford, UC Berkeley, and UCSF, and there have also been Taiwanese individuals who, after completing their degrees, began working in major companies.
The early Taiwanese associations were primarily composed of international students at various universities, and the main goal of their activities was to welcome those who had newly arrived in San Francisco by organizing meals and holiday celebrations. In 1972, when the South Bay Taiwanese Association had just been established, its organization and modes of operation were still the same as when it was a student organization. Usually, the Taiwanese community’s social activities were held in different families’ houses, where the host family would provide a simple meal. Old and new friends would gather together, talking about their families or current events and reminiscing about the old days in their home country. These kinds of social activities had been going on for quite some time, but later, people realized that this kind of gathering was rare, and that it would be best to take advantage of this opportunity to study, research, learn from one another, and increase their knowledge.
On August 25th, 1972, a number of creative community members held the first symposium at Ching C. Shir’s home in San Jose. They specially invited Stanford researcher, Chieh-shan Huang, to give the keynote speech on the topic of Taiwan’s household registration system. Since Chieh-shan Huang is profoundly knowledgeable and extremely eloquent, this symposium about Taiwan’s social structure was exceptionally brilliant. The association members felt that they had gained a lot from this symposium, so they recommended that Ching C. Shir and others continue to organize this meaningful activity. In respone to everyone’s requests, the symposium was scheduled to be held twice a month.
After more than half a year had passed, the symposium became more interesting with each iteration. By 1973, the association members who attended the symposium felt that the Taiwanese community in America was an ethnic minority that had been abandoned by their home country and was being ignored by the American government. The Taiwanese people were accustomed to living quietly to protect themselves and submitting under oppression. They were unlike other ethnic minorities, such as the Jewish, Japanese, and Mexicans, who were willing to use their collective power to fight for the rights and benefits that they were entitled to. Everyone realized that it was necessary for the Taiwanese to establish a permanent organization that could gather them around a common goal and collectively express their wishes and desires. This way, they could strive for the status and rights that the Taiwanese people are entitled to, openly promote even more activities, and bring benefits to the Taiwanese community.
On April 6th that year, over 30 association members gathered together to discuss the establishment of a preparatory committee. They elected seven members, Tu Chen, Ching C. Shir, Chieh-shan Huang, John J. Y. Huang, Tung-rung Chuang, Chao-hsiung Tseng, and Yung-hsuan Hsieh, to the Preparatory Committee, with Chia-wen Yao as their consultant and Tu Chen as the convener. On April 21st, Tu Chen called the first preparatory meeting, and began actively preparing. He asked lawyer Chia-wen Yao and Dr. Ching C. Shir to draft the charter.
On May 18th, 1973, welcomed by the warm applause and sincere blessings of 43 community members, a new and independent Taiwanese association, the Taiwanese Alliance for Interculture, was officially established in San Francisco’s South Bay.
On the day of its founding, the Alliance held its first General Assembly meeting. During this meeting, the charter was passed, and the members elected John J. Y. Huang, Tu Chen, Ching C. Shir, Tung-rung Chuang, Wen-liang Ho, Ching-chiang Kuo, and Hung-ming Chen to serve on the first Board of Directors. The Directors then elected a President and Vice-president, making John J. Y. Huang the Founding President and Dr. Tu Chen the Vice-president. The newly elected Directors, Secretary-General Chao-hsiung Tseng, and the heads of each department, in accordance with the mission stated in the charter, focused on the collective needs of the members, working together with a strong and honest resolve to promote various services, establishing a long-term and solid foundation for the Alliance.
The Alliance’s full name in English is the Taiwanese Alliance for Interculture, or TAI for short. From this unique abbreviation, it can be clearly understood that the Taiwanese Alliance for Interculture will never forget its ancestry, and that it will always feel a nostalgic kind of affection towards its home country.
As we all know, in the 70s, when the technology industry suddenly sprung up in Silicon Valley, it created many job opportunities and there were lots of stories of successful entrepreneurs who had started with nothing. Because of this boom, thousands of educated, specialized, and hardworking Taiwanese students came from all around the United States to Silicon Valley, and flocks of smart and capable Taiwanese businessmen followed suit. The Bay Area became one of North America’s major locations for Taiwanese people.
