Brief History of Taiwanese Association of Kansas City
Author: Hsi-chi Chang
The Taiwanese Association of the greater Kansas City (TAKC) was established in 1968, and members are from States of Kansas and Missouri. Prior to the formation of the association, about ten families regularly gathered at the house of Dr. & Mrs. T. K. Liaw. The first TAKC President, Steven Chang, was elected in 1968, but when he changed jobs in 1968, Joseph Lee took over as president for the rest of 1968 and continued for a full term in 1969. A brief description of each TAKC President is listed below.
Presidents of the Taiwanese Association of Kansas City
| *Information from before 1994 is from “TAKC 25th Anniversary Presidents’ Commemorative Issue” | |||
| *Prior to 1994, the Kuomintang’s White Terror made it so that those who were elected as President and Vice-president always had to worry about being blacklisted in Taiwan — please refer to “TAKC 25th Anniversary Presidents’ Commemorative Issue” | |||
| Prior to the establishment of TAKC — Some Taiwanese gathered at Dr. & Mrs. T. K. Liaw’s home. | |||
| 1968 | 鄭敏雄 | Steven Chang | Organized the first TAKC softball team. Taiwanese people from other localities, including from Oklahoma, came to watch. |
| 李賜隆 | Joseph Lee | After Steven Chang left for Florida, Joseph Lee took over as President. | |
| 1969 | 李賜隆 | Joseph Lee | Organized seven TAKC meetings. |
| 1970 | 林獻松 | Hsien-sung Lin | Added about 20 families to TAKC. |
| 1971 | 林金蘭 | Chien-lan Liaw | |
| 1972 | 黃邦豐 | Pang-feng Huang | TAKC went to St. Louis to play softball. |
| 1973 | 廖宗凱 | Tsung Kai Liaw | “Let Taiwan be Taiwan” |
| 1974 | 卓正宗 | Cheng-tsung Zhuo | “Filial Piety” |
| 1975 | 蔡慶壽 | Ching-shou Tsai | Added about 30~40 families, around 100-120 people. |
| 1976 | 洪崑山 | Kun-shan Hung | Added about 40 families, held five TAKC meetings. |
| 1977 | 李彥偉 | Yen-wei Li | Visitors from Tainan came to Kansas City.
President moved away at the end of the year. (Vice-president Hua-ching Liu presided over the end of the year party.) |
| 1978 | 劉華慶 | Hua-ching Liu | (Moved away) |
| 謝典招 | Tien-chao Hsieh | Softball Tournament with 200+ attendees. Established a children’s choir with over 20+ members | |
| 1979 | 陳昭雄 | Chao-hsiung Chen | Vive La Formosa!! |
| 1980 | 陳恆烈 | Heng-lie Chen | |
| 1981 | 楊景文 | Jing-wen Yang | Membership increased from 48 to 64 families.
Many activities – including a book exchange. Tsung-yi Lin was elected to be Vice-president, but he left Kansas City before taking office |
| 1982 | 章雲中 | Yun-chung Chang | Rewrote TAKC bylaws; published communiqué, Attended the Kansas Governor’s inauguration ceremony, hosted the end of the year party, played Bingo. |
| 1983 | 高 川 | Chuan Kao | Four TAKC meetings.
The Formosa Incident trial had just ended. Hosted a flower arrangement event. |
| 1984 | 賴其萬 | Chi-wan Lai | First time hosting Tangwai (“outside the party”) politician, Huang Huang-hsiung, for a speech. |
| 1985 | 吳樹民 | Shu-min Wu | Hosted the first discussion with TECO to talk about issues regarding Taiwan’s blacklist and political prisoners.
Invited Taiwanese politicians and writers to give speeches at TAKC. Returned pork floss sent by TECO. |
| 1986 | 楊英育 | Bob Yang | Took over as organizer for the 2nd Annual Plains Region Fall Camp (at Junction City), and invited Annette Lu to attend as the main speaker.
Showed a slideshow of the association’s families during the end of the year party. |
| 1987 | 黃勝美 | Sheng-mei Huang | Hosted Taiwanese Art & Music Appreciation Day and Taiwan Youth Dance Party. |
| 1988 | 蔡芳洋 | Fong-Yong Tsai | Hosted Hsin-liang Hsu and Shun-wu Hung when they came to Kansas City.
Hosted the Kansas City/ St. Louis second-generation Christmas Gala. |
| 1989 | 張鍚清 | Shiching John Chang | Hosted Tangwai figures Yao Chia-wen, Tai Chen-yao, Feng-his Lin, Po-wen Chen, Lao Pao, Ying-Yuan Lee, and Hsin-liang Hsu when they came to Kansas City.
