Vietnamese immigrant Tran Thi Hue (陳氏桂) won first prize at the sixth Taiwan Literature Award for Migrants for her work That Year, the Plum Blossom Bloomed, which tells the story of a Vietnamese woman who was abused by her Taiwanese husband and developed a mental illness.
The award was established to showcase the literary talents of immigrants and migrant workers, and the prizes were presented at the Alishan National Scenic Area on Sunday.
Tran, born in Vietnam in 1987, moved to Taiwan in 2015 after marrying a Taiwanese man.
It is difficult for Vietnamese women to integrate into Taiwanese society, Tran said, adding that she hopes her story will help more people to understand the plight of migrants and treat them with greater respect.
Her work tells the story of a friend who married a Taiwanese man, she said.
However, after moving to Taiwan, her friend was subjected to domestic violence and eventually developed a mental illness, Tran said.
Her friend was then forced to return to Vietnam and was separated from her one-year-old daughter, she added.
Tran said that her husband was working in the aquaculture industry in Vietnam when they met.
They moved to Taiwan following a downturn in the industry and now run a Vietnamese restaurant in Pingtung County, she said.
Over the past four years, Tran said she has heard many sad stories involving female migrants and they inspired her to write the story, in which she incorporated her own experience.
“With the story I wrote, I hope we can all learn to understand and tolerate each other, to take care of and help each other,” Tran said, expressing the hope that as Taiwanese society makes more efforts to help migrants feel at home, the sad experiences of her friend would not be repeated.
Tran received a trophy and NT$100,000 in prize money.
The award was organized by the Southeast Asia Educational, Scientific and Cultural Association and first held in 2014.
Taiwan Literature Award for Migrants convener Chang Cheng (張正) told the award ceremony that he organized the award to showcase migrants’ literary talents.
It is a difficult task, but he has long wanted to do something for migrants, Chang said.
The award received 680 entries this year, the most ever. Eight winners were chosen in nine categories, including the Teen Choice Award, Macau Special Award, Jury Award and the First Prize.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai