Two extraordinary Taiwanese men who grew up in the same village, though at different times, and crossed paths in the US are on a trip together back to their roots.
When both David Wu (吳振偉), the first Taiwanese-American member of the US House of Representatives, and renowned violinist Lin Cho-liang (林昭亮) yesterday returned to Hsinchu where they grew up, they found themselves reminiscing about the good old days.
"It's wonderful to be back ... I have wonderful memories," Wu said while visiting his old home, a Japanese-style house in Kuangming New Village (
"There is still that pond that you can see right through over there. I tell people that I fish in Oregon now, but I used to go fishing over here with my mother," Wu recalled.
"I used to climb around the air raid shelter in the backyard ... I remember that we had some chickens running around, with sugarcane and bananas growing in the backyard," the 46-year-old Yale-educated lawyer said.
Wu, who was elected to the House of Representatives last November, moved to the US in 1961 with his family. Yesterday was the first time he had returned to the village in almost 20 years.
The company of the renowned violinist Lin, whose family moved into the house next door some years after the Wu family left for the US, added to the uniqueness of his return.
"I lived here for 12 years and had a good time. I've been looking forward to returning, especially since I could come back with my old neighbor Wu," Lin told a group of old neighbors and current residents of the village, who gathered together with an amateur 30-member string orchestra from the community to welcome their guests from afar.
Lin, one of the foremost violin virtuosos of our time, recalled how he was inspired by a good childhood friend, named Bai, who is now a computer engineer in the bay area of the US, to embark on his long journey as a musician.
"When Bai began to learn the violin, I would sit next to him, mimicking everything he did ... Then one day Bai's father made me a pseudo violin," Lin told the group while Bai's father, unexpectedly, presented Lin with a brand new wooden pseudo violin, triggering a smile from Lin and applause from the crowd.
In 1972, 12-year-old Lin left his mother -- a widow -- in Taiwan to study music in Australia. Three years later, he found his way to Julliard School in New York where he studied music with Dorothy Delay. Now a teacher at the school, Lin's recordings have earned him a Grammy Nomination and "Record of the Year" from both Gramophone and Stereo Review.
Forty-seven-year-old Gloria Wang (
"He used to climb a tree and watch his friend play the violin for hours," Wang recalled, sitting on the floor of the renovated guesthouse that connects the two units of the originally semi-detached dwelling, the site where the tree used to stand.
"We are really proud of them," Wang added.
It was during Wu's return in the early 1980s that he learned of Lin. Years later, when Lin was giving a concert in Portland, Wu called a list of about six hotels, found where Lin was staying and left a message for the musician. But Wu said he was not sure he had the right man.
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