Post by Admin on Feb 20, 2021 3:13:23 GMT -5
Here's the story of amerikkkan troops impregnating over 1,000 Taiwanese teens/women when they were occupying Taiwan, many by illegal sexual assaults
www.reddit.com/r/Sino/comments/kyqwjp/heres_the_story_of_amerikkkan_troops_impregnating/
www.twreporter.org/a/amerasian-find-father-pearl-s-buck-english
"When people see me, they always ask 'Who's your father? A foreigner?' or they would say 'you look so handsome and different'. But I'm Taiwanese, just my dad was in the U.S. army - he left."
Lin Yili (林毅力) took his last name from his mom's Japanese husband, who had fled to his home country after World War II; and his first name was a translation of his English nickname. Neither his first nor last name belongs to him. Like a yellowed bookmark sandwiched between some heavy pages for the sake of recording traces of history, his life belongs nowhere.
Rectifying his own name is almost impossible: neither the district office nor the city government offered help. Even the court demanded his non-existing birth certificate as a precondition for assistance.
Lin, 64, who requested to use a pseudonym for privacy, was a child left by an American soldier during the Cold War. He has spent his whole life seeking for and proving that his American father had once existed in this world.
In Taiwan, there are an estimated 1,000 Amerasians with backgrounds like Lin Yili. Their lineage is lost with their father's unknown identity. The DNA of these "half-Taiwanese" not only appears in their prominent facial features, but also hides within their blood for generations to carry on.
It has been 40 years since the United States broke formal diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (ROC), but these aging mixed-race Taiwanese are still fighting for their dignity.
He Has a Japanese Father and an American Father
For Lin, his father's identity is the biggest enigma.
Since his 30s, Lin has sent a "missing person notice" through the Ministry of National Defense (MND), the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), and other organizations. Whether he was driving a taxi or as he spends his time now running a stereo shop, he never gave up on asking his customers about any potential information on his father's whereabouts.
The search has taken Lin over 30 years and the journey has not come to an end.
As we entered Lin's stereo shop, we were greeted by an American flag hanging from the ceiling, its bottom almost reaching the ground. And with Lin's gray beard and chiseled features, we were briefly teleported to the United States. But as soon as he spoke, and nonchalantly delivered a natural "motherfucker" in perfect Taiwanese Hokkien accent, we were pulled back to the traditional Taiwanese market.
"When people see me, they always ask 'Who's your father? A foreigner?' or they would say you look so handsome and different. But I'm Taiwanese, just my dad was in the U.S. Army - he left," Lin said, having to repeatedly answer the same questions from strangers.
High cheekbones, voluminous hair, and a tall nose are all considered attractive features today. In the 1960s, however, these physical features stood out as an unforgivable dissonance in Taiwan.
According to Lin, his mother had married a Japanese businessman for money, but he left Lin's three siblings behind to flee back to Japan as soon as his country lost the war. To feed the family, Lin's mother worked any job she could find. Around the time of the Korean War, large numbers of U.S. troops entered the Tainan Air Force base to take advantage of Taiwan's strategic location. The American liquor, cigarettes, and army supplies that spilled from the U.S. Army's commissaries were like sweet seductions. "Apple, Rémy Martin, and Whiskey" instantly became synonymous with imported goods, providing a sensory stimulation for the Taiwanese society.
Black market trading started to gain popularity. For the sake of earning money, Lin's mother was a frequent participant and had been arrested numerous times at these markets. It was during that time when she met Lin's father, an American who came to Tainan with the Military Assistance Advisory Group to provide military training. The American man was already married before he was dispatched to Asia, but his foreign love affair birthed Lin as an evidence of that relationship.
The historical backdrop for these Amerasians was the decades of political and military confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union, which influenced the entirety of global development. From the 1950s onward, the Cold War's influence gradually reached the Asia Pacific: first the Korean War, then the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Vietnam War, and the Soviet-Afghan War. The U.S. army had swept through the Philippines, Vietnam, Korea, Okinawa, Thailand, and even Taiwan; wherever they went, they brought along the warfare and left behind the Amerasians with Asian mothers.
After the Mutual Defense Treaty between the United States of America and the Republic of China was established in 1951, the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group was one of the first official American military presence in Taiwan. Since the army, the navy, and the air force all have their own advisory groups, the U.S. Army left their footprints in all parts of Taiwan. In the few years after 1951, more American armed forces relocated to Taiwan, coinciding with the increasing tension of the Vietnam War. The Rest and Recuperation Program also encouraged more American soldiers to visit Taiwan while they were on their leaves. In addition to the 10,000 U.S. armed forces stationed in Taiwan, around 40,000 more American soldiers visited the island on holidays. The increase in American presence led to a rapid increase in biracial births as well.
