In the 80s and early 90s, Taiwan sent more students to the US for PhDs in engineering or computer science (my father’s PhD was in the humanities, so he didn’t get a grant and had to sell books to pay).
Consequently, a majority of Taiwanese-Americans are children of people here for graduate school (overwhelming majority in the Bay Area and Jersey), making us among the most elite and privileged groups.
Now we’re all growed up. Let’s take an accounting of notable people.
Ted Chiang, science fiction writer
Jerry Yang, cofounder Yahoo!
Steve Chen, cofounder YouTube
Jensen Huang, founder Nvidia
Joe Tsai, owner Brooklyn Nets
Andrew Yang, Presidential candidate
Lisa Su, CEO AMD
Elaine Chao - Secretary of Transportation
David Ho - AIDS researcher
Tony Hsieh - CEO of the online shoe and clothing company Zappos
Alfred Lin - partner at Sequoia Capital
Michael Chang - retired professional tennis player (The youngest male player in history to win a Grand Slam).
Jeremy Lin - professional basketball player
William Wang - founder and CEO of Vizio
David Chan - concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
Robert Chen - concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Joseph Lin - first violinist of the Juilliard String Quartet
Wang Leehom - singer-songwriter, actor
Constance Wu - actress
Vienna Teng - singer-songwriter
it’s cute to try and consider them as Taiwanese… i guess they see themselves as American, they dont live here, i doubt they have a TW passport or plan to come and live here in the future …
I womder if Kenya also claims Obama is one of their people
How many of these people are REALLY Taiwanese - American?
If they were Taiwanese they would stick up for Taiwan just like Irish Americans always supported the cause in Ireland.
I think generally Taiwanese - Americans are weak Jiang You no brand sauce. They could be from Taiwan, China or just about anywhere, ya just can’t tell.
Not the same (at least not for all of them). As CEO’s they are beholden to their shareholders. If they say something that hurts the bottom line they can get to a world of trouble. I would argue Jensen Huang and Lisa Su have done as much for Taiwan as anyone else.
They probably have economically , but when push comes to shove are (any of) these Taiwanese Americans listed supporting the cause of an independent free Taiwan ?
A bit weak sauce, and to be fair that weak sauce is very common in local Taiwanese business people too.