Dear Miss Lin,
Your letter to Miss Amy Chen in July's Sinorama stirred deep feelings in me as an overseas Chinese. I would like to express my thoughts about what you said.
My father fled as a refugee from Shandong to Korea, while my mother escaped here from Northeast China. One can say that all we overseas Chinese here in Korea speak our Chinese language and eat the food of our homeland. In Korean society we are always an unmistakable group--the Chinese.
I remember how as a child, passing through a Korean village on the way home from Chinese elementary school with my sister and three or four classmates who lived nearby, we would often be stopped by a large group of Korean children who called us names like "slaves from the big country," and "conquered Chinese." We were only little, and didn't dare say a word for fear of being beaten. They wouldn't let us pass until we gave them the dry steamed bread we had left over from lunch. In this way, we grew up in this foreign land holding tight to our motherland--the Republic of China.
When later as adults we returned to our motherland, to Taiwan, we found that our compatriots in Taiwan called us "you Korean overseas Chinese" or "you Koreans." But we were not angry, just a little disappointed, for after all Taiwan is the base from which China is to be regained, and the prosperity and strength which Taiwan enjoys today is the result of the combined efforts of all of us. I can appreciate Amy Chen's feelings, and I agree with what she says: when any of us goes back to Taiwan, it's not for 'money,' but only because we want to return home. Although our compatriots living in Taiwan say again and again that they love Taiwan, in the early 1970's when the ROC left the United Nations and broke off diplomatic relations with Japan, and our nation's fate hung in the balance, many people forsook Taiwan and went overseas, taking with them vast sums of money. But it was at that most difficult time for our country that many friends, myself included, returned, and some of us even joined the army.
I feel certain in saying that if ever our country is in danger, its overseas Chinese friends such as myself or those in Canada like Amy Chen will not hesitate to return to our motherland. and even to take up arms to protect our national territory and to fight the enemy. When the country is in peril, no overseas Chinese can fail to be concerned for their nation.
Wang Wen-huan Korea
Dear Editor:
Reading the "Letters to the Editor", in July's Sinorama here in the USA aroused many emotions. I also read Amy's story in the May edition--the story of a returned child emigrant readapting to life in Taiwan. That some people question her motives shows that it really is no easy thing to be a "Taiwanese."
From the point of view of a human being's most basic task--survival -- doing a job of work and collecting a salary with which to pay one's way is something beyond reproach. In my view the most important thing is to "use one's talents to the full and make a contribution to society." People who have studied abroad and who return to work in the ROC are often suspected of having failed to make it in America, or else of coming back to Taiwan just to earn money. In fact this attitude betrays suspicion, xenophobia and jealousy. I believe one should first look at the real effectiveness of someone's work: if it is useful for Taiwan, and they are paid what the job is worth, then what have they to be ashamed of? But if someone makes no contribution, then just saying "I love Taiwan, Taiwan is for the Taiwanese" is meaningless. If Taiwan can attract people to come and work, this should be a source of pride. Why fall over oneself to welcome foreigners, but then greet one's own flesh and blood with suspicion? Should those who arrived first really reject those who come after? At least in the US people worry about whether someone does a good job of work, and not, as in Taiwan, about which province their ancestors came from, who they know, or their family background. I don't think such attitudes fit in with progress towards "a modern country and an open society. "
You can't ask everyone who returns to be a saint or a martyr. The way one makes one's contribution doesn't have to be so great or lofty. Surely it's enough to do a fair day's work for a fair day's pay, and fulfill one's responsibilities!
Fang Hung-ming USA