Switched from having families cook for association events to catering or eating at a restaurant. |
| 1990 | 李賜隆 | Tzu-lung Li | Helped with the establishment of the Taiwanese American Citizens League.
People from the sister cities Yilan/Leawood came to visit. |
| 1991 | 高龍榮 | Mark Kao | Told the Director of TECO what the conditions for having a meeting between him and Mark Kao would be: (1) Release Huang Hua, (2) abolition Article 100 of the Criminal Code, (3) Hold a re-election for all seats in the National Congress, (4) Hold a public Presidential election. |
| 郭必盛 | Pi-sheng Kuo | (In the spring, Mark Kao moved to New Jersey.) | |
| 1992 | 郭必盛 | Pi-sheng Kuo | Established Karaoke Night and the North-South Forum.
Got caught in a tornado and a hail storm on the way back to Kansas City from the Wichita Softball Tournament. |
| 1993 | 龔飛濤 | Fei-tau Kung | The Taiwanese Hsiao Hsi Yuan Puppet Theater held a public performance at UMKC. The event had 300+ attendees.
Director Hsi-ching Chang organized the Softball Tournament, and 200+ people attended. TAKC held open talks with Shen Lyu-shun and Ma Ying-jeou from TECO. Fei-tau Kung acted as editor-in-chief for “TAKC 25th Anniversary Presidents’ Commemorative Issue.” |
| 陳定南1994 | 楊理典 | Ken Yang | Hosted a 228 Memorial.
Fei-tau Kung acted as editor-in-chief for “TAKC 25th Anniversary Presidents’ Commemorative Issue.” Established the TAKC Library. Participated in the Independence Day Parade. Founded a women’s softball team and participated in a softball tournament. Hosted the annual meetings for the North America Taiwanese Women’s Association (NATWA) and the Taiwanese Association of America (TAA-USA). Jeffrey Wang gathered elite members of the association together to dress up as cowboys and perform at the NATWA annual banquet. Each of the cowboys were very talented, and Wang’s humor and wit were popular with the entire crowd. |
| 1995 | 蕭義嶺 | I-ling Hsiao | Hosted Chen Ting-nan when he came to visit. |
| 1996 | 高民環 | Min Kao | Hosted the Plains Region Summer Camp, with 250+ attendees. Vice-president Jeffery Wang organized the banquet, with brilliant performances by the Taiwanese chorus, the junior string orchestra, and a play called “How Scholar Tang Po-hu Won the maid Chiu-hsiang” (Shih-chung Hsieh as Tang Po-hu, Jeffrey Wang cross-dressing as Madame Hua, Yu-ping Yang as Chun-hsiang, Yu-lien Yang as Hsia-hsiang, Meng-shan Tsai as Chiu-shan, and Pao-fang Yang as Tung-hsiang.) The performances were exquisite, and the audience was pleasantly surprised. |
| 1997 | 王劍峰 | Jeffrey Wang | (1) Organized a 228 Memorial Event at UMKC, which was hosted by Professor Kun-shan Hung. It was an extremely somber event, with over 120 people in attendance, setting an unprecedented record.
(2) Held the Plains Region Softball Tournament at the University of Missouri in Columbia. TAKC’s team was led by President Wang to victory.
(3) Tzu-hsiang Huang (wife of Dr. Yun-chung Chang) hosted a fundraising party of Tzu Chi Dalin Hospital. Shiching John Chang served as the Director-General, and sister Ching-I hosted the event. TAKC and other organizations made up of people from Taiwan participated in the grand event, totaling an attendance of over 400 people. Singers like Yu Ya, Yang Yen, Chang Chih-cheng, Li Ching-mei, and Ho Tu-lin were invited to attend and help out. President Wang donated $2,000, and “throwing out a brick to attract jade” (a Chinese idiom meaning to attract more contributions), he went onstage to sing “The Past Can Only Be Recalled” with Yu Ya. The performance was received enthusiastically, and a total of $180,000 was raised that night. |
| 1998 | 王建世 | Chien-shih Wang | 4 meetings. Tennis and softball tournaments |
| 1999 | 傅朝暉 | Chao-hui Fu | 4 meetings. Tennis, ping pong, badminton, and softball tournaments. |
| 2000 | 林年松 | Nien-sung Lin | Hosted the Plains Region Fall Camp at Holiday Inn in Olathe, Kansas.
Held a 228 memorial event. Hosted Chen Ting-nan when he came to visit. |
| 2001 | 郭丕明 | Pi-ming Kuo | 4 meetings.
