Tides of Memory, Culture, and Connection: The Taiwan Love Boat

Step aboard and join us for a journey through memory, identity, and cultural connection with a film screening and discussion of , a feature-length documentary that investigates the origin, legacy, and social impact of one of Taiwan’s iconic soft power programs.

Since the 1960s, the fabled “Love Boat” has carried generations of overseas Chinese and Taiwanese Americans to Taiwan, where the Republic of China (Taiwan) government sought to promote Taiwanese life and culture to diasporic communities through language lessons, cultural immersion, and social adventures. This annual summer trip instead turned into an unforgettable experience for its many alumni. More than just a cultural exchange, the Love Boat became a bridge between worlds—a place where identity was explored, love was kindled, and lifelong friendships were forged.

After the documentary film screening, join us for an intimate discussion with the film’s visionary director, producer, and writer, Valerie Soe, and Prof. Patricia Chu, Director of Asian American Studies at the George Washington University and author of . In this moderated discussion, the speakers will dive deeply into the stories behind the film, unpacking Love Boat’s legacy and its powerful impact on identity, diaspora, and Taiwan’s soft power on the world stage.

Whether you are interested in film, diasporic studies, cross-cultural exchange and identity, soft power, Taiwan Studies, or any intersection in between, please join us for this unique opportunity to experience the film and share in an evening of storytelling and discovery with the filmmaker herself.

About the Speakers

Valerie Soe is a Professor in the Asian American Studies Department at San Francisco State University. Since 1986 Valerie Soe’s experimental videos, installations, and documentary films have won dozens of awards, grants, and commissions and have exhibited worldwide. Her feature documentary, Love Boat: Taiwan, was released in 2019 and won the Audience Award at the Urban Nomad Film Festival in Taipei, Taiwan, and has played to sold-out festival audiences across North America and in Taiwan. Her short experimental documentary, Radical Care: The Auntie Sewing Squad (2020) won a Director’s Choice Award at the 2021 Thomas Edison Film Festival and the 2021 Best of Bernal Award at Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema. Her writing has been published in books and journals including Countervisions: Asian American Film Criticism; The Palgrave Handbook of Asian Cinema; Amerasia Journal, and Asian Cinema, among others. Soe is the author of the blog (recipient of a 2011 Art Writers’ Grant, Creative Capital/Andy Warhol Foundation), which looks at Asian and Asian American art, film, culture, and activism.

Patricia Chu is a Professor of English and the Director of the Asian American Studies and Undergraduate Studies programs at George Washington University. Her main focuses are Asian American and diasporic literature, film, and cultural studies; Women’s writing and autobiography; 20th and 21st century American literature; Victorian literature, especially the English novel; literature of transracial adoption; children’s and young adult literature; fantasy and speculative fiction; postcolonial theory; autobiography theory; psychoanalytic/affect theory.

Host or Publisher George Washington University's Taiwan Education and Research Program