FAPA YPG Newsletter Jan 2012

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F A P A - Y P G

APA-YPG -- Jan 2012

Formosan Association for Public AffairYoung Professionals Group

Coordinator’s Cornerby Eileen Lin

t has been a dramatic winter, and I amnot referring to the weather. I witnessedhe dichotomy of a zealous presidential

campaign and the disappointing sentimenthat followed Taiwan’s election results.

A group of YPG members initiated a“Vote Taiwan Project” and created ayoutube video to encourage Taiwaneseyoung voters to get out and vote. Theocial media campaign had the followinghree goals:

1) To engage and build political power

for young people in Taiwan2) To influence young voter turnout inTaiwan’s 2012 Presidential Election

3) To engage Taiwanese Americans inTaiwan’s election and to contributetheir skills and creativity in theElection

Although the video received 7000+ views- with most of the viewers from Taiwan- we realized that we are well-connectedn the Taiwanese American community,

but not enough in Taiwan. In addition,

social media can measure demographyand frequency of viewers, but cannot tellyou how effective it is in terms of measuring behavioral change or votingtrends. It was our first attempt to create avideo project with limited resources andwe will continue to explore potentialopportunities through social media. Thevideo can be found here:<http://tinyurl.com/votetaiwan>

Many YPG memberswent back to Taiwan tohelp with the campaign. Thosewho were unable to make the trip, staup and watched the vote count. The

disappointing result saddened many oas we celebrated this Lunar New YearHowever, Dr. Tsai Ing-wen’s eloquentconcession speech reminded us that wneed to pick ourselves up and continufight for Taiwan.

I recently hosted a 2-28 commemoratevent in DC with the aim to educate thwho do not know much about Taiwanhistory. Many gave me positive feedband told me that they were thankful fothe opportunity to learn about Taiwan believe that we, as FAPA members, cathe responsibility to advance the interof the Taiwanese American communitas well as to inform and reinforce to thinternational community that 23 milli people in Taiwan deserve the right to determination. We cannot stop fightinI know from the bottom of my heart thmy fellow YPG members and I willcontinue to advocate for Taiwan’sinternational recognition.

Chapter Report: DC

n early February, weheld a brunch tocelebrate Lunar NewYear and to discussupcoming events...

Page 2 Chapter Report: Boston

In January 2012, a few

YPG members flew to

Taiwan to observe and

participate in the

election... Page 2

Chapter Report:

San Francisco

In the Bay we’ve been

focused on

strengthening our

membership...

Page 3Chapter Report:

Gainesville, FL

We had two meetings/

parties at Dr. Steve

Lin's house...

Page 3

Chapter Report: Seattle

Some members of the

Seattle group are

involved in American

Citizens for Taiwan...

Page 3Chapter Report: NY

Our monthlynetworking mixers

immensely enlarge

participation and

visibility of YPG...

Page 4

A Quarterly Newsletter Volume 2, Issue 1 -- Jan 20

http://tinyurl.com/votetaiwan

http://tinyurl.com/votetaiwan

http://fapaypg.org/

http://fapaypg.org/



F A P A - Y P G

FAPA-YPG -- Jan

Chapter Report: DCby Eileen Lin

In late October, the DC chapter hosted a brunch to examine thesignificance of ROC Centennial to Taiwan’s history with agoal to provide a forum where people with diverse points of view can feel safe sharing their thoughts on an important and

imely topic. We want participants to think more carefullyabout how best to present the Taiwan and ROC dichotomy inour advocacy efforts internationally. Participants sharedpersonal stories on how they perceive the dichotomy - somek new the difference, some did not know the difference, andsome believed they are the same. It was interesting to hear fr om various viewpoints, but everyone agrees that Taiwan is acountry with an urgent need to gain more internationalparticipation and support.

On January 14, 2012 those who were unable to go back toTaiwan to vote gathered to watch the vote count for the

pr esidential and legislative elections. We discussed issues thathave been brought up during the campaign season whilewaiting for the voting result. Unfortunately the result wasdisap pointing, but we felt lucky to have each other there for emotional support.

In early February, we held another brunch to celebrate Lunar New Year and to discuss ideas for upcoming events such as theValentine’s Day protest against Chinese VP Xi Jinping and2-28 commemoration. DC Chapter was first formed spring of ast year, and we hope to grow in size and continue to provide

quality educational information on Taiwan to youngntellectuals in the DC community.

