Author Abigail Hing Wen discusses her NYT best selling YA novel, Loveboat, Taipei and its film adaptation Love in Taipei, based on the Taiwan summer study tour that started more than half a century ago. I had the pleasure of speaking with her, where we chatted about the crazy escapades, her own experiences with the program, how her book and the film came together, and what it's like telling this story to a new generation of diaspora youth.

The Love Boat is the nickname for the summer study tour. For the price of a plane ticket and about $400, diaspora students between 18 and 23 from the U.S., Canada, and elsewhere participated in a government-subsidized, six-week language and cultural program. At its peak during the 1990s, some 1,000 students descended onto Taiwan every summer to have fun, escape from parents, and connect with their roots.

Nicknamed after the 1970s/80s American TV show for the relationships that developed, attendees found deep and lasting bonds. (For longtime listeners of the podcast, past guests Arlene Chan and Jan Wong were among the very earliest participants of the program in the 1960s!) There are other cultural study programs, but the “Love Boat” as many knew it shrank and changed over the last two decades. I reached out to the Overseas Community Affairs Council, which runs the program, and after we recorded this episode, they told me it's a two-week program this year.

(Movie factoid: I recorded this interview while I was in Taiwan, and as I melted in the Taipei heat and humidity, one thing that struck me in the film was how everyone could wear sweatshirts and blazers! Turns out, it was filmed in December when summer clothes were apparently nowhere to be found.

Other interesting factoids: Singer Coco Lee, Fresh Off the Boat creator/author Eddie Huang, Star Trek: Voyager's ensign Harry Kim, played by Garrett Wang, and singer and musician Wang Leehom, were all attendees of the Love Boat study tour. And in case you missed it, here is the NuVoices episode with Love Boat alum Jan Wong (hosted by Joanna Chiu) and my episode with historian Arlene Chan, who went with her two cousins during the program's second year of operation.)

Listen to the episode on your browser, Apple, Spotify, or Google podcast app.

If you are interested in hearing more stories about this experience, check out the 2019 documentary, Love Boat Taiwan, by Valerie Soe, which you can watch here.