TAIWAN benefited from the Vietnam War not only militarily but also economically. The United States built a military base in Taiwan from which millions of dollars worth of economic activities revolved. The base created a lot of business opportunities for thousands of islanders and Taiwanese businesses. The streets of Taipei were teeming with activities even at night. American GIs roamed the streets, patronizing bars and restaurants.

    The Broadcasting Corporation of China gave an in-depth coverage of the Vietnam War every day. In fact, the station sent a reporter to cover the war. He sent his news by  phone, and poor communication line often gave us difficulty getting his story. Many times we had to take notes and rewrite and edit the stories again and again to give an accurate reporting of events.

    Since my sophomore year, I worked full time at the radio station and attended school at the same time. This gave me little time to sleep as well as to study. I also did not have time to enjoy college life as practically all of my time was devoted to work. But I persevered, and I graduated from the university.

    At that time, Taiwan was influenced heavily by the United States. A lot of Americans, especially military officers, went to Taiwan. Then American-educated Taiwanese returned to the island to work in government and to do business.

    Everybody was talking about America and how great a country it was, including my supervisor, who got a masters degree from one of the American universities. My colleagues and the community looked at him with esteem and envy. He belonged to the “new elite” in society who got better position and better pay in government and business.

    So I started dreaming about going to the United States one day to learn more and experience more of the outside world. With more knowledge and experience gained from America, I would come back to Taiwan one day to start a new future.

    One day I told my parents about my wanting to go to the U.S. My mother objected. She said: “Son, we just arrived in Taiwan and starting a better life. You have a god job. You should stay here. Besides, I don’t want us to be separated again.”

    I tried to convince my parents that America offered better opportunities for me and all of us. I told her about how many people made a lot of money in America. Besides, I wanted to continue school to get a master of doctorate degree.

    My mother shook her head. I could tell she didn’t want me to leave. Moving from my hometown in China to Burma and then to Taiwan, my mother has suffered a lot, and she did not want to suffer much more. She wanted peace of mind. She wanted all the family members to stay together.

    But my father felt differently about my plans. He said a young man like me should be given the chance to experience life better.

    Both of my parents, however, said America was very far away.

    My mother’s disapproval did not prevent me from pursuing my dream. I started to plan my journey. I went to the U.S. Information Center in Taipei to get more information. I talked to a lot of friends to inquire about how to apply for a visa to the United States.

    In the early seventies, at the height of the Vietnam War, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson decided to run for reelection. The antiwar movement was also at its peak. . The U.S. economy was at is ebb, and most of the American people wanted to get out of Vietnam.

    Even when Richard Nixon won as president, and the U.S. was ready to pull out of Vietnam, the economy has not recovered from its slump. A lot of American universities and colleges cut their scholarship grants and aids. Foreign students wanting to go to the U.S. had to compete for the scarce scholarship grant or use their own money to study in the U.S.

It was almost now impossible to get the visa that I needed.

    The first thing I did was to take the English-language proficiency test called TOFEL. I passed the exam rather easily.

    But then there was a problem. The U.S. Embassy required every student to have at least seven thousand dollars in show money or real estate property such as a home or commercial property. That was a big amount.

    My salary at that time was about fifty dollars a month. Even if I saved much of it, it would have been difficult to raise seven thousand dollars. My parents did not have that money or real estate property either, so I tried to figure out how to raise the amount.

    I went to a friend who was manager of a travel agency in Taipei. He was accommodating, and he helped me solve my problem.

    At that time, the Taiwanese government controlled foreign exchange. Anybody who wanted to have money in U.S. currency must provide a valid reason and to justify the trip abroad.

    I was qualified under that kind of foreign exchange regulation, and the travel agency manager was willing to lend me the money in Taiwan dollars. He even volunteered to accompany me to have the Taiwanese currency exchanged for U.S. dollars, and even allowed me to use his checking account, as if it belonged to me, to show to the U.S. consul that I have enough money to support by schooling in America.

    The scheme worked. I got my visa from the U.S.Embassy. I returned my friend’s check. Now I had what was needed to go the America.

    America. My dream land. New venture. New challenges.

(To be continued)