Stateswoman: Bi-khim Hsiao, the reverend’s daughter who picked her own name (2/3)
The first segment of this three-part series explores the multicultural heritage of Bi-khim Hsiao (蕭美琴), the vice presidential candidate on the Democratic Progressive Party’s 2024 Lai-Hsiao ticket. An introduction to Bi-khim’s 2004 Mandarin memoir “One Can Do It” (一個人也可以, translated English title for reference only) was written by her Taiwanese father, the Reverend Ching-fen Hsiao (蕭清芬) who noted that his daughter came from a line of Mayflower descendants from her American mother’s side, and of “anonymous lineage” on the paternal side.
The reverend himself was adopted around the age of 2 after his mother died when he was just 10 months; his birth family in Tainan struggled to care for the infant. Isabel Elliot, a Canadian nurse, brought the child to Changhua Christian Hospital (彰化基督教醫院) for treatment, where he met the young Christian couple who raised him. His adoptive family had lost several children by blood and adoption before, and they took joy in Ching-fen Hsiao’s fortitude and welcomed him as a “divine gift.” His biological family was not absent from his life either.
The story behind her name
Bi-khim’s multilingual father pursued doctoral studies at Princeton Theological Seminary. He also assisted with updating the Common Taiwanese Bible (CTB, 全民台語聖經) that was printed in Pe̍h-ōe-jī (白話字) — “the scripts of vernacular speech” — an evangelical style of Romanizing the Taiwanese language using a modified Latin alphabet brought over by Western missionaries in the late nineteenth century. Known also as the Church Roman Script or Taiwanese Scripts, the same writing system was used by Taiwan’s first modern newspaper in 1885; the Taiwan Prefectural City Church News published in Pe̍h-ōe-jī until 1969, when it was forced to switch over to Mandarin by the Chinese Nationalist authorities.
Bi-khim’s loyalty to the Taiwanese language can perhaps also be traced back to her mother’s own experience of learning Mandarin and Taiwanese. After marrying the reverend, Peggy Cooley (蕭邱碧玉) adapted to life in Tainan and began to learn Mandarin but found Taiwanese easier to pick up through its Pe̍h-ōe-jī Romanization system using a Latin script. As a music graduate of Union Theological Seminary in New York, Cooley soon taught pipe organ lessons and shopped at local wet markets with ease.
A former secretary to her father provided further context: “Her grandma, who didn’t speak a word of the Beijing language or English, used to live with them. So Bi-khim would talk to her parents in English, and communicate with her Ama in Taiwanese in the same household.” This was a time when schools banned all native languages and instructed only in Mandarin, “the Beijing language” referenced above.
In Rev. Ching-fen Hsiao’s own words:
Even if she fits the “happa” definition of being multiracial, Bi-khim possesses a Taiwan identity as strong as that of any other “pureblood” Taiwanese. My daughter’s birth certificate lists a second name next to 美琴 — that of her grandmother’s. But she opts not to use this non-Taiwanese name. She wanted a name that would embody her unique background. Her given English name was a rather common one in the United States, but “Bi-khim” much less so. So it became thus: the pronunciation guide to her name, legal papers — all spelled in proper Taiwanese as “Bi-khim.” (*my translation)
雖然是徹底的「happa」（混血兒），美琴對台灣意識認同卻不比「純」台灣人弱。她的原始出生證明書除「美琴」外尙有第二個名字，是沿外婆的名取的；但她主張不用這洋名。她要在名字上凸顯「獨特性」。在美國和她的洋名一樣的很多，但「Bi-khim」卻難找到第二位。不但如此，連「美琴」這名字發音正式的寫法，法律上的名字，都是道道地地的台灣話–Bi-khim。 (原文)
The good reverend passed away in 2021, aged 86.
Ahead of the second anniversary of his death on Nov. 26, I would like to share one anecdote from his prolific life, which was memorialized in an English obituary (select quotes included below):
As the head of Tainan Theological College and Seminary (台南神學院) who was nicknamed “Whiskers Hsiao (蕭兩撇)” for his signature mustache, the reverend is remembered for standing at the school gate, firmly reminding all students to return to their classrooms on the fateful eve of the 1979 Kaohsiung Incident. Knowing how martial law under the Chinese Nationalists operated, he was fearful for their lives and sought to protect their future.
Rest in peace, Rev. Hsiao (1935–2021)
During years of living and working in Taiwan, he experienced the Japanese occupation, the Allied attacks on Taiwan during World War II, the martial law period imposed by the Nationalist Chinese government and the growth of the democratic movement in Taiwan.
His life was fulfilling and remarkable in his roles as educator, administrator and pastor, and as a bridge between East and West, connecting countries, cultures, families, churches and other groups.
Rev. Hsiao is survived by his wife of 52 years, Peggy; three children, Bi-khim, Samuel (Amanda) and Bi-sek Jeannette (Donald); three grandchildren, Madeline, Paloma and Austin; two brothers and two sisters, and one sister in his adoptive family. He is also survived by many nieces and nephews, wit with whom he cultivated close relationships, hosting them in his home and traveling often to important family events. In his biological family he was predeceased by two sisters and three brothers.
Her name in…
Mandarin: 蕭美琴 (Wade-Giles: Hsiao1 Mei3-ch’in2)
Taiwanese: 蕭美琴 (Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Siau Bí-khîm)
English: Hsiao Bi-khim (Tâi-lô, or the Taiwanese Romanization System based on Pe̍h-ōe-jī)
The original English name given to Bi-khim was Louise.
Next up: meow!
