For new immigrants in Taiwan, life can be full of challenges, homesickness not least among them. Two Taiwanese want to give new immigrants a sense of community, one book at a time. Today in our weekly in-depth report, we visit two special libraries that are filled with books from Southeast Asia. For migrant workers and other new immigrants, these libraries offer knowledge, entertainment, and emotional support, as well as a rare link to their home countries. It’s a hot summer evening. A thunderstorm has just passed, but the air is still as humid as a sauna. An Indonesian national named Fi is spending one of her rare days off browsing the shelves of the Brilliant Time lending library.Chang Cheng, the owner of this library, began collecting books in 2015 through a donation drive. His campaign asked Taiwanese travelers to bring back a book from Southeast Asia for migrant workers to read.To borrow from the library, patrons put down a deposit that’s the cost of the book. The deposit is returned when the book is brought back. For the migrant workers who come here, the lending library serves as a link to their home countries.FiIndonesian migrant workerI prefer inspirational books. What can you do if depression strikes while you’re in Taiwan? I like inspirational books like the winners of the Taiwan Literature Award for Migrants, which are about survival in a foreign country. Those books are very moving. They help us feel like we are not so alone.In the early 1990s, the government opened the border to labor from Southeast Asia. Around the same time, Southeast Asian brides began migrating to Taiwan. There are now some 700,000 workers and roughly 200,000 brides from Southeast Asia in Taiwan. In many respects, Taiwan is a land of fairness and equality. But for many Southeast Asians, life is filled with injustices great and small.Chang ChengLibrary ownerThere are migrant workers who want to read. Reading is a way for them to escape a social structure that is so difficult to change. Young migrant workers tell me that for them, reading is freedom.For the convenience of migrant workers in Taipei, Chang sets up a pop-up library every Sunday at Taipei Main Station.Chang ChengLibrary ownerWe ask people to donate books. Those books can bring real comfort to those far from home. Of course I’m actually doing very, very little for them. But if we look at the glass half full, we might say that the books provide a source of motivation for migrant workers.One man was so inspired by the pop-up library at Taipei Main Station that he started up his own. In 2018, cafe owner Lin Chun 林群 started providing books for migrant workers to read for free at his coffeeshop. He also began taking the books on tour inside a pink van.Lin takes his mobile library to Taiwan’s small towns. He stops anywhere migrant workers might gather. Then he rolls out the book cart to offer a salve for their homesickness.Lin ChunLibrary ownerThis mobile library – what’s so great about it is that it contains books in nine languages. Seven of those languages are from countries in Southeast Asia. One is Hangul. The other is English.Lin ChunLibrary ownerThere are three copies of each book. I keep one in the cafe and one in the mobile library. The third is lent out.He runs this library with intentions that have little to do with profit.Lin ChunLibrary ownerWhen you drive into a community, the in-laws of these immigrant brides come out and say, “Why do you have such a beautiful vehicle? What are you doing here?” We say, “This car is full of books for your daughter-in-law to read.” They might say, “She can read?” Then I think, bingo.Lin wants to use the issue of reading to encourage a new view of new immigrants, to foster understanding and mutual respect. He also wants children of new immigrants to be able to learn their mothers’ native language.A single book can set off a chain reaction that creates a revolution, he says. It is easier said than done. Lin has named his mobile library “Don Quixote” to poke fun at his own lofty mission.To reach his goal, he has to overcome practical challenges.Chang ChengLibrary ownerIdeally I need to have as many lending libraries as there are convenience stores.For Chang, providing books in Southeast Asian languages and holding events are ways to bring Taiwanese and Southeast Asian communities closer. Charging admission also help pays the rent for his library. For Lin, earnings from his cafe aren’t enough to cover the cost of his mobile vehicle.Lin ChunCafe ownerMy main difficulty is finances. Paying off my car loans is coming along very slowly.Chang ChengLibrary ownerWhy should we care about these people? Because it’s actually caring about ourselves. We want to go about our lives with a clean conscience. We don’t want to build a great life on the backs of others. We want their lives to be a little better.Lin ChunLibrary ownerI feel that the ...
