Malaysia-born movie director Tsai Ming-liang read with nearly 100 new immigrant children on Saturday to share his passion for reading and encourage children from different cultural backgrounds to find inspiration in books.
Reading 'The Happy Prince' by Irish writer Oscar Wilde with children of new immigrants—most of whom were from Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and China—Tsai said he felt at home when immersing himself in the story.
'I can still remember the smell when grandma blew out the candle, asking me to put down my book and go to sleep,' the 56-year-old told a group of energetic children from four New Taipei elementary schools.
Although interrupted constantly by children with questions like 'but did your grandmother read you Harry Potter?' and 'is Wilde also from Malaysia?' during the 30-minute session, Tsai still managed to introduce the short story about the virtue of giving.
Promoting the Ministry of Culture's nationwide reading campaign, Tsai told the children and immigrant mothers in attendance to take advantage of their multicultural backgrounds to read books that transcend borders.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, Taiwan had over 330,000 foreign spouses as of late 2012—most identified as 'new immigrants' because of their Chinese and Southeast Asian roots.
Unlike others from wealthier countries, these immigrants married to Taiwan nationals are traditionally seen as disadvantaged because they often do manual jobs to make ends meet and depend on their new families to improve the financial plight of the family they left behind overseas.
Although the concept of reading, or even the ability to read, has been a major obstacle for the mothers, they said they are willing to grow with their children.
Pham Thu Trang, a 33-year-old mother who brought her two children to Tsai's reading event, said she her love of reading led her to start studying Chinese in local schools.
'I like reading Chinese books, although it's my daughter who reads me stories most of the time,' said the Vietnamese woman, who moved to Taiwan in 2002. 'Events like this help a lot for all of us.'