Lin, with much paler skin than his two half-siblings, inherited the same Japanese last name from his mother's ex-husband. Although the three children lived under the same roof, Lin's siblings could only ever call their mother "auntie" when his American father was around. They were only seen as some children left behind by his mother's relatives.
"I don't know if my older siblings hate me, but my older brothers have never called me their younger brother for decades. Only recently did one of them finally introduce me as his younger brother at a wedding," Lin says.
Even his own family had a hard time accepting him as a biracial person, not to mention the rest of the society.
"My appearance is an imprint, like how the prisoners in the past had tattoos on their faces to remind other people of their crimes. But what crime did I commit? I was simply born, but I've had to deal with discrimination my entire life," Lin says. This face cannot be removed or washed off, he says. The nicer nicknames were like "American boy" or "big beard" while some people have mocked his lack of English skills or called him a "mutt."
When Lin was younger, he often got into fights because he could not stand the humiliation. He says he was always the subject of mockery whether he was simply having a meal or refueling his motorcycle at the gas station; and people were always shocked whenever he spoke in fluent Taiwanese Hokkien.
"It's not a problem only for myself - my son also has a mixed-race appearance. He used to ask me why, I only told him, 'people only say you look like a foreigner because you're handsome,'" Lin says. The legacy his American father left behind, he says, has become a heavy burden for the entire family.
When the Taiwanese economic boom was still in its infancy, Lin already owned a refrigerator and a television at home, with an abundance of big apples for him to enjoy. His father, after leaving Taiwan, sent his mother a US$100 monthly allowance for several months. However, in the end, he reunited with his family in the U.S. and disappeared from Lin's life.
"I have nothing to hide - I was a son of a mistress, a byproduct of the Cold War. On what grounds should I even fight for my own existence?" Lin says. To the entire era, he is nothing but a small disturbance, a misplaced package that has lived until this age, he says. If he could see his father in his lifetime, he would first slap him twice, then give him a big hug. Lin thinks that, even in death his father shall not evade his responsibilities for the existential crises and social isolation bequeathed to his son.
Different from the other Amersians who had already given up on seeking for their fathers, Lin persists with his dream of finding his root. He hopes the decades of tragedy will end with him.
"It's hard to say whether the price of the Cold War is right or wrong, but if my quest can end on a good note, it will be the best ending to my life," Lin says.
In his 60s, Lin still has the motivation to keep searching, but his footsteps are slowing down. With four coronary stents placed near his heart, Lin has no idea when his life will come to a halt. The history of his background has started to freckle like the yellowed photographs stored in the paper bags.
For over 30 years, Lin has tried to search for his father through his network of customers. A few months ago, he finally ran into a stereo shop customer who connected the dots for him. He found Lin's father, Edward Goldsby, and his location in Franklin, Indiana.
But Goldsby might already be resting in the Forest Lawn Cemetery, numbered 18098777.
A Google Map search for Franklin was the closest Lin has ever come in contact with his father in half a century . The only distance standing between Lin and his roots was the slightly heated computer screen, as if a hint of warmth has lingered from fragments of the past.
His Dark Curly Hair and a Dark Childhood
White babies. Black babies. Yellow babies. And red babies. Wherever the U.S. Army has set foot in, a variety of mixed-race babies were left there.
The Taipei Pearl S. Buck Foundation (台北賽珍珠基金會), an organization dedicated to supporting Amerasians, estimated that the earliest Taiwanese Amerasian births dated back to around 1952. Those babies, like Lin Yili, are now around 65 years old. The last American soldier had left Taiwan on May 3, 1979, and the last group of Amerasians were born around that year; they would have been 40 years old now. Chiu Han-Chung (邱漢忠) was among the last generation of Amerasians born in Taiwan.
Chiu's mother was a 17-year-old Atayal (a Taiwanese indigenous group) teenager when she met his father. Only bits and pieces of information about Chiu's father are retained: air force, munitions systems specialist, stationed in Taichung's Ching Chuang Air Base. The only confirmed detail was that Chiu's parents had gone to court against each other, leaving a 1975 ruling from the Taichung District Court.
