Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Lee Chang
The first four Mormon missionaries sent to Taiwan wouldnt arrive until
June 4, 1956, when interest in Christianity was on the decline. Serving as
part of the Southern Far East Mission under President Heaton, the
missionaries established a branch in the capitol city of Taipei. Stanley
Simiskey, a convert to the Church was stationed in Taipei. He gathered a few
other servicemen to hold group meetings until they were joined by the
missionaries. Elders Duane W. Degn, Keith A. Madsen, Weldon J. Kitchen, and
Melvin C. Fish assisted the newly assigned Branch President Simiskey in
strengthening the foothold of the Church in the capitol.4,3
The missionaries had just nine months of language training in
mandarin only one of the languages spoken on the island. The cultural
divide, communication barrier, and dying interest in Christianity did not favor
the missionaries work. In fact, under the encouragement from wellestablished Christian pastors and preachers, the Taiwanese people in general
did not accept Mormonism as being the same as Christianity, and had a
negative view of it. Chen Chiung Hwang, in his article, wrote, On the
contrary, Mormonism is seen, at worst, as a cultish, unknown, polygamous
religion or, at best, either as a friendly, polite American guest or as
something exotic.
4 Barney, Ralph D., and Gary G. Y. Chu. "Differences between Mormon Missionaries'
Perceptions and Chinese Natives' Expectations in Intercultural Transactions." The
Journal of Social Psychology98.1 (1976): 135-36. Web
5 Chen, Chiung Hwang. "In Taiwan But Not of Taiwan: Challenges of the LDS Church
in the Wake of the Indigenous Movement." N.p., June 2008. Web. 9 Mar. 2016.Print
The first baptism in Taiwan was Thomas V. Kintaro Sr., the husband of
a Church member, on July 22 1956; however, the first native baptisms didnt
occur until April 27, 1957. The two first native converts, Ch'iu Hung-hsiang
and Tseng I-Chang, were joined by more than 50 other converts by the end of
1957. Missionary work then spread to Tainan and Kaohsiung in the 1960s.6
A Cultural Influence
Many people were drawn to the Mormon Church due to its
Americanness. The Church wisely played on its American image by
promoting English classes and American activities. This attracted members
from the upper crust of the Taiwanese society.5 By 1958, there were 286
members in Taiwan, primarily around the capitol.6 These early converts
mainly came from other Christian denominations and had the religious
education to form a firm structure for the church to continue building on
later. Jasmin Huang, an early convert in Taiwan, describes her exposure to
the Church.
When I joined the church, most people were really young. Most of
them were students [and they joined] because they were interested in
foreign experience. I joined the church when I was a student, but most
6 Hillam, Bradford. "Country Information: Taiwan." LDS Church News. The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 21 Feb. 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2016.
people like me were not really interested in the religion. They were just
interested in foreigners.7
However, the Churchs Americanness had a simultaneous negative
impact on its growth in Taiwan. In 1987, when martial law was lifted, Taiwan
sought to reestablish its own cultural identity. The indigenous Taiwanese
people wanted to maintain their individuality from foreigners as well as the
Chinese people that escaped from China to Taiwan (commonly referred to as
wai shen ren, (translated as Outer Region People). As new as the LDS
Church was to Taiwan, it was at a disadvantage trying to train its
missionaries in Mandarin, only to discover a widespread movement to restore
the native tongue of Taiwan, also known as Hoklo. The LDS Church
established Mandarin (the official language of Taiwan) as its primary
language in conducting meetings and missionary work. English was
maintained as the standard for Church administrative functions. The
emphasis on Mandarin ostracized many of the indigenous people who were
indignant about needing a translator at meetings and in lessons.
7 Huang, Jasmin Hsiu-Fen, and Arien Hamblin. "Interview." 1994. MS 1, LDS Asian American
Oral History Project. Brigham Young University, Provo. Print.
8 Chen, Chiung Hwang. "In Taiwan But Not of Taiwan: Challenges of the LDS Church in the
Wake of the Indigenous Movement." N.p., June 2008. Web. 9 Mar. 2016.Print
decades before the Book of Mormon, is still criticized for awkward Chinese
conversion despite many revisions.
