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Foreign brides finish assimilation class

Chinese and Southeast Asian women married to Taiwanese husbands sing at yesterday's graduation ceremony for a program sponsored by the Taipei City Government's Bureau of Civil Affairs to help foreign brides cope with life in Taiwan. PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

Wearing Taiwanese Aboriginal clothes and singing and dancing to popular Taiwanese songs, 200 foreign brides yesterday celebrated their graduation from a program designed to help them acclimatize to life in Taiwan.

"I feel much closer to Taiwan now," said 50-year-old Chinese bride, Chen Chin-ho (陳進和), with a broad smile.

The program is provided for free by Taipei City government's Bureau of Civil Affairs to provide foreign brides with courses in subjects such as Chinese, Taiwanese, Taiwanese-style cooking and procedures and regulations for obtaining Taiwanese residency.

Over 400 students have benefited from the program -- which was designed to help the so-called "daughters-in-law of Taiwan" adjust to life in Taiwan -- since it started last year.

"They loved the program," said an official surnamed Wang from the Bureau of Civil Affairs. She told the Taipei Times that since the program is popular, the Taipei City Government hoped to continue and would do so if its budget is approved by the city council next year.

Wang said that the women "are especially interested in Taiwanese-style cooking, because their fathers-in-law and mothers-in-law love this cuisine."

The 50-year-old Chen is the student representative for the program and she hails from Guangxi Province in China. She has been in Taiwan for three years and seven months.

She recalled that, when she helped out in her husband's restaurant during her first year in Taiwan, "sometimes I couldn't understand what the customers were saying and that really bothered me."

For the past three months, Chen has got up at around 6am everyday to help in the restaurant before going to class and then returning to help in the family business again.

Despite her busy routine, Chen could happily say "now that I've learnt Taiwanese in the program, I can go shopping and ask for discounts in Taiwanese in the market."

Now, not only can she use her Taiwanese while out shopping, but she also gives advice to her fellow Chinese brides who came to Taiwan after she did.

During the three-month program, 120 brides from China and another 80 who are mainly from Southeast Asia, have studied many aspects of Taiwanese social customs and cultures.

Wu Chi (吳琦) delivered a speech at yesterday's graduation ceremony on behalf of the students.

She said that the students "appreciate the fact that the Taipei City Government gave us the opportunity to feel closer to our husbands and family members in Taiwan."

Although the students seemed satisfied with the program, a sociologist cautioned that feelings of isolation cannot be overcome solely by this kind of training.

Wang Hong-jen (王宏仁), a sociology professor at Chung Hsing University, told the Taipei Times that the main function of such programs is to provide a channel for the brides to make friends with people in similar situations.

"They can take comfort in meeting friends from their home places and speaking their mother tongues there," he said.

However, because foreign and Chinese brides are not allowed to work in Taiwan before acquiring residency, "they would not feel that they really fit in because they cannot really participate in the public life in Taiwan," said Wang Hong-jen.
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