The ruling only mentioned Chiu's father as "Alan", without a last name or age or any details regarding his rank and post. Chiu's mother was sentenced to six months in prison with two years of probation because of theft. The reason for her sentencing was recorded:
"I live with Alan, but he wouldn't even give me any allowance. When I fought with him, I told him I would sell our things if he refuses to give me money."
While Alan went to work one day, Chiu's mother stole his stereo speakers, carpets, and an electric blanket and sold them for NT$4,600. The judge even wrote the following comment in the ruling:
"The defendant had dropped out of middle school to work in a foreign place. She had decided to live with an American soldier because of material temptations and vanity, yet he has never given her a dime during their cohabitation. The defendant has committed a crime out of anger, in which her case deserves sympathy."
After the Nixon Doctrine was announced and the U.S. armed forces were retreating from Asia, the number of vacationing American soldiers decreased along with Vietnamization; the stationed forces also slowly withdrew from Taiwan. Chiu was born around then, and only mysteries remained when his father left Taiwan.
Underage and pregnant before marriage, Chiu's mother was married into a Hakka village in Miaoli under her family's furious pressure. Chiu had a stepfather, a last name, and a household registration, but these factors did not make his life easier. A 40-year-old record from the Taipei Pearl S. Buck Foundation shows that Chiu's stepfather refused to accept a stepson with dark skin and curly hair, and that he could not resolve religious differences with Chiu's mother. Within four years of their marriage, Chiu's mother suffered from depression and hallucinations.
"My mom closed herself off like the maingate that was shut at the air force base. Sometimes she could recognize me, sometimes not, and then she started to burn all the letters and photos related to my dad," Chiu recalls.
The Joint Communiqué of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations of January 1, 1979 established diplomatic relations between the United States and China. The United States officially recognized the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government for China. Within this framework, the United States promised to maintain cultural, commercial, and other unofficial relations with Taiwan.
The breaking of Taiwan-United States diplomatic relations sparked public outrage. Nationalist protesters flooded the streets, and anti-American sentiment impacted Chiu's mother as well. Chiu and his mother were forced to move back in with his grandparents, but he was not accepted by his tribe and relatives because of their prejudice against his skin color.
Young Chiu Han-Chung was described as follows:
"Because of his black appearance, Chiu was seen as a monster in his village and school, causing his psychological imbalance and an abnormal development of personality. He dropped out of elementary school during his first grade, and started wandering and begging on the streets."
- Interview File from The Pearl S. Buck Foundation in Taipei, 1983
www.reddit.com/r/Sino/comments/kyqwjp/heres_the_story_of_amerikkkan_troops_impregnating/
www.twreporter.org/a/amerasian-find-father-pearl-s-buck-english
"When people see me, they always ask 'Who's your father? A foreigner?' or they would say 'you look so handsome and different'. But I'm Taiwanese, just my dad was in the U.S. army - he left."
Lin Yili (林毅力) took his last name from his mom's Japanese husband, who had fled to his home country after World War II; and his first name was a translation of his English nickname. Neither his first nor last name belongs to him. Like a yellowed bookmark sandwiched between some heavy pages for the sake of recording traces of history, his life belongs nowhere.
Rectifying his own name is almost impossible: neither the district office nor the city government offered help. Even the court demanded his non-existing birth certificate as a precondition for assistance.
Lin, 64, who requested to use a pseudonym for privacy, was a child left by an American soldier during the Cold War. He has spent his whole life seeking for and proving that his American father had once existed in this world.
In Taiwan, there are an estimated 1,000 Amerasians with backgrounds like Lin Yili. Their lineage is lost with their father's unknown identity. The DNA of these "half-Taiwanese" not only appears in their prominent facial features, but also hides within their blood for generations to carry on.
It has been 40 years since the United States broke formal diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (ROC), but these aging mixed-race Taiwanese are still fighting for their dignity.
He Has a Japanese Father and an American Father
For Lin, his father's identity is the biggest enigma.
Since his 30s, Lin has sent a "missing person notice" through the Ministry of National Defense (MND), the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), and other organizations. Whether he was driving a taxi or as he spends his time now running a stereo shop, he never gave up on asking his customers about any potential information on his father's whereabouts.
The search has taken Lin over 30 years and the journey has not come to an end.
As we entered Lin's stereo shop, we were greeted by an American flag hanging from the ceiling, its bottom almost reaching the ground. And with Lin's gray beard and chiseled features, we were briefly teleported to the United States. But as soon as he spoke, and nonchalantly delivered a natural "motherfucker" in perfect Taiwanese Hokkien accent, we were pulled back to the traditional Taiwanese market.