Still more worrisome was the lack of cultural understanding from the
missionaries. A study done in 1976 on returned missionaries showed that
missionaries misunderstood 66.7 percent of Taiwanese cultural subjects after
their time in Taiwan. The study focused on the areas of personal appearance,
tradition, language, personal manners, church behavior, and personal space.
The returned missionaries generally completed their missions with serious
cultural knowledge deficiencies.9
Unfortunately this issue is still prevalent in modern situations. Many
returned missionaries assume that because of a two-year stay in a land, they
understand the culture. They do not consider that the language barrier
prevents them from asking about or understanding the deep 5,000 year old
culture. As deep as the Chinese culture is, many missionaries project their
native customs onto the foreign culture, causing misunderstanding. An
example is that people in Taiwan will give the best things to the missionaries
because they are visitors from a foreign land all the way from home. When it
comes to visitor customs, the importance of gifts is never understated. The
following experience of Jasmin Huang is a common occurrence:
9 Barney, Ralph D., and Gary G. Y. Chu. "Differences between Mormon Missionaries'
Perceptions and Chinese Natives' Expectations in Intercultural Transactions." The Journal of
Social Psychology98.1 (1976): 135-36. Print.
10 Huang, Jasmin Hsiu-Fen, and Arien Hamblin. "Interview." 1994. MS 1, LDS Asian American
Oral History Project. Brigham Young University, Provo. Print
gives them free meals. Likewise, missionaries are known to return to certain
homes expecting gifts of ties.
Jasmins experience is not unique to her personally. Although those
that become familiar with missionaries eventually understand that their
behavior is innocent, this cultural divide and misunderstanding left some
Taiwanese natives with distaste for missionaries.
12 Hillam, Bradford. "Country Information: Taiwan." LDS Church News. The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 21 Feb. 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2016.
13 Morris, Robert J. "Some Problems of Translating Mormon Thought into Chinese." BYU
Studies10.2 (1970): 173-85. Web.
crude and uncultured. Quite often the translated Chinese names of foreign
people, places, or objects carry an awkward combination of tones and
sounds. One example is the transliterated name of Nephi: Ni Fei contains two
character which rarely, if ever, appear in Chinese names. The rising tone of
ni combined with the sudden tonal drop of fei is unpleasant to Chinese
ears. In addition, the ni character is phonetically the same sound as the
Chinese word for mud, demeaning the name. Because all words in Chinese
are single syllable, many words sound the same or similar to one another,
causing many mishaps to occur. One example missionaries encounter is
when introducing the Book of Mormon, originally translated as and
Romanized as Mo Men Jing. When investigators do not have a visual
confirmation of the actual characters, combination of Mo and Men is very
quickly misunderstood to mean Hells Gate or The Door of the Devil, thus
the title would mean The Scriptures of the Devils Door.
The Mormon Church became known as the Mo Men Jiao, the exact
sounds that mean the Church of the Devils Door. The incumbent Christian
preachers encouraged the misconception of the LDS Church as a cult, using
the unfortunate mis-transliteration as evidence. Chen Chiung Hwang writes,
Externally, comprising a small portion of society in Taiwan, Mormonism
continues to be seen as a cult-like religion. Even to this day, almost a
decade after the Church retranslated the name of the Book of Mormon in
2007 to the less confusing title of Mo Er Men Jing (), many Chinese
people still recoil in revulsion at the mention of the Mormons, identifying the
Church as a xie jiao (evil cult) due to the initial transliteration.
Expansion
In April 1960, Elder Gordon B. Hinckley, then assistant to the LDS
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was appointed the supervisor of the Asian
missions. Under his care, the Asia area saw the expansion of missions,
building of many church facilities, and purchase of the land later used for the
first chapel in Taiwan. In the same year, many local missionaries were called.
A portion of the local missionaries were assigned to be building missionaries.
1415
15 Bigelow, Christopher K. "Taiwan: Four Decades of Faith." Taiwan: Four Decades of Faith.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 21 Feb. 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2016.
17 Hillam, Bradford. "Country Information: Taiwan." LDS Church News. The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 21 Feb. 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2016.
The Taipei Taiwan Stake was created in April 1976. Taiwan native
Chang I-ching was called to be the first native stake president. The Taipei
mission was then divided later that year, with the second mission based in
Kaohsiung in the southern part of the island. Membership of the church in
Taiwan at that time was just under five thousand.