For new immigrants in Taiwan, life can be full of challenges, homesickness not least among them. Two Taiwanese want to give new immigrants a sense of community, one book at a time. Today in our weekly in-depth report, we visit two special libraries that are filled with books from Southeast Asia. For migrant workers and other new immigrants, these libraries offer knowledge, entertainment, and emotional support, as well as a rare link to their home countries. It’s a hot summer evening. A thunderstorm has just passed, but the air is still as humid as a sauna. An Indonesian national named Fi is spending one of her rare days off browsing the shelves of the Brilliant Time lending library.Chang Cheng, the owner of this library, began collecting books in 2015 through a donation drive. His campaign asked Taiwanese travelers to bring back a book from Southeast Asia for migrant workers to read.To borrow from the library, patrons put down a deposit that’s the cost of the book. The deposit is returned when the book is brought back. For the migrant workers who come here, the lending library serves as a link to their home countries.FiIndonesian migrant workerI prefer inspirational books. What can you do if depression strikes while you’re in Taiwan? I like inspirational books like the winners of the Taiwan Literature Award for Migrants, which are about survival in a foreign country. Those books are very moving. They help us feel like we are not so alone.In the early 1990s, the government opened the border to labor from Southeast Asia. Around the same time, Southeast Asian brides began migrating to Taiwan. There are now some 700,000 workers and roughly 200,000 brides from Southeast Asia in Taiwan. In many respects, Taiwan is a land of fairness and equality. But for many Southeast Asians, life is filled with injustices great and small.Chang ChengLibrary ownerThere are migrant workers who want to read. Reading is a way for them to escape a social structure that is so difficult to change. Young migrant workers tell me that for them, reading is freedom.For the convenience of migrant workers in Taipei, Chang sets up a pop-up library every Sunday at Taipei Main Station.Chang ChengLibrary ownerWe ask people to donate books. Those books can bring real comfort to those far from home. Of course I’m actually doing very, very little for them. But if we look at the glass half full, we might say that the books provide a source of motivation for migrant workers.One man was so inspired by the pop-up library at Taipei Main Station that he started up his own. In 2018, cafe owner Lin Chun 林群 started providing books for migrant workers to read for free at his coffeeshop. He also began taking the books on tour inside a pink van.Lin takes his mobile library to Taiwan’s small towns. He stops anywhere migrant workers might gather. Then he rolls out the book cart to offer a salve for their homesickness.Lin ChunLibrary ownerThis mobile library – what’s so great about it is that it contains books in nine languages. Seven of those languages are from countries in Southeast Asia. One is Hangul. The other is English.Lin ChunLibrary ownerThere are three copies of each book. I keep one in the cafe and one in the mobile library. The third is lent out.He runs this library with intentions that have little to do with profit.Lin ChunLibrary ownerWhen you drive into a community, the in-laws of these immigrant brides come out and say, “Why do you have such a beautiful vehicle? What are you doing here?” We say, “This car is full of books for your daughter-in-law to read.” They might say, “She can read?” Then I think, bingo.Lin wants to use the issue of reading to encourage a new view of new immigrants, to foster understanding and mutual respect. He also wants children of new immigrants to be able to learn their mothers’ native language.A single book can set off a chain reaction that creates a revolution, he says. It is easier said than done. Lin has named his mobile library “Don Quixote” to poke fun at his own lofty mission.To reach his goal, he has to overcome practical challenges.Chang ChengLibrary ownerIdeally I need to have as many lending libraries as there are convenience stores.For Chang, providing books in Southeast Asian languages and holding events are ways to bring Taiwanese and Southeast Asian communities closer. Charging admission also help pays the rent for his library. For Lin, earnings from his cafe aren’t enough to cover the cost of his mobile vehicle.Lin ChunCafe ownerMy main difficulty is finances. Paying off my car loans is coming along very slowly.Chang ChengLibrary ownerWhy should we care about these people? Because it’s actually caring about ourselves. We want to go about our lives with a clean conscience. We don’t want to build a great life on the backs of others. We want their lives to be a little better.Lin ChunLibrary ownerI feel that the ...
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