TAI holds many activities, some which are regularly scheduled, and some which are not. These activities have a broad range, covering nearly all topics. We hold seminars where we teach new knowledge: society & culture, political discussions, analysis of current affairs, literature review, taxes & insurance, investment & finances, business management, education, health care, lifestyle lectures, etc. We also have recreational activities: Chess and sports tournaments, alpine skiing, deep sea fishing, picnics, outdoor camping, movie screening, music performances, song & dance activities, fashion shows, etc. These large-scale public events have been very popular among the entire Taiwanese community, which happily participates in them. TAI’s continually enthusiastic attitude towards serving the Taiwanese community was frequently recognized and praised by members of the community. Thus, many of the outstanding and talented Taiwanese individuals who recently moved to the Bay Area for employment or entrepreneurial reasons applied to join the Alliance, with a willingness to work together to contribute to the Taiwanese community. With this addition of new blood, the Alliance became even more active. Gradually, the Taiwanese Alliance for Interculture built up a reputation that spread throughout Taiwanese communities across the North American continent.
As the activities became more and more frequent, their contents and quality continued to improve. With the added costs of TAI’s newsletter, “Sweet Potato,” which was published three times a year and distributed for free to Taiwanese associations across North America, TAI’s operating budget increased. TAI’s budget was mainly made up of membership fees paid by its members, and this small annual fee was no longer enough to cover operating costs. To open up their financial resources, on December 23rd, 1974, the General Assembly passed the English version of the charter, immediately entrusting lawyer Chung-yuan Liu with the task of registering TAI with the California state government as a non-profit organization with no political associations. At the beginning of the following year, they were approved to file, and by the end of the year, TAI obtained a license that exempted it from paying tax on donations, and allowed donors to deduct their donations from their income tax. After this, donations steadily streamed in, making the Alliance stronger than ever.
The Taiwanese Alliance for Interculture is publicly recognized as one of the most powerful and influential Taiwanese organizations and is known both at home and abroad. The Alliance’s strength is derived from its high-quality members, its firm consciousness, its strong centralizing force, and most importantly, a strong organizational structure. According with the regulations of the charter, TAI cannot change the direction of its operations on an individual person’s whims.
The Alliance has a General Assembly meeting, which serves as the source of the greatest power in the organization. Underneath the General Assembly is the Board of Directors is second in power, which is made up of a Secretary-General and seven teams: the Seminar Team, the Communication Team, the Recreation Team, the Youth Services Team, the Finance Team, the Public Relations Team, and the Informational Report Team. Each team has a team leader. Members serve as Directors, Secretary-General, and other administrative positions without compensation. They develop a sense of contribution and teamwork through their volunteer work, building sincere friendships and helping the community.
In accordance with the charter, the General Assembly meeting is held once every year. The President, Secretary-General, and team leaders each submit their respective reports, and the members review these reports and make suggestions, determine the annual budget and guidelines, and elect a new Board of Directors. This format is similar to the democratic politics of the ancient city-state of Athens.
The Board of Directors is made up of seven directors. Each year, the members at the General Assembly meeting elect new people to serve as half of the board, while half continues to serve. This has the dual function of allowing the Board to inherit some experience each year, while also adding new blood. Directors serve for two years and cannot be reappointed. The President and Vice-president are elected by the Board of Directors and can each be re-elected once. These regulations prevent any single individual from gaining too much power and increases the number of opportunities for members to participate in the Alliance’s decision-making process and learn leadership skills.
The practice most worthy of attention, however, is that the Board of Directors holds a monthly joint meeting to plan activities, review affairs, and examine the qualifications of its new members. The Directors and other administrators take turns hosting the joint meeting in their homes, which allows them to build working relationships with one another and cooperate more easily. As a result, many of the members have formed good relationships with one another and have joined together in various joint business ventures. Examples include Solectron, established by Tien-mo Lin and Rui-sung Lin; Komag, established by Tu Chen, Ching C. Shir, and Chun-hsiung Chen; Mayflower Partnership, established by Chien-cheng Su, Chieh-shan Huang, Tien-mo Lin, Wen-pin Ou, and Tung-rung Chuang; Moonbay Associates, established by Chao-hsiung Tseng, Ching-sheng Huang, Hsin-fu Huang, and Chien-cheng Su; Pan Clair, established by Po-wen Shih, Chieh-shan Huang, Wen-pin Ou, Cherng Jia Hwang, and Chien-cheng Su; and many more; there are too many to name here.
