Expanding the network

Curious passersby step into Brilliant Time for a look around, and likeminded people strike up conversa- tions. All sorts of wonderful resources make their way to the store from the nearby area.

An officer from the National Immigration Agency re- cently came to the bookstore to find reading materials for migrant workers held at NIA detention centers. The of- ficer said that a detainee at a center had nothing to keep himself occupied, and was in a very anxious state of mind. He decided to take the detainee a copy of 4-Way Voice and found that the person’s spirits were lifted considerably. A volunteer at Brilliant Time posted about this experience on Facebook, sparking lots of discussion. Someone suggested it would be a good thing “if they had Southeast-Asian read- ing materials at all of the NIA detention centers.” This idea found support within the NIA’s Southern Taiwan Affairs Corps. Hopefully books in Southeast-Asian languages will soon be available at all NIA detention centers.

In addition to the Brilliant Time bookstore and the bookmobile service, Chang has also set up a “Southeast- Asian reading materials alliance” with smaller operations all around Taiwan in Taoyuan, Chiayi, Taichung, Dong- shi, Fengyuan, Hsinchu, and Yilan. Some of these alliance members operate out of locations such as a noodle shop, a lunchbox restaurant, or a hardware store. Quite clearly, a bookstore need not necessarily look like a typical bookstore.

Some migrant workers from Indonesia, inspired by Chang’s establishment of Brilliant Time, organized Gerakan Masyarakat Sadar Baca dan Sastra (GEMAS, the “Indo- nesian reading culture promotion society”). The founders agreed that after their employment contracts in Taiwan came to term, each would return home to set up a commu- nity library and contribute to the spread of knowledge.

Erin Cipta, who had previously returned to her native Indonesia after completing a two-year contract in Taiwan, came back this year to receive the Taiwan Literature Award for Migrants. She took advantage of her trip to deliver a suitcase full of Indonesian reading materials to Brilliant Time. At the shop, the smiling Cipta enthusiastically told staff there all about the books she had brought, and re- ported that the community library she was working to establish in Indonesia had already opened to the public.

Looking for some helping hands

So far, fewer than a tenth of all visitors to Brilliant Books are people from Southeast Asia because most caregivers enjoy little time off work, and the bookstore is located far from any industrial zone and thus far from where many migrant workers are employed. Chang therefore hopes to get more localities covered by his Southeast-Asian reading materials alliance, so that more migrant workers can get access to reading materials in their own languages.

Asked about how business is going at his bookstore, Chang insouciantly says the store wasn’t opened with the idea of making money, and that what he’s really interested in is acting as a cultural intermediary to increase under- standing between the peoples of Taiwan and Southeast Asia. With better mutual understanding, he says, South- east Asians would receive more equitable treatment. On the day of our interview, Chang was also planning to visit an elderly neighbor who was wanting to understand the bookstore’s guiding philosophy, and was willing to “adopt” the store as a financial sponsor. This may be one way to ensure an independent bookstore’s sustainable operations, similar to the crowdfunding approach that has caught on in recent years. Each person can show social concern in whatever way they may choose, such as taking part in a book drive, or adopting a bookstore that shares their views. Chang quotes an old Indonesian proverb: “We all have a duty to serve as a flame in the dark night.”

The bookstore’s Chinese name, Canlan Shiguang, is borrowed directly from the title of a book (English title Linking Our Lives) published by the CommonWealth Mag- azine Group in memory of Chang’s mentor Lucie Cheng, who died in 2010. Says Chang: “Brilliant Time books exists for the purpose of getting Southeast-Asian migrant work- ers involved in reading, so that they can have their own ‘brilliant time.’ I want to see the people of Taiwan step into the store, take a look at all these different cultures, and open their eyes. I want for the people of Taiwan, too, to have a brilliant time.”