Taipei Travel

Spreading Seeds of Friendship

A Welcoming Light for Southeast Asian Newcomers

Article｜Tu Xinyi   Photos｜Xu Bin, Liu Deyuan

In Taipei, a group of people care about newcomers from Southeast Asia, giving them a haven, finding them support and a place to rest, and helping them on their way after their long journey to this land.

▲Brilliant Time Bookstore founder, Chang Zheng sets up a library, Perpustakaan, in the lobby of Taipei Main Station. (Photo: Xu Bin)

Multilanguage Readers for Strangers in a Strange Land

Inspired by a friend’s suggestion, the former Chief Editor of 4-Way Voice (四方報), Chang Zheng (張正) started a book donation drive called: “Bring a Book You Can’t Read Back to Taiwan.” This encouraged Taiwanese travelers to return with a book from each country they visited in Southeast Asia. This campaign resulted in the creation of “Brilliant Time Bookstore” (燦爛陽光書店), which stocks books in many Southeast Asian languages, and then a library named Perpustakaan (地板圖書館) was opened in the lobby of Taipei Main Station.

You might see Indonesian girls come here to read on their day off, or maybe a girl who has just broken up with her sweetheart, trying to mend her broken heart with a book in her native language! Lots of immigrants from Southeast Asia are gathering to chat here. Chang often describes “Brilliant Time Bookstore” as a “campfire in the wilderness.” He explains: “What we offer is a place for them to get some warmth; the fire might not burn all night, but at least, for a few hours they connect through the medium of their own written language, and find a temporary haven.”

Chang’s book drive is Taiwan-wide, and so far, about 40 collection depots have been set up. Warming House (紋鳴號) in Wenshan District is one of them. The owner, Jian Xiaoxuan (簡曉軒) admits that not many people come to check out books there, but the small shelf of volumes is like a beacon, attracting the attention of many Taiwanese. Since stands like these have opened, some people have agreed this is a fresh idea, others have demonstrated their approval, and still more have started to care about the migrant worker issue. Jian hopes that even more Taiwanese will give support to these new friends from Southeast Asia in the future.

▲On weekends and holidays, Taipei Main Station becomes an important meeting place for migrant workers and new immigrants. (Photo: Xu Bin)


▲The Southeast Asian bookshelf at Warming House inspires more and more Taiwanese to care about the migrant worker issue. (Photo: Liu Deyuan)

Jio Di School Connects Taiwan with ASEAN

People assume that an immigrant will have a different nationality, skin color and language from the typical Taiwanese. But for the CEO of Jio Di School (就諦學堂), Li Sancai (李三財), an immigrant from Hong Kong himself, ethnic Chinese Southeast Asians have chosen to live in Taiwan and become Taiwanese, and it must be supported even though they were neither born nor grew up here.

“Many Southeast immigrants received a good education and learned skills in their home country. Unfortunately, when they come to Taiwan, they aren’t able to do what they’re trained for because they don’t have Taiwanese IDs.” Li therefore recruits and trains new immigrants to be teachers, helping Taiwanese going abroad to improve their Southeast Asian language skills, and this in turn helps the migrants make use of their talents. “Jio Di School intends young people from Taiwan to get to know the real Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN, 東協) and Asia through the assistance of these immigrants.”

In a multicultural city like Taipei, a newcomer from Southeast Asia may be a member of a Taiwanese family, possibly even a labor provider, and their strength and voices have added a new energy to Taipei. And the warmth they receive from caring Taiwanese people is like an embrace, keeping them safe and settled and making the whole society stronger.

▲The CEO of Jio Di School, Li Sancai helps ethnic Chinese from Southeast Asia and other new immigrants to build self-confidence and develop a better life. (Photo: Liu Deyuan)


▲Jio Di School stocks many Chinese books on Southeast Asian subjects, encouraging Taiwanese to learn more about the region. (Photo: Liu Deyuan)