As with the life histories of most Chinese-American children, before university Cindy Ho never thought of herself as a Chinese. Even when attending the University of Georgia, when she met peers of Chinese descent, she made no deliberate effort to socialize with them. "It's not that I'm unfriendly, it's just that that wasn't my usual behavior," she says.

In her freshman year, she met an American who became her boyfriend. "I didn't know why, but things were less and less harmonious at home," she recalls. She continually fought with her mother from this point on.

During summer vacation of her freshman year, her mother gave her a round trip ticket to Taiwan and a pamphlet introducing the "North American Camp" of the China Youth Corps. "Go and see Taiwan," her mother told her.

She never expected that this trip to Taiwan would change her entire life.

The Hopes of Three Generations!: Because it has a long history, the North American Camp has quite a reputation abroad. On American university campuses, students of Chinese ancestry ask each other, "Have you ever gone back to Taiwan to get on the 'Love Boat'?" The "Love Boat" is none other than this camp.

No one knows when it first became known as the "Love Boat." But it's not hard to fathom why the North American Camp has this nickname. Most of the participants are university students in the prime of youth, and have a great interest in the opposite sex. With all of them able to interact with other people with similar life experience, with no academic pressures, all in the context of a vacationtype return to one's ancestral home, sparks of love are bound to be flying.

In fact, many parents even encourage their children to attend the camp in order to "allow their kids to make Chinese friends." It is said that the North American Camp produces at least one marriage every year.

As for being called the Love Boat, Shen Chiutang, executive secretary of this year's Chiantan camp (there are two locations, the other being Tamkang), says that one shouldn't judge the Whole book by this cover. "It's function is certainly not just matchmaking." Shen Chiu-tang believes that the North American Camp is in fact "carrying the hopes of three generations: "The grandparents generation hopes that their grandchildren will come to understand love of country; the parents hope their sons and daughters will find a good match. And the kids? It's simple. Most just wanna have fun."

Studying Chinese, Absorbing Culture: Naturally the intentions of the sponsoring agencies are not limited to these points. The formal English name of the camp includes the phrase "Language Training and Study," meaning that the focus of activities includes studying Chinese and learning about the culture, each occupying about half of the sixweek curriculum.

Chinese classes are divided up by level, from "What time is it?" and "What is the date today?" at the most basic level, to the highest level equivalent to the sixth year of primary school. In all there are three levels.

Cultural studies are divided into Chinese painting, calligraphy, Chinese dance, cooking, martial arts (with sticks, swords, or judo), Chinese musical instruments (zither, hu-ch'in or Chinese violin, and the flute) as well as folk arts such as dough figurines, kites, Chinese knots, juggling, tumbling, and so on. Students themselves select which they will study.

The round-the-island of the last two weeks is the most popular event. The point is to let the students enjoy an on-the-spot look at Taiwan to understand Taiwan's development process and current situation.

The complete formal name of the program in Chinese is the "Overseas Chinese Youth Language Training and Study Tour to the ROC." Established in 1967, the purpose was to give overseas Chinese youth an opportunity to come in contact with and study Chinese language and culture. Later, because the vast majority of participants were from the United States or Canada, it became known in Chinese as the Mei-Chia Ying or "North American Camp" for short.

The Largest "Roots" Camp Around: Besides the North American Camp, the China Youth Corps also sponsors numerous study camps aimed at other regions. The experience of the sponsoring organization has been that among the students attending these camps, the young people of the North American Camp have the lowest Chinese level. Why would that be? Shen Chiu-tang points out that this is possibly because the US and Canada are fundamentally countries of immigrants, and no one sees themselves as foreigners, and no one cares whether or not they can speak their mother tongue. Add to this a relatively liberal education system in this region, children who have no desire to study Chinese and parents who will not force them, and the result is unsurprising.

