Fieldnote Apr 11 2023 - 9:43am

This was our first time interviewing members of our tribal family, and we had the pleasure of interviewing three grandmothers. Initially, I was worried about the language barrier since the elderly generally speak their own language. However, it turned out to be not much of a problem, and they spoke Mandarin with a special accent, that’s quite cool.

During our conversation, we talked about the songs they sing during special occasions, such as when they send their sons off to the military. They all had beautiful voices, and their singing style was quite different from that of people in the city. They also shared that they came to Hsinchu one after the other, seeking work to survive. They moved around a lot in search of a stable source of income. One of them even lived in Xinzhuang for several years before coming to Hsinchu, where she worked in a garment factory.

The most interesting story they shared was that most of the husbands had mistresses in Singapore because they engaged in pelagic fishing, which required them to live in Singapore for about three months each time. Singapore was not as prosperous then, so they often had affairs with men from Taiwan and had children. Some mistresses even came to Taiwan to visit "their" husbands, and the wives in the tribe allowed them to live in their houses and even cooked for them. Although the grandmothers were not happy with this situation, they felt sorry for them and their children, and they believed in treating everyone kindly because of their faith in God. Their mindset is different from that of people today, and I was amazed by their generosity.