Taiwanese Americans

A Taiwanese American is an American of Taiwanese ancestry. Whether Taiwanese Americans also count as Chinese Americans is sometimes a controversial political issue. Generally, people from Taiwan do not mind being considered both Taiwanese American or Chinese American; however, there are those that have a strong preference for one over the other.

Immigration

From the late 1950s until the 1970s, many well educated Chinese Taiwanese came to the United States to fill in the brain drain going on at the time, forming the first wave of post-war ethnic Chinese immigration. Their entry into the United States was facilitated by the immigration act of 1965, which removed many of the restrictions against Chinese immigration.

Before the late 1960s, Taiwanese immigrants to the United States tended to be Chinese Taiwanese while later immigrants tended to increasingly be native Taiwanese. With improving economic conditions in Taiwan, Taiwanese immigration to the United States began to subside in the early-1980s. The proportion of Chinese Taiwanese among Americans originating from Taiwan is somewhat higher than in the population in Taiwan.

Taiwanese immigration had decreased by the 1990s, although there still has been some migration to the United States, especially among Taiwanese males who wish to avoid Taiwan's mandatory military conscription or to bypass the stringent academic requirements and extremely competitive nature of Taiwan's universities. This sub-group of Taiwanese immigrants are called "parachute kids", whose parents have sent their children off to the United States to supposedly seek opportunities and to fend for themselves. Some "parachute kids" are settled in affluent communities - for example, in San Marino, California - with a house and a car purchased for them by their parents. The parents usually remain in Taiwan.

Occupations

Most Taiwanese in America are very well educated. They often hold such occupations as doctors, engineers, professors and scientists. Taiwanese Americans also took up positions in America in aerospace, defense, research, academics, and healthcare. Among Taiwanese Americans, medicine is regarded as a particularly high status for historical reasons. During the Japanese administration of Taiwan before 1945, native Taiwanese were barred from politics and administration but were encouraged to become doctors and nurses, leading to this profession being regarded as a high status means of social advancement.

In the 1960s, many Taiwanese Americans chose to make America their permanent home and had children in the U.S. By the late 1970s, improving economic conditions in Taiwan slowed the rate of immigration. During the 1990s, political liberalization in Taiwan encouraged many who had left Taiwan for political reasons to return.

Legally, the children of Taiwanese parents in the United States are considered to be both American citizens and citizens of the Republic of China. Although the United States requires immigrants to renounce their original citizenship, the government on Taiwan does not recognize this renounciation and considers Taiwanese immigrants with American citizenship to continue to be citizens of the Republic of China.

Politics

Politically, Taiwanese Americans play a fairly active role in the politics and culture of the Republic of China which is aided in large part by recognition of dual citizenship. The identity politics of Taiwan also influences at least first generation Taiwanese Americans. Many future Kuomintang officials including Lee Tenghui, James Soong and Ma Ying-Jeou received their education in the United States. On the other hand, the United States was a major destination where anti-Kuomintang figures such as Peng Ming-min and Shih Ming-teh were effectively exiled. Still others including Lee Yuantze were educated in the United States.

The close connections between Taiwan and the United States has led to some interesting political dynamics. From time to time, the issue of loyalty to Taiwan is raised. For example, James Soong has been criticized for having extensive property holdings in the United States and for the fact that his children are American citizens. Similarly, this has been raised as an issue in the feud between Li Ao and Lee Yuantze, whose children are also American citizens. This issue is partly one of socio-economic status as people with extensive connections with the United States are considered richer and more privileged than the average Taiwanese.

However, this issue has not become a large part of Taiwanese political discourse largely because links with the United States are so extensive on both sides of the political spectrum, that no one can use this issue to their political advantage. Both the pan-Blue coalition and pan-Green coalition rely on Taiwanese Americans for votes, and an estimated 10,000 Taiwanese Americans traveled to Taiwan to vote in presidential elections, and both groups campaigned extensively in the United States and held campaign rallies on Taiwan to welcome their voters.

While dual citizens are banned from high political office, there has not been an significant movement within Taiwan to ban dual citizenship in general.

Immmigrants vs. native-born

First generation immigrants from Taiwan usually share a common language, Mandarin, although many also speak the Taiwanese language. As with most immigrants to the United States, linguistic fluency in the heritage language quickly disappears in the second generation.

Settlement

Owing to their relative wealth and education attainment, many Taiwanese immigrants have not settled in the old Cantonese-speaking Chinatowns. Instead, they have generally immigrated directly to American suburbia and in effect, they started new Taiwanese communities. For example, the Taiwanese emigres were instrumental in the development of Monterey Park, California and vicinity and Flushing, New York, which generally reflected new investments flowing into newer Taiwanese enclaves instead of the well-established Chinatowns. While Monterey Park is no longer the major Taiwanese community in Los Angeles today, Flushing remains the main vibrant Taiwanese cultural, commercial, and political center in New York City.

Areas with high concentrations of Taiwanese immigrants include the San Gabriel Valley (Los Angeles), Silicon Valley (San Jose) and southern Orange County in California, and in Houston, Texas. Outside of California, there is also a major Taiwanese concentration in Rockville, Maryland. The Taiwanese population was formerly dominant in Monterey Park, California. The San Gabriel Valley has a larger population of "49er" Taiwanese (also known as Chinese Taiwanese or Mainlanders), essemtially outnumbering "native" Taiwanese. Since the middle 1980s through the 1990s, however, large numbers of mostly 49er Taiwanese Americans began moving out to more upscale neighborhoods like San Marino, California or Diamond Bar, California and vicinity, with poorer immigrants from the People's Republic of China taking their place in Monterey Park.

Similarly, for the past 10 years native Taiwanese have been immigrating to upscale neighborhoods in Orange County. The city of Irvine, California has a very large native Taiwanese population, though now more and more Mainlander Taiwanese and Mainland Chinese immigrants have flocked to the city. The Irvine Chinese School, which serves mostly the American-born children of Taiwanese immigrants, is one of the largest Chinese Schools in the Orange County area.

Organizations

Organizations geared towards Taiwanese Americans include the Formosan Association for Public Affairs and the Intercollegiate Taiwanese American Students Association. In addition, most cities with concentrations of Taiwanese Americans have a Taiwan association.

Taiwanese-American media

The Taiwanese also run several of North America's major Chinese-language newspapers, such as the World Journal, which is a conservative paper, and the International Daily News, a liberal paper. However, these influential and highly-circulated newspapers are not geared solely to the Taiwanese, but they serve the Chinese-speaking immigrant readership.

Businesses

There are several businesses targeted towards the Taiwanese American immigrant population, such as the 99 Ranch Market chain. Other well-known Taiwanese American businesses include Lollicup (serving boba tea) and Shau May Restaurant (serving Taiwanese cuisine).

Prominent Taiwanese Americans

• Elaine Chao, United States Secretary of Labor
• Ben Chiu, founder of KillerApp.com
• David Chu, co-founder of Nautica
• James Chu, founder of computer monitor company ViewSonic in Walnut, California
• David Ho, medical researcher
• Ang Lee, film director
• Lena Li, glamour model
• Jerry Yang, computer scientist and entrepreneur, co-founder of Yahoo!
• Welly Yang, actor

See also

• Asian American
• Demographics of the United States

External links

• Taiwanese American Citizens League
• Formosan Association for Public Affairs
• ITASA - Intercollegiate Taiwanese American Students Association