Shaun, a foreigner who loves Taiwan with all his heart

An Internet photo sensation

Words by Jan Ling
Photographs provided by Shaun Bettinson
Translated by Angel Pu

Over the past 8 years of living in Taiwan, foreign resident of Taichung Shaun Bettinson has developed a deep affection for the friendliness and enthusiasm of the Taiwanese people. Thus, he was inspired to do something to express this, something that would help the world understand his feelings about Taiwan.

The "I Love Taiwan" Internet phenomenon was launched in April by Taichung-based foreigner Shaun Bettinson, who has lived in Taiwan for eight years. It all began with a video he shot in front of an installation artwork, titled "God Bless Taiwan", in Taichung's 7th Redevelopment Zone that included him shouting "I love Taiwan!" with his hands raised over his head. In order to actually show his love for Taiwan, Shaun also created a related Facebook page called "I Love Taiwan". He says that all this started with a "crazy idea" he had, but couldn't achieve without everyone's help--a goal of collecting 201,210 photos, representing Taiwan's October 10 National Day, and posting them as a collage on the side Taipei 101 as his gift to Taiwan.

Loving Taichung's excellent quality of life
Inspired by his father, who worked in Asia eight years ago, Shaun had always wanted to work and travel overseas and decided to make either Taiwan, Korea or Japan his destination. A friend who had lived in Taiwan for a year, but had also been to Japan and Korea, told him that Taiwan was a very special place and one of his favorite countries, so Shaun chose Taiwan.
Prior to his arrival, Shaun was already able to speak a little Chinese because he had lived in Beijing with his father, but was only limited to simple conversations. Not long after arriving in Taipei, he was offered a job in Taichung and decided to go, especially after a friend told him that Taichung had nice weather and cheaper rents and prices. Besides work and studying more Chinese, he began exploring the city and falling love with the place. He often rode his bicycle everywhere, around downtown or out in the countryside of Longjing, and sometimes went to Taichung Port to see the sunset on his scooter, because the smell of the sea reminded him of home.

Today, Shaun's favorite place in Taichung--besides the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, National Museum of Natural Science and the Metropolitan Park--is the Wanggaoliao look-out point on Dadu Mountain, where he can enjoy of a view of all of Taichung city. One of his most unforgettable experiences was spending a New Year's Eve countdown at Wanggaoliao, and was able to see every firework show in the city, a surprising, romantic sight that he will always remember.

Demonstrating love for Taiwan with enthusiasm
When asked whether he misses his hometown, Shaun, who hails from northern England, remarks in Chinese that besides missing his little brother in the UK, he feels okay because he has lived overseas since he was young. And what made him want to express his love to Taiwan? He explains that eight years ago, when he unfamiliar with the country and could only speak basic Chinese, he met so many Taiwanese who were willing to help him and were very friendly.

What deepened his love for Taiwan even further was when his foreign friend had prematurely-born baby three years ago. The couple didn't have health insurance, and the total medical and hospital costs were a million NT dollars. He therefore tried raising money via the Internet and, to his surprise, many Taiwanese who were complete strangers donated money, bringing the total to over NT$500,000. "I will never forget that experience," says Shaun. "I can hardly find another country that is as friendly as Taiwan." His friend's child, now 2 years old, will go back to Canada in July.

Shaun says that his love for this country, the fact that he's had a good job and a lot of good friends here, and Taiwanese kindness and friendliness all made him want to do something to show his gratitude. One day, while walking past a building near his home, his attention was drawn by a "God Bless Taiwan" sculpture on the street corner, which inspired a plan he decided to put into action. He created the "I Love Taiwan" Facebook page on April 23 and got his first photo submission 30 minutes later.

He also shot videos of various people raising their arms over their heads and yelling "I Iove Taiwan" in many parts of Taichung. When he asked them to do this, nobody ever said no. In order to help people around the world feel the friendliness of the Taiwanese, he posted an on-line article and an "I love Taiwan" video produced by his friend. At the start of the video is a quote by Albert Einstein: "If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it."

Shaun's pure enthusiasm has touched so many people who, one after another, started posting on-line photos of themselves putting their hands over their heads and yelling "I love Taiwan". There have also been many who have located Shaun's inspirational sculpture and taken pictures of it, including even some Japanese very willing to show their love for Taiwan. Moreover, some students from Kaohsiung City's RS Senior High School were so touched by Shaun's plan that they eventually got the school to agree to have all 3,000 students gather for a photo of them forming the shape of Taiwan and the word "love" next to it to show their love for this island.

Making the power of love visible
"Love is caring and helping each other," says Shaun, who aims to help make his beloved Taiwan an even better place. He knows that his idea seems a bit crazy, but he has hope. Besides shooting his own video at Wanggaoliao, Shaun has really been involved in this on-going movement. After seeing the photo made by RS Senior High School in May, he has decided that he will take a picture of 3,000 people forming the well-recognized "I love Taiwan" logo on July 1 in Kaohsiung. He also hopes to collect 30,000 photos by that time.

Do you want to show your love for Taiwan just like Shaun has? Take your own "I love Taiwan" picture now, upload it to Shaun's Facebook page, and answer three questions: Where is this photo taken? Why do you love Taiwan? And what do you think will make Taiwan a better place? Perhaps you'll see your photo along with another 200,000 people's on the outside of Taipei 101 on October 10, hopefully helping people around the globe witness the power of love for Taiwan.

I Love Taiwan

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