Since the establishment of TAI, the Alliance has organized over 1,000 events and trained hundreds of leaders. These elites have become leaders or important officers in various Taiwanese associations. Presidents of the Taiwanese American Federation of Northern California: Chun-hsiung Su, Liang Chuan Peng, Tu Chen, Ching C. Shir, Tsun-liang Chang, Ching-sheng Huang, Wen-yu Tsai, Rung-han Chen, Shih-ming Huang, Wen-liang Ho, I-ren Kan, Andrew Lee, Ri-chang Lien, Wan-fu Liao, Ming-chun Chen, Chi-chang Wu, Shinn-Sheng Chang, and Lung-wen Wang. President of the World Federation of Taiwanese Associations: Tu Chen. Presidents of the Taiwanese Association of America: Tu Chen and Maysing Huang. Taiwanese Association of America West Coast Chairmen: Ching-sheng Huang, Shih-ming Huang, and Shinn-sheng Chang. North America Taiwanese Professors’ Association: Chao Yuan Huang and Wu-nan Lin. Presidents of the Taiwanese American Chamber of Commerce: Winston Chen and Chiu-chu Chiang. Presidents of North American Taiwanese Engineering & Science Association: John Pang Yu and Tien-tun Shih. Democratic Progressive Party West Coast Committee Chairperson: Shun-wu Hung. Democratic Progressive Party Overseas Chinese Affairs Commissioner: Fu-mei Chang. Democratic Progressive Party Public Relations Department: Fang-Ming Chen. Other Bay Area associations like the Professor’s Association, Medical Association, Women’s Association, Senior Association, Taiwanese school, Taiwanese American Citizens’ League, Northern California Taiwanese American Chamber of Commerce, the Folk Arts Troupe, and the Northern California Democratic Progressive Party all have TAI members serving in important positions.
TAI’s Penglai Island Opera Troupe usually performs a social satire for the finale of the Northern California Lunar New Year’s Banquet, with performances like “Story of an Arranged Marriage,” “Story of a Fortuneteller,” “Making Rice Dumpling Soup,” “New Journey to the West,” and “Studying Abroad.” The troupe has also traveled to Seattle and Los Angeles to comfort homesick Taiwanese.
Over the last twenty years, the Taiwanese Alliance for Interculture has donated to the needy a countless number of times, and has also experienced numerous storms. The biggest of these storms is described below:
In early 1975, U.S. President Ford suddenly announced that he would visit China at the end of the year. On May 7th, TAI sent a letter to the White House, calling on President Ford to consider the fate of the Taiwanese people, and to respect the Taiwanese people’s desire for self-determination.
At the end of December 1975, the Kuomintang abused the power of the Taipei City Government, ordering the suspension of a magazine called Taiwan Political Review. They took the article, “The Heart’s Two Directions,” written by Professor Chui-liang Chiu from the University of Queensland, Australia, out of context and twisted the author’s words, suspecting it as trying to incite others into rebellion. Dissatisfied with the Kuomintang’s suppression of the right to free speech, TAI immediately submitted a letter of protest to President Chiang Ching-kuo who, at that time, was vigorously advocating for comprehensive reform, respect for the constitution, and the opening up of free speech. The letter asked him to find time in his busy schedule to investigate this matter and allow the Taiwan Political Review to be reissued as soon as possible. In the end, the letter was like “a stone dropped into the sea” — it was never responded to. On January 23rd, 1976, TAI invited Li Yu-sheng, the Consul-General of the Kuomintang Consulate in San Francisco, to participate in a symposium. The official statement that Li Yu-sheng gave at the symposium was difficult for many Alliance members to accept. They decided to make a resolution; if Taiwan Political Review was not reissued, the Alliance would continue to protest and hold demonstrations. On February 26th, 1977, TAI held a large-scale meeting and demonstration to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 228 Incident. This was the first large-scale Taiwanese demonstration in the Bay Area.
President Carter entered the White House in 1977. On December 15th, 1978, China and the U.S. issued a joint announcement that they intended to establish diplomatic relations, starting on January 1st of the next year. The United States recognized the People’s Republic of China as the only legitimate government and stated that Taiwan was a part of China. On December 21st, TAI sent a letter to President Carter, pleading him acknowledge Taiwan’s 17 million citizens, their right to survival, and their desire for self-determination. The letter was also sent to California Senators Alan Cranston and S. I. Hayawaka, as well as Representatives Paul McCloskey and Norman Mineta.
