Literary prize
On International Workers’ Day (May 1) of 2012, 4-Way Voice, in cooperation with China Times Publishing, released the book Escape: Our Formosa, Their Prison, which came out simultaneously in Chinese and Vietnamese. Next, again working with China Times Publishing, 4-Way Voice released Separation: Our Trading, Their Lives (in Chinese). The latest project, focused on the growing-up experiences of the children of Southeast Asian immigrants to Taiwan, is called Wilderness: Our Boundaries, Their Tears (also in Chinese). These books bring the Southeast Asian experience in Taiwan home to Taiwanese readers and record it for the benefit of future descendants of today’s immigrants.
After publishing the first two volumes of immigrant literature, Chang left 4-Way Voice in 2013. But he remained passionate about this genre, and he sought out resources to come out with the first “Taiwan Literature Award for Migrants,” with a top prize of NT$100,000, in 2014. In March of 2015 he began accepting submissions for the second year of the award.
When 4-Way Voice had been up and running for seven years, Chang and his wife Liao Yun-chang, along with some like-minded friends, created Taiwan’s first-ever Southeast-Asian-language TV program: Singing in Taiwan. Carrying a camera, they wander the streets in search of amateur singers from Southeast Asia. Thanks to a recommendation from the Social Enterprise Innovation and Entrepreneurship Society, the program later received funding from DBS Bank, and has been able to carry on uninterrupted.
After that, Chang had yet another “inspired” idea, which will come to fruition on March 29, 2015 with the opening of the “Creative Cultural Studio: South East Asian Migrant Inspired” (SeaMi). Located at the rear exit of the Taoyuan Train Station, the space will not only offer reading material but will also display handmade crafts, paintings, and other works created by immigrants, laborers, and spouses from Southeast Asia.
Southeast Asians living and working in Taiwan are also part of our society; “they” in fact are part of “us.”