Shih Ch’ien: Taiwan’s “Father of Beggars” – S5-E43

Shih Ch’ien (施乾) is a young, well-educated Taiwanese man with a coveted government job in the Japanese colonial administration. But he turns his back on this comfortable life to live among society’s outcasts. In 1923, aged just 24, he founded a shelter for beggars, Aiai Ryō (愛愛寮, the “House of Love”) in Taipei’s Wanhua district. There, he would spend the rest of his short life caring for the destitute and demonstrating his hands-on approach to helping the poor. Shih loved beggars but hated begging; he rejected feel-good charity, instead seeking to eradicate poverty through education, medical care, self-respect, and work-training. And he attempted this without institutional support. It was a constant struggle. Behind his success lay two extraordinary women, first his Taiwanese wife and later his Japanese wife.

Happy New Year from Formosa Files. We hope you enjoy this uplifting historical tale told with our usual seasoning of banter and that you forgive us our occasional inappropriate joke.

Episode Image: left: Shih Ch'ien, right: Shih Ch'ien and second wife, Shimizu Teruko (see details for first two pictures below).

Pictures

Above: Shih Ch'ien treating the poor. From Taiwan Panorama's (formerly Sinorama) article on Shih Ch'ien in their July 1994 issue. Photo courtesy of the Taipei Love Relief Center.

Above: Wedding photo of Shih Ch’ien and Shimizu Teruko. 

Courtesy of 吳尊賢文教公益基金會 (the Wu Tsun-hsien Foundation of Culture, Education and Public Welfare), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Below: Shih Ch’ien and Shimizu Teruko (first and second from the left), with their young daughter. (Courtesy of Lin Po-wei.) https://showwe.tw/choice/choice.aspx?c=490

Below: Shih Ch’ien’s second wife, Shimizu Teruko (later Mrs. Shih Chao-tzu 施照子). Circa 1960 

Courtesy: http://www.tcnn.org.tw/news-detail.php?nid=3808, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Further Reading

The government publication Taiwan Panorama (formerly Sinorama) featured an article on Shih Ch'ien in their July 1994 issue.

There are some photos and information on the organization website: https://en.aiai.org.tw/ Originally founded as Aiai Ryō in 1923 to assist the destitute, it has undergone name changes and its mission has evolved. Today it provides elder care and related services under the English name “Taipei Private Aiai Home” (also known as the Aiai institution or Aiai care home in Taipei).

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