The Kuomintang’s suppression of native literature in 1977 ignited debate around the issues of unification and independence, and the Tangwai (“outside the party”) democratic movement grew rapidly. In August, the Taiwan Church News Network published a piece titled “A Declaration on Human Rights,” advocating the establishment of Taiwan as a new and independent country. In November, during protests against electoral fraud during the Provincial Assembly elections resulted in the Zhongli Incident. In early 1978, the Yu Teng-fa Incident occurred, ending with the Central Government election at the end of the year. When China and the United States established diplomatic relations on January 1st, 1979, the situation in Taiwan looked gloomy and hopeless. Taiwanese who had traveled to the States and were concerned about Taiwan’s global status were all very worried, and they all wanted to receive the latest news from Taiwan as soon as possible. To serve the Taiwanese community and help resolve such difficulties, TAI established “Voice of Taiwan” to quickly deliver news about Tangwai actions on the island. “Voice of Taiwan” was hosted by well-known announcer, Chieh-shan Huang, who made recordings of recent news from Taiwan with his phone, and broadcasted the messages on a dedicated line, (415) 967-7385, which people could call at any time of day to listen to these messages. After the phone line was set up, it gained a very large audience, reaching people as far as Colorado and Brazil, South America. Later, the line also played an important role in spreading information to help rescue imprisoned victims of the Formosa Incident.
On December 10th, 1979, Tangwai democrats held a Human Rights Day demonstration in Kaohsiung, and the Kuomintang sent out a riot control squad, initially using tear gas to disperse the masses, and then turning to use of the Kaohsiung mafia to help create turmoil. The Kuomintang obscured the truth in the television and radio reports, framing the Tangwai figures as rioters who had injured the military and police officers. They also took advantage of the situation to arrest over 160 elites who opposed the Kuomintang, and shut down a number of Tangwai magazine publishers, such as Formosa Magazine, The Eighties, and Chun Feng (春風). The Formosa Incident was engraved deeply in the hearts of overseas Taiwanese; the entire Bay Area Taiwanese community was filled with indignation, and these all took part in rescue activities and protests. They held three consecutive demonstrations on December 14th, 15th, and 29th in front of the Kuomintang Coordination Council for North American Affairs building in San Francisco. During this time, they also wrote a joint protest letter to the United States central government and Congress, urging them to pay attention to Taiwan’s human rights issues, and to try and understand the circumstances of the Formosa Incident. Within a week after the incident occurred, TAI President at the time, Shun-wu Hung, went to New York to participate in a deliberative assembly between Taiwanese associations. At that time, he was very indignant, and without receiving the approval of the General Assembly, he hastily signed up to participate in the Coalition of Taiwan Independence. The Coalition declared: “Let the Kuomintang Regime completely disappear from this world.” After this, many TAI members faced difficulties when attempting to return to Taiwan. Many members became wanderers who “searched the horizon but could not see home.” This continued to hold true until the amendment of Article 100 of the Criminal Code.
After the Formosa Incident, during the time that overseas Taiwanese people were staging waves of demonstrations, the brutal Lin Family Massacre occurred on February 28th, 1980. Lin Yi-hsiung’s mother and twin daughters, Liang-chun and Ting-chun, were murdered in cold blood. His eldest daughter, Judy Huan-chun, suffered serious injury from six stab wounds, but she was rescued by emergency medical responders. It’s widely believed that the Kuomintang that sent these assassins to carry out this deed, which was “cruel enough to outrage both men and gods.” The Taiwanese still felt resentment towards the occurrences of the 228 Incident, and this incident only added fresh resentment. When the news was reported, overseas Taiwanese boiled with rage, pushing their rebellion against the Kuomintang to its peak. On March 8th, TAI held a memorial service for Lin Yi-hsiung’s mother and daughters at the Sunnyvale Community Center. At this memorial, we comforted the living and severely condemned the murderous atrocities that had been committed by the Kuomintang. After the memorial, we also held a symposium to discuss the Formosa Incident.