18
19 Chen, Chiung Hwang. "In Taiwan But Not of Taiwan: Challenges of the LDS Church in the
Wake of the Indigenous Movement." N.p., June 2008. Web. 9 Mar. 2016.Print
20
20
23
Comparisons
The Latter-Day Saints actively perform ordinances of baptism, confirmation,
and endowment for their deceased. These practices are born out of doctrinal
necessity rather than simply honoring their ancestors. There are similarities
when compared with the Taiwanese perspective that their ancestors souls
23 Groot, Jan Jakob Maria. The Religious System of China: Book II. On the Soul and Ancestral
Worship. Vol. IV. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1901. 273, 452.Print.
must rely on the prayers and offerings of their descendants. Thus for the
Chinese, the concepts of performing important functions for the dead is not
unusual.
The Chinese people also emphasize the importance of family records.
In many smaller, more traditional villages where most of the villager are
related, there are special buildings containing the genealogical records. The
practice came from Pre-Communist China, but unfortunately during the
revolution, family records were burned by the new government in an effort to
decentralize the family unit. The only Chinese regions actively maintaining
the practice of record-keeping and ancestor worship are Hong Kong and
Taiwan, the latter being more active.
The Latter-Day Saints also believe in meticulous record keeping,
although they focus on the doctrinal importance of it.
Then, let there be a general recorder, to whom these other
records can be handed, being attended with certificates over their own
signatures, certifying that the record they have made is true. Then the
general church recorder can enter the record on the general church
book, with the certificates and all the attending witnesses, with his
own statement that he verily believes the above statement and
records to be true, from his knowledge of the general character and
appointment of those men by the church. And when this is done on the
general church book, the record shall be just as holy, and shall answer
the ordinance just the same as if he had seen with his eyes and heard
with his ears, and made a record of the same on the general church
book.24
Most of the Chinese people appreciate the teachings and practices of
the Mormon Church in regards to the deceased. Whereas most other
Christian faiths teach the perpetuation of the soul after death, Mormons
seem to be the only church that supported the doctrine through actionable
ordinances.
Unfortunately, as with the Americanness of the Mormon Church, the
advantages of the ordinances for the dead also came with disadvantages.
The Taiwanese people greatly resented the prohibition on ancestor worship
by the early Christian churches when they first arrived. Through the decades,
the incumbent Christian factions began accepting that their members would
insist on worshipping their ancestors even while praying to God.
The Mormons however, strictly abided by the doctrine that no other
gods should be worshipped. This firm stance dissuaded many from joining
the Church if they had to sacrifice what they believed was the existence of
their forefathers spiritual life. In a more practical light, most people were too
afraid to be different than the rest of the Taiwanese society. Many of the
Taiwanese people believed in the Restored Gospel and agreed with its
24 "Section 128." The Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints.Salt Lake City, UT, U.S.A.: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, 1981. N. pag. Print.
26 Bigelow, Christopher K. "Taiwan: Four Decades of Faith." Taiwan: Four Decades of Faith.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 21 Feb. 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2016.
27 Hillam, Bradford. "Country Information: Taiwan." LDS Church News. The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 21 Feb. 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2016.
The Family
The Chinese/Taiwanese community has often seen dysfunctional
families despite its emphasis on family values. The families are still together
and appear connected, but actually suffer a lack of emotional
correspondence. The Chinese culture admonishes respect towards superiors
and elders often in the form of total obedience.28 The lifestyle of the Chinese
environment also demands long hours at work or school away from home.
These two factors together destabilize the Taiwanese family structure. The
end effect is a paradoxical structure where most the families are bound
together by traditional family-centric duty and societal expectations rather
than emotional understanding and connection.
The Asian culture is also the epitome of tough love in the family.
Children are expected to remain close to home, often until the parents
become elderly and need their care. Especially in the time frame the Mormon
Church was entering Taiwan, an individual grew up and grew old in the same
village. If a person did leave their community, it showed that they did not
28 Carol S. Huntsinger, Paul E. Jose, Fong-R. "Cultural Differences in Early
Mathematics Learning: A Comparison of Euro-American, Chinese-American, and
Taiwan-Chinese Families." International Journal of Behavioral Development 21.2
(1997): 371-88. Web.
wish to take care of the elderly. Their family viewed their physical departure
or religious deviation as a lack of love and respect. Larry Chens father left
his village when Larry was still young. As a result, the entire village looked
down on his father and his family.