Since beginning operations 24 years ago, the number of students in the North American Camp has continually increased from the l00-200 the first year to about l000 people each of the last three years. It is probably the largest number of participants of any culture or "roots" camp in the country. Shen Chiu-tang points out that one reason for the increase in the number of students is the increase in new emigrants to North America. They still have deep feelings toward Taiwan, and hope their children will return there. Another reason is that the development potential of the Asian-Pacific Basin has caused Overseas Chinese to again stress the virtues of bi-culturalism.

Most of the students who participate in the North American Camp are from the US; about one-tenth are from Canada. In the past few years there has been a small increase in the number from Europe. Most of the participants are college students. Because sign-ups have been especially active in recent years, the number who had to be turned down reached 50% this year.

In a month and a half, after the initial excitement and curiosity wear off, the students gradually get into their studies. Julia Hsu, who is studying the Chinese violin, says that she has learned that the special feature of Chinese instruments is that although the sound box is small, the resonance is still excellent. Wendy Kao, from Canada, who is studying the zither, believes that the construction of the zither allows a person who is completely unfamiliar with the instrument to play a tune within a few hours; she finds the simple precision remarkable. She plans to buy a zither to take home after the Camp is over, but she's afraid that there will be no teacher who can continue to teach her.

Taipei's Irresistible Night Life: Besides classes, the most exciting thing for the students is exploration--finding out how to get to the Shihlin night market, "Snake Alley," or the upmarket Chung-hsiao East Rd. and "discover Taipei"--as Jennie Lee from the University of Michigan puts it.

The most stimulating activities are the "road trips" after the 11:00 PM roll call. Jennie Lee says that this is already a traditional, virtually "required course" at the North American Camp.

Where do they go after 11:00? The favorite places of these young people are Taipei's night life attractions--KTV, MTV, discos, and pubs. Jennie Lee says that for a lot of people, even before they come, have already learned from veteran students about the joys of North American Camp road trips and have all the practical information they need. "Even before we got here, we had the addresses of all the famous pubs and discos!" she says.

"Although we can't speak Chinese very well, in order to avoid getting ripped off by the taxi drivers we have memorized the names of the places we want to go to, and can pronounce them fluently," Ms. Lee continues excitedly. "In fact, the more in-the-know Taipei taxi drivers already know what is going on, and when the time arrives they line up there."

These personal night trips out are not authorized by the sponsoring organization. In fact, every night the North American Camp counselors send out a "patrol," and have a demerit system. If someone gets ten demerits for rules violations, then he loses the right to go on the trip to the south. But few students can escape the seduction of the road trips, and the hide-and-seek game makes it even more exciting.

There's No Place Like Home: Aside from the occasional problems with rules, the kids at the Camp feel an extreme culture shock--from the affection of their compatriots.

Andy Chang, a Chinese who emigrated from Korea to the US, says that they feel like they are taken care of at every moment. Every dorm at the camp has a refrigerator, telephone, and TV. If there is any problem, there are always counselors there to resolve it. Going out of the camp area, the streets are filled with friendly smiles. The government's treatment of returning Overseas sometimes even makes them feel embarrassed.

The sponsoring organizations have continually been reassessing the sight-seeing and academic activities over the past twenty-or-so years. For example, the morning flag-raising ceremony has gone from once-a-day eight years ago to once-a-week now, and special lectures are now done seminar style.

The participation fee is also an important point to be reexamined. At present, it costs only US$280 for the six weeks of the camp, including the trip to the south. With the sponsoring units having to go into their own pockets, they have been mulling over the idea of raising the fee. A number of students also suggest that it is not necessary for the cost to be quite so low, and "most of the students could afford it anyway," says Li Hsia-ling, who hails from the southern US.

Cindy Ho's Story: Entry to the 24th North American Camp already ended in mid-August of this year. Although it is difficult to evaluate the results of this "planting" work, you can already see some concrete results from the camp.

