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Chinese-American teens explore their cultural ties to Taiwan via ‘love boat’ programme in fiction Loveboat, Taipei
- The programme encouraged North American Chinese teens to go to study and work in Taiwan, but many partied and dated more than they studied
- What sets the book apart is how it brings Chinese-American readers to a place of acceptance in a way not shown in young adult literature before
Reading Time:3 minutes
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Loveboat, Taipei, by Abigail Hing Wen. Published by HarperTeen. 4/5 stars
When Abigail Hing Wen was a teenager in Ohio, she spent a summer in Taiwan getting in touch with her Chinese roots. The programme, funded by the Taiwanese government, was dubbed the “love boat”, even though it had nothing to do with ships or the sea.
The “love boat” programme began in the late 1960s to provide North American Chinese teens with a cultural experience in the old country. The nickname – a reference to an American TV sitcom of the 1970s and ’80s – was adopted after it became known (perhaps among participants rather than their parents) more for debauchery than serious studies.
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The programme was a mainstay for teens with family ties to Taiwan, including restaurateur and TV personality Eddie Huang.
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It was perhaps inevitable that the programme – itself a subject of the recent documentary Love Boat: Taiwan directed by Valerie Soe – would be mined for a novel.
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