california - taiwan connections

[clay dube]

The history of baseball in Taiwan is a fascinating one. It was introduced there by the Japanese during the colonial period. It has remained popular. While Little League aficionados have known this for years (many teams from Taiwan have won championships, though not without some controversy), it took a bit longer for the US major leagues to discover it. Andrew Morris of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is an expert on baseball in Taiwan. He noted (http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=hist_fac) that in 1999-2000, seven Taiwanese players signed contracts with US or Japanese teams. The LA Dodgers brought in outfielder Chen Chin-feng who made it to the majors in 2002 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chin-Feng_Chen). He started out in the US, playing for the San Bernardino team and won the MVP award. He played for the Dodgers 2002-2005.

[clay dube]

This is just a list of Taiwan/California sister cities. You can still find and share information about actual visits/links between the cities.

Taipei / San Francisco (1970)
Taipei / Los Angeles (1979) - by the way, check out this discussion of LA/Taiwan/China: http://china.usc.edu/talking-points-november-24-december-5-2014
Taichung / San Diego (1983)
Taichung / Contra Costa County (1983)
Tainan / Monterey (1965)
Tainan / San Jose (1977)

[Anonymous]

Lately, Taiwan has been opening what has been dubbed "wacky restaurants." For example, one very popular restaurant is "Modern Toilet" where diners can sit on toilets and eat hemorrhoid ice. In 2014, a Los Angeles version, "Magic Restaurant Cafe" opened. However, it closed down after only 8 months, as Yelp reviewers complained that the food was too unappealing for American tastes. Overall, however, I think Americans can learn from the interesting themes Taiwanese restaurateurs are exploring as the restaurant business in California continues to be extremely competitive.
Sources: <http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2014/05/30/toilet-themed-restaurant-in-la-craps-out/>
<http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32872875>
<http://untappedcities.com/2013/06/24/modern-toilet-taiwans-most-cherished-theme-restaurant-2/>

[Anonymous]

In a startling statistic, 24,000 Taiwanese students enroll in universities in the US, whereas only 3500 American students enroll in Taiwan's universities. The Taiwanese government targeted populations of Taiwanese-Americans in the San Gabriel Valley of California and tried to encourage them to complete their college education in Taiwan. Taiwanese-Americans are particularly interested in this maneuver since competition for college scholarships in California is fierce. Furthermore, students in Taiwan can then live and work in Asia which has a very lucrative job market for the young and educated.

Source:http://articles.latimes.com/2012/oct/28/local/la-me-taiwan-education-20121028

[Anonymous]

Subject:Taiwan Temecula Winery Connection

Callaway is Temecula's oldest and one of the largest wineries in the Temecula Valley. It is also the only Taiwanese run winery in California. The winery is owned by Patricia and Matthew Lin from Changhua in Taiwan. It is a fabulous place to taste a wide variety of wines, and the view from the tasting room is spectacular!

Source: http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20141022000051&cid=1206

[Anonymous]

Taiwan Southern California bakery Connection

I was introduced to 85 Degrees C by friends from Thailand who raved about the pastry. This is a Taiwanese business that opened its first California location in Irvine and is now expanding to other Southern California locations. 85°C started in Taiwan in 2004.

Source: http://www.scpr.org/news/2013/01/29/35753/85-degree-c-taiwanese-bakery-open-more-stores-cali/

[Anonymous]

My school, Rolling Hills Preparatory, looks over the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach. So I saw this article a week ago and thought it would be perfect for the connection between my school and Taiwan.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-taiwan-trade-20150604-story.html

The article also talked about how maintaining close connections with the US (specifically CA) would help Taiwan eventually trade solely with the US and without China as the third-man.

And- Taiwan is in a drought, too! http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-taiwan-drought-20150510-story.html

[Anonymous]

I was reading an interesting article that talked about how Taiwan is building strong trade ties with California. How China Airlines is the oldest & largest company in Taiwan washttp://www.ustaiwanconnect.org/US-Taiwan-Relations/Trade/States/California-and-Taiwan

[Anonymous]

I found that nearly half of the Taiwanese population lives in California. Most are located in the Bay Area or greater Los Angeles area.

http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/taiwanese-immigrants-united-states#2

At my school, we too have quite a few Taiwanese students. After talking to some of these students, I discovered that many of their parents run companies in Taiwan or hold upper level management positions in big companies. In some cases, my students have studied in Taiwan, China and the United States, while others just return for the summer. I wondered how the US and Taiwan were connected economically. The US exports have been steadily rising in the last decade and totaled over $25 billion. The US also imports goods like information and communication technology and totaled nearly $38 billion in 2013. With Taiwan being able to produce affordable electronic goods in step with market demands, I could see trade continuing to increase between the two countries.

https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/china/taiwan
http://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/312985-the-importance-of-us-taiwan-economic-relations

On a side note, I am curious to find out why Taiwan was not included in Obama's Pacific Rim trade agreement. I have only started reading about it today, but the agreement includes countries like Japan, Vietnam and New Zealand, but not Taiwan. I know that China has been leery of agreeing to such a deal that has environmental and intellectual property standards included, but I am curious to find out where Taiwan stands on a Trans-Pacific economic deal.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/12/business/unpacking-the-trans-pacific-partnership-trade-deal.html?_r=0

[clay dube]

Half of the group is expected to find and share information about links between California and Taiwan. These are numerous, so hopefully everyone will find at least two links. Tell us about the connection (which could be demographic, political/diplomatic, academic/scientific, business, cultural, or other link). Tell us what was/is being done (a shared project? a visit? ongoing exchange), who was/is involved, and be sure to provide sources for your information.

[Anonymous]

The first sister school connection between Pacific Ridge School in Carlsbad, California and National Taichung Wen-Hua Senior High School in January, 2014.
Pacific Ridge School has 500 students and serves students 7-12 grade and Wen-Hua Senior High has 2,400 students grades 10th and 12th.
During their one-week stay, Wen-Hua students attended classes with their American peers and stayed with American host families.

San Diego—Taichung Sister City Tie Strengthened as Schools Connect by Sophia Fang, Epoch Times. February, 2014
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/491434-san-diego-taichung-sister-city-tie-strengthened-as-schools-connect/
edited by roxannepompilio on 6/26/2015

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