Held a 228 memorial event. Lee Ying-yuan, Deputy ROC Representative to the United States, came to visit. |
| 2002 | 施因澤 | Yin-tse Shih | Collaborated with UMKC to host a performance by the Taiwanese dance troupe, Liao Mo-Hsi Theatre. Hosted tennis and ping pong tournaments, the Taiwan Independence Cup Softball Tournament, and a 228 memorial event. |
| 2003 | 林慶勝 | Ching-sheng Lin | Participated in the exhibitions and performances at the Asian Festival. Hosted tennis, ping pong, and badminton tournaments and the Taiwan cup softball tournament.
Hosted a performance by the Liao Mo-Hsi Dance Troupe from Taiwan. 228 memorial event. |
| 12/17/2003 Taiwanese American Association donated $2021.71 to TAKC from then-President Helen Yang. | |||
| 2004 | 高 川 | Chuan Kao | Participated in exhibitions and performances at the Johnson County Asian Festival.
Created a spectacular Taiwan flag. TAKC and JCCC co-hosted a performance by the Taiwanese Dance Troupe, Liao Mo-Hsi. The Head curator of Academia Historia came to visit. |
| 2005 | 盧肇基 | Chao-chi Lu | Participated in exhibitions and performances at the Johnson County Asian Festival.
Hosted tennis, badminton, and softball tournaments. 228 memorial event. |
| 2006 | 梁錫淇 | Hsi-chi Liang | Participated in exhibitions and performances at the Johnson County Asian Festival.
228 memorial event. Hosted tennis, badminton, and softball tournaments. |
| 2007 | 洪崑山 | Kun-shan Hung | Participated in exhibitions and performances at the Johnson County Asian Festival.
TAKC’s financial resources increased. |
| 2008 | 許金壽 | Chin-shou Hsu | Participated in exhibitions and performances at the Johnson County Asian Festival.
Hosted the Taiwan Independence Cup Tennis Tournament. The dance troupe performed at the St. Louis Plains Region Summer Camp. |
| 2009 | 楊廣平 | Kuang-ping Yang | Participated in exhibitions and performances at the Johnson County Asian Festival.
The TAKC dance troupe performed at the annual meeting. Held the first-ever USA Cup Tennis and Ping Pong Tournament. |
| 2010 | 楊廣平 | Kuang-ping Yang
|
Kuang-ping Yang’s second term
Participated in exhibitions and performances at the Johnson County Asian Festival. The TAKC dance troupe performed at St. Louis Plains Region Summer Camp and the TAKC annual meeting. Held the 42nd Taiwan Independence Cup Softball Tournament. |
| 2011 | 葉宏文 | Hung-wen Yeh | Held tennis and ping pong tournaments, as well as the 43rd Taiwan Independence Cup Softball Tournament.
Attended the St. Louis North America Taiwanese Women’s Association meeting, the TAKC dance troupe performed. |
| 2012 | 張鍚清 | Hsi-ching Chang | 2nd term
Reorganized the TAKC member directory, planning so that it could be used for 2 to 3 years. Reorganized the list of TAKC’s property holdings. 44th Taiwan Independence Cup Softball Tournament and Taiwan Independence Cup Tennis Tournament. Invited non-Taiwanese players to join. |
| 2013 | 陳秋彬 | Chiu-pin Chen | Remodeled the TAKC website.
Held the Lunar New Year’s Singing Competition, Bowling Tournament, a picnic outing in Topeka for the Dragon Boat Festival, tennis matches, the Taiwan Cup Softball Tournament, a potluck for the Mid-autumn Festival, and a White elephant gift exchange at the End-of-the-Year Party. TAKC’s financial resources increased. |
| 2014 | 宋明學 | Ming-hsueh Sung | Established the TAKC Facebook group page.
Hosted a fashion show at the Lunar New Year’s Banquet (sponsored by KC Garment Collective). Held the first basketball tournament. Partnered with MAACA at the first Asian Culture Festival and collectively won the MAACA Partner’s Award with 15 other participating countries. Designed a TAKC member polo shirt and t-shirt. Held a picnic and tour at the Kansas City Zoo for the Dragon Boat Festival. Held a tennis tournament and the 45th Taiwan Cup Softball Tournament. Hosted a Mid-Autumn Festival Dance Party (with a professional ballroom dance performance, dance instruction, and a member dance competition) and a singing competition at the End-of-the-Year Party. |
| 2015 | 施淑芬 | Shu-fen Shih | Participated in the 46th Taiwan Independence Cup Softball Tournament.
Attended the NATWA meeting. |
Source from Hsi-chi Chang 11/2017
Translated from 15. 堪薩斯台灣同鄉會簡介