Cindy Ho, you will recall, had been given a ticket to come to the camp by her mother. This year, Ms. Ho, who has already returned to Taiwan three times, says that before attending the camp she only understood a little simple Taiwanese. She could neither read nor write Chinese. Only after coming to the camp could she once again have contact with and study Chinese culture. "I can really begin to understand how Mom thinks," she states.

Even more important is that she met all kinds of Chinese in the camp. Some studied at famous universities like Harvard, Yale, or Stanford, and you can tell they had received an excellent upbringing just from looking at them. Their class and character made her feel humble. But she could not bring herself to accept the way some of the others behaved. "Why is it that there is such a vast difference among overseas Chinese with similar backgrounds? Are we still Chinese? What is the Chinese component? What direction should we go in the future? What about the next generation. . . ?" She returned to the US with all kinds of questions running around her brain and with a rather severe jolt to her thinking.

After returning to school, she decided to pursue her "roots" thoroughly. Besides studying Chinese and taking courses in Chinese culture, she organized a Chinese students association, and got many students of Asian descent to join. Feeling that she still understands too little of the land where her father and mother grew up, she applied to be a counselor in the North American Camp for the summer of her sophomore year. This summer vacation is her third return trip. She works in the overseas department of the Tatung Corporation. She has moved from student organization to enterprise, hoping to see what Taiwan society is really like.

"If I hadn't come to Taiwan to participate in the North American Camp, I don't know what would have become of this person 'Ho Hsing-yi,''' she laughs.

Taipei Is My Home: It is already evident that many other young people who returned for the camp have the same budding idea.

Fred Kao, chairman of the student selfgoverning association for the North American Camp, says that he finally understands that Chinese are, in the end, Chinese, and there are some fundamental beliefs that are unlikely to change. "For example, we all stress family, hope that our clildren will succeed academically, like to make money," he says, taking examples from talking with a friend he made in Taiwan. "It's very precious that there is a mother country to return to. In the future, if people ask me where my home is, I will answer Taipei."

Alex Wang, a Duke University student, recalls that when he went to a music store in Taipei, he was angry at himself because he couldn't pronounce the name of the group properly. He says that he will study Chinese assiduously when he gets back to the US.

Stanford University's Christina Chang points out that when people on the street see her black hair and yellow skin, but nevertheless speak to her in English, she feels very bothered. Why would they act that way? She's determined to seek an answer.

Perhaps as for Ho Hsing-yi, for all the young people of Chinese descent, the North American Camp is only the beginning.

[Picture Caption]

The overseas Chinese youth who attended the Chien tan North American Camp had a great time.

You should play the bells outdoors; that's the only way you can really go all out. But if it's too hot out, the hall will have to make way.

There's nothing confusing about this sword posture. A lot of overseas Chinese say the reason they study swords is for self-defense.

It is called "China," but what about me?

It only took a month of study of calligraphy to go from not being able to write even the simplest character to being able to write this poetry.

There are at least 70 tables served at every meal, an impressive sight indeed.

What's so fun about a "road trip"? You can tell from the expressions of these people who've just been "caught" on the street in Shihlin.

There is a performance the last day of the camp, with each person showingoff their skills. Learning as they go along, they nevertheless perform this aboriginal dance right in time.

You should play the bells outdoors; that's the only way you can really go all out. But if it's too hot out, the hall will have to make way.

There's nothing confusing about this sword posture. A lot of overseas Chinese say the reason they study swords is for self-defense.

There's nothing confusing about this sword posture. A lot of overseas Chinese say the reason they study swords is for self-defense.

It only took a month of study of calligraphy to go from not being able to write even the simplest character to being able to write this poetry.

There are at least 70 tables served at every meal, an impressive sight indeed.

What's so fun about a "road trip"? You can tell from the expressions of these people who've just been "caught" on the street in Shihlin.

There is a performance the last day of the camp, with each person showingoff their skills. Learning as they go along, they nevertheless perform this aboriginal dance right in time.