Because of his behavior (leaving the village) that way, he kind of
rebelled. Our village had become a little bit against him, and he was
scared of coming home.
In any setting, the younger generation is not allowed to speak
opinions that contradict their elders. Even up to the current decade, children
are not allowed to argue with their parents; such behavior is often met with
physical discipline.
These parental practices paired with the Asian tradition of suppressing
empathy and visible emotion have a long lasting negative result: the children
are silent about their thoughts and emotions while the parents hardly ever
say I love you. The lack of communication causes a lack of understanding,
which in turn usually led to sudden intense outbursts of anger from children
towards parents and vice versa.
The Chinese family traditions contrasted starkly with the American
LDS Church. Restored and founded in the western culture, the typical
Mormon expectations towards family teach that the phrase I love you
should be spoken often in the family, with parallel actions. The doctrine of
Mormonism teaches that parents should listen to the children just as the
children should listen to the parents. The husband and the wife are equal
partners in the family organization and in the spiritual eternities. These
doctrinal truths were hard for the Taiwanese people to follow, as it would
mean a completely new way of thinking.
Furthermore, as some of these early converts began looking towards
going on full-time missions, their families were hurt and shocked. In the days
of the early Church in Taiwan, the native people were very conservative;
thought of leaving the family for two years for a church was unheard of
besides professional ministers. Many of the families were impoverished, still
struggling to build up from the escape from Communist China; funding a
mission seemed unfathomable. Hai-I Hsia West, whose father was part of the
Nationalist Party navy, escaped with her family to Taiwan while she was still a
toddler. From her childhood to adulthood, she lived in a tightknit community.
Everyone was poor so everyone shared food, material goods, and traditions.
When Hai-I decided to go on a mission after she was baptized, her
family was angry at her. They didnt support her conversion and understood
less about her desire to serve a mission. (Interesting Note: many of the
Taiwanese at that time believed that the Mormon missionaries were secretly
American FBI Spies!). Hai-I chose to leave for her mission anyways, straining
her family relationships. Hai-I showed greater love towards her family when
she returned. Her great example changed her familys perceptions of the
Church. Now, her mother wholly supports her involvement in such a
wholesome and family-centric religion.
29
30 Cannon, Donald Q., Richard O. Cowan, R. Lanier. Britsch, David F. Boone, and Fred E.
Woods. A Light Unto Every Nation: Gospel Light Reaches Every Land. Salt Lake City, UT:
Deseret Book, 2003. Print.
August 1995: Shih-An Liang was called to serve as the first Area
31 Bigelow, Christopher K. "Taiwan: Four Decades of Faith." Taiwan: Four Decades of Faith.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 21 Feb. 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2016.
Taiwan TODAY:
Total Membership:
57,889
Missions:
Temples:
1232
Addendum
Church History in Taiwan
1921Elder David O. McKay dedicates Chinese realm
1956Missionaries arrive in Taiwan from Hong Kong
1959Elder Mark E. Petersen rededicates Taiwan
1965Book of Mormon published in Chinese
33 West, Hai-I Hsia, and Arien Hamblin. "Interview." 1995. MS 1, LDS Asian American Oral
History Project. Brigham Young University, Provo. Print
Source: https://www.lds.org/ensign/1998/09/taiwan-four-decades-of-faith?lang=eng
Larry Y.C. Chen
Credit: http://www.mission.net/taiwan/taipei/presidents.php?prID=2119
Taiwan Temple:
Credit: https://www.lds.org/media-library/images/taipei-taiwan-temple-lds-1031625?
lang=eng
President Gordon B. Hinckley discussing the plans of what appears to be the Taipei,
Taiwan Temple:
Credit: https://www.lds.org/manual/presidents-of-the-church-student-manual/gordonb-hinckley-fifteenth-president-of-the-church?lang=eng
Taiwan Taoist Temple:
Credit: http://www.mappingwords.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/lotuslake8.jpg
Credit: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Taichung_Tzushan_Temple_4.jpg