"When people see me, they always ask 'Who's your father? A foreigner?' or they would say you look so handsome and different. But I'm Taiwanese, just my dad was in the U.S. Army - he left," Lin said, having to repeatedly answer the same questions from strangers.
High cheekbones, voluminous hair, and a tall nose are all considered attractive features today. In the 1960s, however, these physical features stood out as an unforgivable dissonance in Taiwan.
According to Lin, his mother had married a Japanese businessman for money, but he left Lin's three siblings behind to flee back to Japan as soon as his country lost the war. To feed the family, Lin's mother worked any job she could find. Around the time of the Korean War, large numbers of U.S. troops entered the Tainan Air Force base to take advantage of Taiwan's strategic location. The American liquor, cigarettes, and army supplies that spilled from the U.S. Army's commissaries were like sweet seductions. "Apple, Rémy Martin, and Whiskey" instantly became synonymous with imported goods, providing a sensory stimulation for the Taiwanese society.
Black market trading started to gain popularity. For the sake of earning money, Lin's mother was a frequent participant and had been arrested numerous times at these markets. It was during that time when she met Lin's father, an American who came to Tainan with the Military Assistance Advisory Group to provide military training. The American man was already married before he was dispatched to Asia, but his foreign love affair birthed Lin as an evidence of that relationship.
The historical backdrop for these Amerasians was the decades of political and military confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union, which influenced the entirety of global development. From the 1950s onward, the Cold War's influence gradually reached the Asia Pacific: first the Korean War, then the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Vietnam War, and the Soviet-Afghan War. The U.S. army had swept through the Philippines, Vietnam, Korea, Okinawa, Thailand, and even Taiwan; wherever they went, they brought along the warfare and left behind the Amerasians with Asian mothers.
After the Mutual Defense Treaty between the United States of America and the Republic of China was established in 1951, the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group was one of the first official American military presence in Taiwan. Since the army, the navy, and the air force all have their own advisory groups, the U.S. Army left their footprints in all parts of Taiwan. In the few years after 1951, more American armed forces relocated to Taiwan, coinciding with the increasing tension of the Vietnam War. The Rest and Recuperation Program also encouraged more American soldiers to visit Taiwan while they were on their leaves. In addition to the 10,000 U.S. armed forces stationed in Taiwan, around 40,000 more American soldiers visited the island on holidays. The increase in American presence led to a rapid increase in biracial births as well.
Lin, with much paler skin than his two half-siblings, inherited the same Japanese last name from his mother's ex-husband. Although the three children lived under the same roof, Lin's siblings could only ever call their mother "auntie" when his American father was around. They were only seen as some children left behind by his mother's relatives.
"I don't know if my older siblings hate me, but my older brothers have never called me their younger brother for decades. Only recently did one of them finally introduce me as his younger brother at a wedding," Lin says.
Even his own family had a hard time accepting him as a biracial person, not to mention the rest of the society.
"My appearance is an imprint, like how the prisoners in the past had tattoos on their faces to remind other people of their crimes. But what crime did I commit? I was simply born, but I've had to deal with discrimination my entire life," Lin says. This face cannot be removed or washed off, he says. The nicer nicknames were like "American boy" or "big beard" while some people have mocked his lack of English skills or called him a "mutt."
When Lin was younger, he often got into fights because he could not stand the humiliation. He says he was always the subject of mockery whether he was simply having a meal or refueling his motorcycle at the gas station; and people were always shocked whenever he spoke in fluent Taiwanese Hokkien.
"It's not a problem only for myself - my son also has a mixed-race appearance. He used to ask me why, I only told him, 'people only say you look like a foreigner because you're handsome,'" Lin says. The legacy his American father left behind, he says, has become a heavy burden for the entire family.
When the Taiwanese economic boom was still in its infancy, Lin already owned a refrigerator and a television at home, with an abundance of big apples for him to enjoy. His father, after leaving Taiwan, sent his mother a US$100 monthly allowance for several months. However, in the end, he reunited with his family in the U.S. and disappeared from Lin's life.
"I have nothing to hide - I was a son of a mistress, a byproduct of the Cold War. On what grounds should I even fight for my own existence?" Lin says. To the entire era, he is nothing but a small disturbance, a misplaced package that has lived until this age, he says. If he could see his father in his lifetime, he would first slap him twice, then give him a big hug. Lin thinks that, even in death his father shall not evade his responsibilities for the existential crises and social isolation bequeathed to his son.
