Chen Qiucao (陳秋草), a Vietnamese who immigrated to Taiwan after marrying a Taiwanese, has used her skills as a nail polish artist and now owns a nail salon in Yonghe City’s (永和市) busy Lo-hua night market. Not only has her business been a success, but Chen also serves as a model for other Vietnamese brides seeking to make a living for themselves.
Chen, 28, is different from most Vietnamese brides in this country. For one, she did not marry a Taiwanese to lift herself out of poverty or to help her family financially. Tired of constantly arguing with her mother and following an introduction by a friend, she met her future husband when she was 19.
Chen said she started studying cosmetics at 14. After giving birth to her two children, she set up a small cosmetics stand in a vegetable market in Yonghe’s Yuhsi Street and slowly started to make a name for herself, with her clients including Japanese and French women. For six years, Chen did a roaring trade at this stand before moving on to the nail business.
When Chen first started painting nails, her husband’s family worried that working at a night market might be tricky, or that it could be a bad influence on her.
“Luckily, my husband supported me and my efforts,” she said, adding that she adapted to her new environment rather quickly, picking up Mandarin and Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese).
Now, Chen said she can communicate easily with her clients, offer them the latest in nail polish design and even make a financial contribution to her husband’s family.
“I love living in Taiwan, and I love my new salon,” she said.
NEXT GENERATION: The four plants in the Central Taiwan Science Park, designated Fab 25, would consist of four 1.4-nanometer wafer manufacturing plants, TSMC said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to begin construction of four new plants later this year, with the aim to officially launch production of 2-nanometer semiconductor wafers by late 2028, Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau director-general Hsu Maw-shin (許茂新) said. Hsu made the announcement at an event on Friday evening celebrating the Central Taiwan Science Park’s 22nd anniversary. The second phase of the park’s expansion would commence with the initial construction of water detention ponds and other structures aimed at soil and water conservation, Hsu said. TSMC has officially leased the land, with the Central Taiwan Science Park having handed over the
The Philippines is working behind the scenes to enhance its defensive cooperation with Taiwan, the Washington Post said in a report published on Monday. “It would be hiding from the obvious to say that Taiwan’s security will not affect us,” Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro Jr told the paper in an interview on Thursday last week. Although there has been no formal change to the Philippines’ diplomatic stance on recognizing Taiwan, Manila is increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment in the South China Sea, the report said. The number of Chinese vessels in the seas around the Philippines, as well as Chinese
URBAN COMBAT: FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired missiles from the US made a rare public appearance during early-morning drills simulating an invasion of the Taipei MRT The ongoing Han Kuang military exercises entered their sixth day yesterday, simulating repelling enemy landings in Penghu County, setting up fortifications in Tainan, laying mines in waters in Kaohsiung and conducting urban combat drills in Taipei. At 5am in Penghu — part of the exercise’s first combat zone — participating units responded to a simulated rapid enemy landing on beaches, combining infantry as well as armored personnel. First Combat Zone Commander Chen Chun-yuan (陳俊源) led the combined armed troops utilizing a variety of weapons systems. Wang Keng-sheng (王鏗勝), the commander in charge of the Penghu Defense Command’s mechanized battalion, said he would give
AUKUS: The Australian Ambassador to the US said his country is working with the Pentagon and he is confident that submarine issues will be resolved Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd on Friday said that if Taiwan were to fall to China’s occupation, it would unleash China’s military capacities and capabilities more broadly. He also said his country is working with the Pentagon on the US Department of Defense’s review of the AUKUS submarine project and is confident that all issues raised will be resolved. Rudd, who served as Australian prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and for three months in 2013, made the remarks at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado and stressed the longstanding US-Australia alliance and his close relationship with the US Undersecretary
RSS