The social phenomenon of the growing numbers of foreign nationals residing in Taiwan has given rise to a fifth ethnic group, the New Immigrants. The name extends to those who came as long as 20 years ago and those who arrived just recently. New immigrants come from different countries and cultural backgrounds. Their stories reflect the on-going transformation of Taiwan.

Summer met her husband in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, through mutual friends, ten years ago. He didn’t speak Vietnamese and she didn’t speak Mandarin. Her future husband asked the mutual friend to help him get closer to Summer, and they started exchanging letters. He would fly to Vietnam once in couple of months; two years later they got married. In February 2001, Summer came to Taiwan for the first time.

"It was 33 Celsius in Vietnam when I boarded the plane for Taiwan. It was only 10 when I landed,” Summer recalled. “I was too nervous to have a conversation with my husband and in-laws in the car on the way to my new home.”

The next days she stayed at home wearing and overcoat, thick gloves and socks that her husband had prepared for her. She felt too cold to go out and see the neighborhood.

"I have only experienced the dry and rainy seasons in southern Vietnam. I heard about how cold winter could be in Taiwan, and was totally overwhelmed by it. Winter 2001 was particularly long.”

Besides the weather, she also had to get used to the food and to local cooking --- the seasonings used, having to cutting out celery leaves but keep the skin of pumpkins before cooking (which is the opposite from what she used to). She gradually adapted and now cooks Taiwanese, Vietnamese and mixed-style cuisine.

"Last year, I finally dared to try stinky fried tofu. I will see if I can move on to steamed ones, which stink a lot more,” she said.

Summer works at the Pearl S. Buck Foundation Taipei providing services for Vietnamese new immigrants. She first heard about the foundation from the Hello Taipei radio program sponsored by the Council for Labor Affairs. The program promoted a Mandarin course.

Her conversational skills were improving, but she felt the need to learn Chinese characters because she couldn’t read the bus stops nor name the products she wanted to buy at the super market.

She signed up for several semesters of Mandarin lessons until the foundation asked if she would work for them providing Vietnamese services. “I was thrilled. It was the first time someone had offered me a job in Taipei,” she said, “I thought the job would help me progress in Mandarin.”

Her husband was against the idea because he wanted Summer to learn the language instead of spending her time on work. But he agreed after seeing how determined his wife was. Now on her 7th year working at the foundation, Summer has made many friends among her colleagues.

Unlike Summer’s case, a good number of Taiwan-Vietnam marriages arranged by dating agencies have given rise to problems of all kinds, from marriages reduced to commercial transactions to household conflicts and domestic violence.

"In Ho Chih Mihn City, people hold negative impressions of Taiwan-Vietnam marriages,” Summer said. “We read terrible stories in the newspapers, and see sloppy Taiwanese men on the streets.”

Whether doing business in Vietnam or choosing a wife from their agents, she described men from Taiwan as dressed in underwear and hotel slippers, and chewing betel nuts. “No one really knows which part of Taiwan they come from, but they have created that impression of Taiwanese men; maybe there’s some truth to the negative stories in the media.”

In Vietnam, respectable grandmothers chew betel nuts that are sold in traditional markets instead of at shining roadside stalls as in Taiwan.

Already speaking fluent Mandarin, Summer’s next step is to learn Hoklo, which she finds very useful in daily life.

From the other side of the Pacific Ocean

Brian Webb came to Taiwan on Christmas Day 1999 to be united with his future Taiwanese wife. They met online and she visited L.A. with her friends. He drove out to hang out with them and she invited Webb to visit Taiwan. He did this and got a job offer to do software engineering. He moved to Taiwan a month later.

"I arrived wearing my Santa hat at the airport, and giving out candy canes basically to everyone. The Customs searched all my bags to make sure I wasn’t crazy,” he said.

Reminiscing his first days arriving in Taiwan, it took some time for Webb to get used to the density of the population. “I lived right behind where the former Tower Records was, and I always made sure to close my windows so that people shopping for CDs did not see me in my apartment.”

Sometime later Webb moved to Sanchong City in Taipei County, where his wife comes from, for a cheaper rent and larger apartment. The day he moved in, one of his neighbors called the police who came visit in an hour.

"I used to go a night market nearby; people would follow me to see what I did in the night market and followed me back to see where I lived. This was 10 years ago in Sanchong,” he recalled.

One time an old man followed him from the time he stepped out of his apartment. He went through the night market to a snack shop. The old man lingered at the entrance and kept following him when he left the shop.

"This would not be a problem in Taipei City, much less in Sanchong if everyone knew you or those you were related to,” he said.

Two years later he married his girlfriend and settled in the Minsheng community of Taipei, where they live with their 5-year-old twin boys, Aidan and Ian.

One of Webb’s long term hobbies is photography. He was the youngest photo editor back in his college days for the school paper and yearbook. Shooting street photos is his favorite. But he sold his cameras when he left college. He returned to photography when he moved to Taiwan.

"I remember it was New Year 2000 with my wife near the mayor’s office,” he said, “I really wanted to take pictures of things and decided to get a camera on my next paycheck.”

"I think it was the polar difference in what I was seeing that got me back into it,” he added.

One cultural difference Webb finds interesting in the Taiwan society is that progress and spirituality seem to co-exist, whereas in the U.S. there’s constantly a conflict between the two.

"Driving on the streets here you see skyscrapers, skyscrapers, temples, small temples, skyscrapers, and temples; there’s no problem for them to co-exist” he said.

Besides photography, Webb takes traveling another life necessity, probably an influence from his parents who made sure their children visited other places. He did student exchange in England during high school days, and went with his sister to Romania for her exchange.

"I think experiencing other cultures when one grows up makes one a better person. If I hadn’t grown up the way I did, I probably would have a lot of trouble moving to Taiwan.” Webb and his family would visit Hualien 3-4 times in a year, and make shorter trips to Miaoli or Yingge over the weekends.