Different from the other Amersians who had already given up on seeking for their fathers, Lin persists with his dream of finding his root. He hopes the decades of tragedy will end with him.
"It's hard to say whether the price of the Cold War is right or wrong, but if my quest can end on a good note, it will be the best ending to my life," Lin says.
In his 60s, Lin still has the motivation to keep searching, but his footsteps are slowing down. With four coronary stents placed near his heart, Lin has no idea when his life will come to a halt. The history of his background has started to freckle like the yellowed photographs stored in the paper bags.
For over 30 years, Lin has tried to search for his father through his network of customers. A few months ago, he finally ran into a stereo shop customer who connected the dots for him. He found Lin's father, Edward Goldsby, and his location in Franklin, Indiana.
But Goldsby might already be resting in the Forest Lawn Cemetery, numbered 18098777.
A Google Map search for Franklin was the closest Lin has ever come in contact with his father in half a century . The only distance standing between Lin and his roots was the slightly heated computer screen, as if a hint of warmth has lingered from fragments of the past.
His Dark Curly Hair and a Dark Childhood
White babies. Black babies. Yellow babies. And red babies. Wherever the U.S. Army has set foot in, a variety of mixed-race babies were left there.
The Taipei Pearl S. Buck Foundation (台北賽珍珠基金會), an organization dedicated to supporting Amerasians, estimated that the earliest Taiwanese Amerasian births dated back to around 1952. Those babies, like Lin Yili, are now around 65 years old. The last American soldier had left Taiwan on May 3, 1979, and the last group of Amerasians were born around that year; they would have been 40 years old now. Chiu Han-Chung (邱漢忠) was among the last generation of Amerasians born in Taiwan.
Chiu's mother was a 17-year-old Atayal (a Taiwanese indigenous group) teenager when she met his father. Only bits and pieces of information about Chiu's father are retained: air force, munitions systems specialist, stationed in Taichung's Ching Chuang Air Base. The only confirmed detail was that Chiu's parents had gone to court against each other, leaving a 1975 ruling from the Taichung District Court.
The ruling only mentioned Chiu's father as "Alan", without a last name or age or any details regarding his rank and post. Chiu's mother was sentenced to six months in prison with two years of probation because of theft. The reason for her sentencing was recorded:
"I live with Alan, but he wouldn't even give me any allowance. When I fought with him, I told him I would sell our things if he refuses to give me money."
While Alan went to work one day, Chiu's mother stole his stereo speakers, carpets, and an electric blanket and sold them for NT$4,600. The judge even wrote the following comment in the ruling:
"The defendant had dropped out of middle school to work in a foreign place. She had decided to live with an American soldier because of material temptations and vanity, yet he has never given her a dime during their cohabitation. The defendant has committed a crime out of anger, in which her case deserves sympathy."
After the Nixon Doctrine was announced and the U.S. armed forces were retreating from Asia, the number of vacationing American soldiers decreased along with Vietnamization; the stationed forces also slowly withdrew from Taiwan. Chiu was born around then, and only mysteries remained when his father left Taiwan.
Underage and pregnant before marriage, Chiu's mother was married into a Hakka village in Miaoli under her family's furious pressure. Chiu had a stepfather, a last name, and a household registration, but these factors did not make his life easier. A 40-year-old record from the Taipei Pearl S. Buck Foundation shows that Chiu's stepfather refused to accept a stepson with dark skin and curly hair, and that he could not resolve religious differences with Chiu's mother. Within four years of their marriage, Chiu's mother suffered from depression and hallucinations.
"My mom closed herself off like the maingate that was shut at the air force base. Sometimes she could recognize me, sometimes not, and then she started to burn all the letters and photos related to my dad," Chiu recalls.
The Joint Communiqué of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations of January 1, 1979 established diplomatic relations between the United States and China. The United States officially recognized the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government for China. Within this framework, the United States promised to maintain cultural, commercial, and other unofficial relations with Taiwan.
The breaking of Taiwan-United States diplomatic relations sparked public outrage. Nationalist protesters flooded the streets, and anti-American sentiment impacted Chiu's mother as well. Chiu and his mother were forced to move back in with his grandparents, but he was not accepted by his tribe and relatives because of their prejudice against his skin color.
Young Chiu Han-Chung was described as follows:
"Because of his black appearance, Chiu was seen as a monster in his village and school, causing his psychological imbalance and an abnormal development of personality. He dropped out of elementary school during his first grade, and started wandering and begging on the streets."
- Interview File from The Pearl S. Buck Foundation in Taipei, 1983