Chiang Nan, the author of A Biography of Chiang Ching-kuo, was actually named Henry Liu. Chiang Nan and the Taiwanese community had never had contact with each other, but after the publication of A Biography of Chiang Ching-kuo, which had ignited much discussion, TAI invited Chiang Nan to come and give a speech, called “Chiang Ching-kuo and Taiwan.” After that, we never met again. In the early morning of October 15th, 1984, the Kuomintang sent three underground assassins to San Francisco, all the way from Taiwan, to assassinate Chiang Nan. Unexpectedly, on January 31st, 1985, the World Journal published an article from a Hong Kong magazine, The Nineties Monthly. In early February, China News (中報), International Daily, and a number of other magazines all successively. The article, titled “Seven Secret Intelligence Reports by Chiang Nan, Discussing America’s Taiwanese Independence Movement” claimed that Chiang Nan was a secret agent for the Kuomintang. The article reported that Chiang Nan had falsely claimed that the Taiwanese independence movement in the San Francisco Bay Area was rooted in the local Taiwanese associations and the Taiwanese Alliance for Interculture; moreover, he was quoted saying that Wen-hsiung Chen, Fu-mei Chang, and Wan-fu Liao were all important leaders in the independence movement. The newspapers mentioned did not verify their facts and published these groundless statements, spreading false rumors and causing misunderstandings. TAI immediately wrote letters to each of these newspapers in protest, demanding that they clarify and correct their statements.
The 228 Incident is a wound in the history of the Taiwanese people. Each year on February 28th, TAI and the Formosan Association for Human Rights jointly holds a commemorative event. We can forgive, but we can never forget. On the fortieth anniversary of the 228 Incident, the North America Taiwanese Professors’ Association, Taiwanese Association of America, Taiwanese Culture Society, and the Taiwanese Association for Interculture decided to jointly sponsor the 40th Anniversary of the 228 Incident Academic Symposium to commemorate the 228 martyrs.
The 228 Incident Academic Symposium was organized by Fang-Ming Chen, while Chi-ho Li and Wylie Lee took care of renting and decorating the venue. Additionally, many other TAI members also helped with the preparatory work. On the night of February 27th, TAI hosted a cocktail party to welcome the scholars who had traveled from afar. On February 28th, scholars presented their papers at Syntek Hall Center in Palo Alto. The scholars who attended included Ming Min Peng, Tsung-I Lin, Tsung-kuang Lin, Parris Chang, Chin-I Hsiao, Yen-ren Chien, Shan-yuan Hsieh, Hon-Tze Lin, Fang-Ming Chen, and Fu-mei Chang. It was a very grand occasion. On January 13th, Dr. Chen Yung-hsing, who had just left Berkeley to return to Taiwan, was elected as the President of Taiwan Association for Human Rights. Dr. Chen, Nylon Deng, and Sheng-hsiung Li co-organized the 228 Promote Peace Day event. They gathered together over 40 overseas domestic Taiwanese associations and began a movement to end the taboo surrounding the 228 Incident. They conducted an island-wide protest, held speeches, hosted a memorial service, openly demanded justice for historical tragedies, and built a monument, thus putting the unjustly killed victims’ souls to rest, and bringing peace to the hearts and minds of the survivors. After years of untiring efforts from Taiwanese people both at home and abroad, on March 16th, 1994, the Kuomintang regime finally made the groundbreaking move to build a commemorative monument and agreed that “at the appropriate time” they would issue a public apology to the Taiwanese people, and compensate the families of the victims of the 228 Incident.
Above and beyond the events described above, the Taiwanese Alliance for Interculture has been involved in countless philanthropic acts over the last twenty years. TAI has donated to the Taiwanese Christian Church’s Taiwanese Community Development Project many times, and it has also sponsored the publication of the Chinese version of Taiwan’s 400 Year History and the Northern California School Association for Languages of Taiwan. TAI sponsored the Second-generation Taiwanese Leadership Camp (which has now been incorporated as one of TAI’s events), which has nurtured countless young second-generation Taiwanese people over the years. The Alliance fundraised for the Liang-tse Chang Research Fund, which supported professor Liang-tse Chang’s research about Taiwanese culture. We set up Member Emergency Mutual Aid Fund to help TAI members who urgently needed funds, and each year, the Youth Scholarship is awarded to the children of TAI members with good academic records.
For over twenty years, the Taiwanese Alliance for Interculture has been working hard to put together the strengths of the Taiwanese American community and fight for the rights and status that Taiwanese people are entitled to, and it has continuously fought to defend the Taiwan Democracy Movement. There is already a record of these unforgettable deeds left in Taiwan’s history.
Excerpt from Two Decades of Taiwanese Alliance for Interculture/1994/09
Translated from 37. 台灣協志會成立與大事記/紀哲嘉/2014/09