Chapter Report: Bostonby Chia-Chun Chung

On December 14, 2011, a team of Boston based young

professionals visited Rep. Olver’s office. The team informed

the aide about Taiwan’s history and the challenges it faces o

the international stage. We are glad to have many first-time

advocates, and will definitely continue the YPG’s participat

in local advocacy efforts this year.

In January 2012, a few YPG members, along with many

FAPA members, flew to Taiwan to observe and participate i

the election. Thanks to efforts by our local members, we g

in touch with a journalist from Massachusetts who flew toTaiwan to cover the election. We were able help in bringing

exposure to Taiwan and its aspirations the local MA readers

through the media coverage.

On February 14, 2012, YPG and FAPA members gathered in

Harvard Square in the evening to protest Vice President Xi

Jinping’s Washington , D.C. visit. Although our group wasnot as large as the one in D.C., with the help of our signs,

flyers, and megaphone, our voices were definitely heard by

pedestrians passing by. This gathering on Valentine’s Day w

a spirited showing of our love for democracy!

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F A P A - Y P G

APA-YPG -- Jan 2012

Chapter Report:San Franciscoy Jonathan Lee

n the Bay we’ve been focused on

trengthening our membership. We held

ur first Thanksgiving Potluck in

November featuring home-made dishes

uch as Jap Chae, Congee, Taiwanese

ried Noodles (台式炒米粉), and

Taiwanese Meatball Soup (肉羹湯) with

special appearance by FAPA-YPG NJ

member Albert Tseng.

n December, we were lucky to haveChia-chun Chung and Herbert Chang

isit as part of the “Dear Taiwan” (好國

好民) tour. FAPA-YPG teamed up with

TAP-SF to screen the film in the South

Bay at the San Jose Taiwanese American

Center to more than 100 people and in

an Francisco to 40 people.

As I’m sure most of you know, Taiwan

ust completed its 2012 elections in

anuary. The day after, YPG membersathered over hotpot to discuss the results

nd implications for the future of Taiwan.

To lighten the mood, we again teamed up

with TAP-SF for a closed screening of

You are the Apple of My Eye” (那些

年，我們一起追的女孩) in February.

And of course to commemorate 228, we

worked with ACT to host a panel

discussing its

implications on

democracy and Taiwan

today.

Stay tuned our fellow

YPGers because the

future is full of events as

we’re planning to hostthe “Why Taiwan

Matters” series in March

and April reviewing the

aptly named

Congressional hearings.

To continue the social/

cultural aspects we’ll be organizing

viewings of Nightmarket Hero and Seediq

Bale when they come to theaters. Until

next time…Good Night and Good Luck!

Chapter Report:Gainesville, FLby Wenya Wang

We had two meetings/parties at Dr.

Steve Lin's house -- Sincere thanks to

Dr. and Mrs. Lin for kindly inviting

YPG members and new students!

The first one was a potluck party on

Nov. 6, 2011. We shared the

experience of attending the YPG

advocacy conference with members

and friends. Later we watched the film

Dear Taiwan.

The second one was a BBQ party on

Jan 29 Sun to celebrate Lunar New

Year. More than 20 people showed up.

We made new friends and caught u

with old ones. We also discussed t

date and venue for a new event wh

will be co-host by TWSA at UF an

YPG in Gainesville. The new even

will be a panel answering question

regarding how Taiwanese students

find jobs in the US. The date will b

on March 17.

Chapter Report:Seattleby Alan Luo

Some members of the Seattle group ar

involved in American Citizens for

Taiwan, which continues to improve t

content and user experience of the AC

online campaign website, as well as

producing action alert emails. ACT w

soon launch a mobile version of our A

website. Starting from this year ACT has produ

two action alert emails, one on suppor

a fair presidential election in Taiwan,

the current one supporting Taiwanese

high-ranking officials to visit the U.S.

ACT also produced an article about th228 Massacre asking U.S. citizens to h

prevent such an event in the future.

We ask you to make sure you sign up

the ACT mailing list at http://

americancitizensfortaiwan.org, and te

your friends and family as well. Toget

we can make a difference in influenci

members of Congress via the ACT too

http://americancitizensfortaiwan.org/







F A P A - Y P G

FAPA-YPG -- Jan

Chapter Report:NY/NJby Wen-Li Chiu

For our chapter, monthly networking

mixers have immensely enlarged the

articipation and visibility of YPG,

uccessfully creating a big name for us in

New York area. The first Friday of every

month, members from different

Taiwanese organizations (FAPA-YPG,

TAP-NY, TJCC, Oriented, NYTFA, etc.)

have been meeting to network and have a

reat time with like-minded professionals

epresenting a variety of cultural

ackgrounds and industries.

