A team of four young professionals and their leader from Taiwan flew 20 hours from their home country on the other side of the world to visit the Rotary Club of Glenvar, in additional to other area Rotary clubs.
Members of the Group Study Exchange team shared pictures and information about Taiwan’s technology and accomplishments when the team was at the Glenvar club meeting Tuesday at Richfield Living. They were scheduled to present a similar program this Thursday at the Rotary Club of Salem.
Each team member has different specialties and strengths. Taiwan boasted the tallest building in the world until 2010 when Dubai built one overtaking Taipei 101, Team Leader Susan Guu pointed out.
Member Billy Liu, a marketing manager for a cosmetic skin treatment clinic, said “Overall, Taiwan is very democratic. It elected the first female president, Ingwe-Tsai, in the whole Chinese community.”
Brett Tseng, who does university medical research, mentioned Taiwan is known for excellent sportsmen, including Yankees’ former pitcher Chien-Ming Wang, professional tennis player Rendy Lu, as well as basketball and golf standouts.
Maggie Luo, an immigration consultant who helps bring people into her country and migrate out, showed pictures of Kaishiou, a large harbor city. Team member Champion Wang, who holds a Ph.D. in computer science, modestly he admitted he was the one who developed the computer-generated tiger in the movie “The Life of Pi.”
Team members also showed off technology evidenced in a light show during the 2019 Taiwan Lantern Festival, when 300 lighted drones flew intricate synchronized shapes of a tuna, a tall building and Chinese characters for the name of their county.
Taiwan is an independent state in the Republic of China, which has a population of 23 million people on a land mass one-third the size of Virginia, team members explained.
The Taiwan team brought a special exchange flag for the club’s banner, and Glenvar Rotary President John King presented a Glenvar Rotary flag to Susan Guu as well as each team member.
The Group Study Exchange program this year sent a team of young professionals from District 7570 in Virginia and Tennessee to Taiwan where they are now, and various Rotary clubs in this district hosted the team from Taiwan. Each team visits local industries, businesses and schools in addition to historical sites in those countries.