IU students learned about growing up in Taiwan during Taiwan Day Sunday.
The East Asian Studies Center and the Taiwanese Student Association organized the second year of the event in the Global and International Studies Building to give IU and the Bloomington community a glimpse into Taiwanese culture.
“We’re very proud of our culture and our diverse society and complicated history,” said Fei-Hsien Wang, an assistant professor in the IU history department. “But we find in general that people at IU don’t know very much about Taiwan.”
Last year Taiwan Day looked at Taiwanese street life. This year the event explored the culture through the lens of elementary, middle and high school life in Taiwan.
“We have a lot of students at IU from Taiwan,” Wang said. “And their school life experience was very different from the school experience here.”
The open house-style event displayed red, blue and white Taiwanese school uniforms, over-the-shoulder book bags and the chemistry and physics workbooks Taiwanese Student Association president Sharon Hsu used in high school.
Wang said the event allowed students to relate to the similarities and appreciate the differences between school in Taiwan and in the United States.
In addition to the educational memorabilia, the event also highlighted the social aspects of school life in Taiwan. Attendees played student-created games that are featured at Taiwanese school fairs.
“Sometimes when people think about Asian culture, they think about how a lot of Asian kids are really good at math or super smart,” Hsu said. “But I think this kind of helps prevent that stereotype. It shows the fun side.”
The Taiwanese Student Association’s executive board performed at the event to represent dances Taiwanese high school students would typically do on dance teams or in their spare time. They also donned uniforms that are worn at two high schools in Taiwan.
“A big part of Taiwanese school life is that students are involved in dance teams, and they do performances,” Hsu said. “We wanted to bring that to the eyes of the public and pick songs that represent vibrant, cheerful school life."
Attendees were also invited to watch a short animated film called “On Happiness Road.” It showed a young girl's first day at an elementary school in Taiwan.
Senior Eric Lo and graduate student Jennie Chen said the event is important to provide awareness to those who may not know much about the small country.
“It’s great to celebrate some of the Taiwanese culture and heritage that people don’t typically see throughout the campus,” Lo said.
