Whatever its success in getting the participants to love Taiwan, they were certainly loving each other. True to it's moniker, the Love Boat gained a reputation as the ultimate hook-up for young overseas Chinese interested in meeting other young overseas Chinese.
"You have 1,000 18 to 20-year-olds packed together for six weeks. Of course there's going to be a lot going on," CAPT's Lee said.
The Love Boat certainly had a large target market. The OCAC estimates that there were more than 350,000 hua chiao from Taiwan living overseas between 1972 and 2000, when the program stopped. Interestingly, the commission has no figures on the number of them that have "returned" to live and work in Taiwan because, as soon as they step foot in the country, they're considered local residents in the eyes of the commission. Once here, they are left to their own devices.
Their reasons for "returning" often indicate the level of difficult they have in fully assimilating to the local culture. Many cite their ability to work both in English and Chinese as a primary reason for coming to Taiwan.
But for others, like John, the reasons are far more personal and the difficulty assimilating far greater.
"They say if you want to know where you're going, you have to know where you've been," he explained. "I came here to regain my heritage, but I think that even if I become fluent with the language and completely understand the culture, I'll still be considered an outsider." He says he's slowly coming to realize that the reasons for that are more a product of his own biases than any local prejudice.
Caught between cultures
"The longer I'm in Taiwan, the more I realize how American I am," he said. "It's funny; in the US I was always considered `Chinese-American.' Now that I'm here, I'm first considered an American, then Chinese."
Many of those who've shared his experience can sympathize with him.
"Chinese-Americans are always caught in-between no matter where they are," Hsu said. "A lot of what defines ethnicity is more perception than it is reality."
"[Taiwan] isn't used to having a melting-pot culture," Lee said. "Chinese culture in general is you're either in or out."
John plans to continue on with his Chinese studies for now, and says he won't forget the word for "soup." But the irony of his situation has not been lost on him. "I was Chinese before I was even given a name. But here in Taiwan, I not even given a face. ? And I don't think I ever will be."
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