A community center in Houston, Texas, has served as a social and cultural space for multiple generations of Taiwanese American residents for over three decades. The center's co-founders include a former NASA engineer and political dissident who snuck back into Taiwan in the 1990s while on a government blacklist.
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00:00Long-time Houston resident Mike Guo has lived an extraordinary life.
00:05Born and raised in Taiwan, Guo left his home for the U.S. in his early 20s, where he earned
00:10his master's and Ph.D. in food science and technology.
00:14In the 1980s, he went to work at Johnson Space Center in southeast Texas, developing the
00:19food program for NASA's space shuttle astronauts.
00:23The food is totally different from all the previous astronauts' food.
00:27So they needed somebody to develop new packaging, new type of food, and they started to have
00:38a quality control program, and I was hired as quality control and nutritionist there.
00:47Houston was also where Guo came out as a strong critic of the authoritarian government in
00:52Taiwan and a supporter of the country's independence.
00:56That came with consequences.
00:58Guo was blacklisted in Taiwan in 1974, unable for years to visit friends and family back home.
01:05At risk of arrest, he traveled to Taiwan in 1991, but not before taking a few precautions
01:11– changing the name in his U.S. passport, growing a beard, and donning a wig.
01:17That time I had three young children, so I decided to use the legal way, but the way
01:25they couldn't prevent me from entering.
01:31The ruse worked.
01:32Guo was able to enter Taiwan right under the government's nose.
01:35It was so convincing the authorities didn't realize what had happened until he was leaving,
01:40apprehending him at the airport.
01:42I appeared in a public event, and there were 200 policemen surrounding us, and faced by
01:57the individual, they used my picture to compare each attendant, and I was there.
02:05Police interrogated Guo for over nine hours before the U.S.'s de facto embassy intervened,
02:11and he was let go.
02:13Taiwan finally removed him from the blacklist the following year.
02:16Guo's more adventurous days are now behind him, but even at 75, he remains committed
02:21to the causes that motivated him back then.
02:24In Houston, he has helped foster a community of like-minded Taiwanese Americans.
02:30The group's base?
02:31Here at the Taiwanese Community Center, not far from the city's Chinatown.
02:36Since 1992, the center has offered a social and cultural space, and provided language
02:41classes and activities to the more than 7,000 Taiwanese Americans living in the greater
02:45Houston area.
02:47It also houses a curated collection of books and historical items on Taiwan.
02:52The founders say their initiative has received broad support from the local government.
02:57We list the mission as to enhance the public understanding of Taiwanese American culture,
03:05and also to do community services, and then also to foster Taiwanese education for our
03:11next generations.
03:13So for that, we were able to be registered as a cultural and educational non-profit organization.
03:20That investment in the younger generation has paid off.
03:22A small but growing group of dedicated young people is now helping move the organization
03:27that runs the center forward, bringing new energy and new ideas.
03:31I feel like, hey, I feel like we can have more diverse events.
03:37That's what drives me want to contribute.
03:39So for example, I am a big coffee drinker.
03:43So I feel like, I know Taiwan has very, very good coffee.
03:47So that's why I feel like maybe we can have like a Taiwan coffee tasting event like that.
03:53From grassroots activism to community building, these Taiwanese American Houstonians have
03:58come a long way, creating a small slice of Taiwan in their adoptive home.
04:03Devin Tsai, Leslie Liao, and Jeremy Olivier for Taiwan Plus.