Dreams of Home Come True

Perhaps dreams of one's ancestral homeland lie in the subconscious of every wanderer living abroad! As we approach the end of the 20th century, a wave of interest in searching for their roots and origins has arisen among Chinese scattered in lands around the globe.

In the South Pacific, Chinese-Tahitians who have been educated in French since infancy have formed a club called L'Association Wen Fa (meaning culture in Chinese); in Canada, where the official languages are English and French, Chinese-Canadians have been working to establish courses in their ancestral language; and on both coasts of the United States, second-generation Chinese-Americans have been exploring their maternal culture in films and novels.

In Taiwan, the wave has struck even harder and made even a bigger splash. A concrete example is the "cultural camps" and similar activities that many civic organizations, unbeknownst to each other, have sponsored during this year's summer vacation. By searching for our forebears and defining ourselves, we can come to know more about our past, present and future and find our place in life.

Among all the various cultural camps this summer, Sinorama chose four for in-depth special reports: the Ami Cultural Study Camp of the Eastern Shore, aimed at Ami children; the Taiwan Folk Culture Field Camp, open to all regardless of provincial origin, age or level of education; the Hakka Youth Cultural Camp, for Hakka children; and the Overseas Chinese Youth Language Training and Study Tour to the Republic of China, which has 24 years of history and more participants this year than ever. The first two camps were presented last issue.