October 10th, YPG members went to

watch the documentary Almost Home:

Taiwan which was directed by our friend

Victoria Linchong. Almost Home: Taiwans a feature-length documentary that

xamines the legacy of political

epression and the emergence of

Taiwanese identity and independence,

hrough the reunion of a Taiwanese

amily after 22 years.

October 15th, we went to Union Square

o get UN for Taiwan petition signatures

nd distribute UN for TW bookmarks. We

ll wore “Keep Taiwan Free” T-shirts and

definitely caught peoples’ attention. Not

nly did people ask us about Taiwan, they

also bought T-shirts from us.

November 18th, we co-sponsored the

second annual “Hello Taiwan Rocks”

concert at Flushing. The concert featured

an impressive line-up of 4 exceptional

Taiwanese rock bands along with

delicious Taiwanese snacks and drinks.

Most importantly, we sold an impressive

amount of our “Keep Taiwan Free” T-

shirts from the FAPA-YPG booth and hada great opportunity to introduce people to

FAPA-YPG!

November 16th, FAPA YPG members

went to Columbia University to listen to

the speech delivered by Bi-Khim Hsiao,

the Spokesperson of the Tsai Ing-Wen

Presidential Campaign 2012. The speech

was hosted by Weatherhead East Asian

Institute, with the main purpose of giving

us a broad picture of the core policy

guidelines of DDP in the 2012Presidential Election. We showed our

support and presented Bi-Khim two

“Keep Taiwan Free” T-shirts as gifts for

her and Dr. Tsai.

Dec 10th, we joined with NYU TSA to

co-sponsor the NYC screening of Dear

Taiwan at New York University. We were

very lucky to have both Chia-Chun and

Hubert from the Boston chapter to help us

host the Q&A discussion after the

screening. We had more than 80 atten

-- representing a variety of generation

with some guests coming from as far

Philadelphia.

December 17th, We hosted our secondTaiwanese Conversation Group along

with the celebration for this prosperou

year for FAPA YPG. We had 25+ peop

for our second Taiwanese conversatio

group led by two seniors teaching us t

basic survival phrase in Taiwanese an

70+ attendees for our end of year

celebration. The restaurant provided u

with delicious authentic Taiwanese

delicacies at a decent price and attract

lot of people who were craving for Ta

of Taiwan. We did a raffle of DearTaiwan DVDs, “Keep Taiwan Free” T

and Hand in Hand Premier movie tick

December 19-21, we teamed up with

Passport to Taiwan (http://p2tw.org/

HandinHand.aspx) to present the USA

premier for Hand in Hand , a very

significant documentary about Taiwan

development of democracy woven wi

romantic story. We had more than 200

http://p2tw.org/HandinHand.aspx






F A P A - Y P G

APA-YPG -- Jan 2012

Chapter Report:NY/NJ (con’t)

ttendees and more than five reporters

rom major press in the NY area. We were

eally touched to see people come all the

way from New Jersey, DC, Philadelphia,Minnesota, and other major cities in the

East Coast to watch this meaningful

documentary. We got 3-day full house

nd a lot of positive reflections.

n commemoration of friends and

amilies impacted by 228, we did a

pecial screening of A City of Sadness, a

Taiwanese historical drama that tells the

tory of a family embroiled in the tragic

White Terror" that was wrought on the

Taiwanese people by the Kuomintang

overnment (KMT) after their arrival

rom mainland China in the late 1940s.

The film was the first to deal openly with

he KMT's authoritarian misdeeds after its

945 turnover of Taiwan from Japan, and

he first to depict the 228 Incident of

947, in which thousands of people were

massacred. We were honored to have

Vitoria Lichong, the director of Almost

Home: Taiwan, and also few friends from

film industry to join us for the screening.

oining us for the screening. We also had

riends come all the way from the Rutgers

Taiwanese Study Association to show

heir support.

Contact Us

Please direct general comments and inquiries to the FAPA YPG

Steering Committee at:

Formosan Association for Public Affairs

Young Professionals Group552 7th Street SE

Washington, DC 20003

Tel: (202) 547-3686

Fax: (202) 543-7891

FAPA YPG Newsletter Jan 2012

Documents

Transcript of FAPA YPG Newsletter Jan 2012