today, Tom and i (along with our friend Liane who tagged along) caught a documentary showing in Irvine called “Dear Taiwan” (好國好民). it examines the question of Taiwanese identity amongst the youth of Taiwan today via interviews with several prominent young Taiwanese artists.. musicians, artisans, etc. the entire DVD is on youtube to which i’ve included a link here (its part 1).

to be perfectly honest, i haven’t had many opportunities to share my sentiments about Taiwan, other than to Tom.. so it was refreshing to see that this movement is still very much alive and kicking.. that and even hearing people speak Taiwanese put a feeling inside of me that i haven’t felt for a long time. also, i love old Taiwanese people. 

one of the things i’ve been thinking of recently, is that perhaps that the Taiwanese and Taiwanese-American movements are actually two that differ from each other. i can definitely say that having actually grown up in Taiwan, there is a different sort of sentiment towards “The Homeland”, if you will, than those who were born and raised in America. I’m not saying that i’m better or that i’m more legit (in fact, my mediocre levels in chinese/taiwanese might say the exact opposite), but.. for the most part, its different when you experience a nation’s first presidential election, its different when you’re under immediate threat of attack from another country, and its different when your family has to wait 40 years to discover the truth about the death of a family member.

…and before i get bashed about the whole green vs. blue thing.. lets be reminded that this question of identity goes beyond politics, beyond unification vs. independence, although those topics are never far off. 

some questions for myself have been:
- how do i apply my Taiwanese sentiment to that of the Taiwanese-American movement? 
- will a stronger sense and understanding of Taiwan itself assist in the understanding of Taiwanese-Americans, and where our place is in the American context?
- and of course, there’s the whole question of, where do Taiwanese-Americans lie in the whole Asian-American movement? 

if you know me, have hung out with me for an extended period of time or have read past posts (Origins, Know Your History, and Creation of Ownership/Ownership of Creation) you’ll know that this concept of identity, for myself, and for Taiwan, is more than important to me.. and is a question i feel i will be asking forever. 

thank you if you’ve read everything up to this point.. i hope you find time to enjoy the documentary and hopefully learn something new :)