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After Taiwan student suicide, mainland mother extends love

( Xinhua )

Updated: 2014-04-24

TAIPEI - In a tree cemetery east of Taipei, Liu Shan stooped beside a cedar to whisper to her son buried beneath, telling him of the arrival of friends from his hometown on the Chinese mainland.

No epitaph was seen at the burial site of Liu Tengyang, who took his life last year at Taiwan's Fu Jen Catholic University, the first suicide case involving a mainland student in a Taiwan college.

One year after the tragedy exposed the mental plight of the island's newly arrived mainland students, Liu traveled to Taiwan on another motherly mission: to take care of other mainland students in the absence of their parents.

"My son's death would be made worthless if I chose to lie in the grips of sorrow," the single mother said. "I've lost my son, but I was given a new life goal: to love and care about other students like him."

MAKING THE CRY HEARD

There are thousands of mainland students currently studying in Taiwan's universities, which began recruiting them in 2011, partly in a drive to fill the vacancies left by a shrinking domestic student pool.

Liu said many of these young students suffer social isolation and a lack of care as they adapt to a different society and associate with their Taiwanese peers, who often have clashing thoughts and values.

"There are students who spend most of their time playing games in the dorm or confined to the small circle of mainland students at the same university," Liu said.

Such isolation may worsen psychological problems, as demonstrated in the case of Liu Tengyang. The 19-year-old suffered depression before hanging himself in the dormitory on March 18, 2013. The mother suspects the cause was him being excluded by other local students after a failed romance with a Taiwanese girl.

Liu noted Taiwan's lack of protection for mainland students. Offices for mainland students lack personnel and student associations are underfunded. Mainland students are denied access to public health insurance that covers Hong Kong, Macao and other non-local students. In times of emergencies, mainland parents often face red tape in visiting their children.

"Even a minor disease or injury could be devastating to our study. One of my fellow students faced hefty medical bills after breaking a leg, and her parents were forbidden to stay long to take care of her," said Xie Jintian, an exchange student from Fujian Province.

Liu decided to make use of her role as a victim's mother and speak out for other mainland students.

"Taiwanese universities recruited mainland students to fill vacancies, but what have they done for these children? Could they do more? Could they treat them the same way as the Taiwanese students?" Liu said.

In recent years, Taiwan has drawn criticism for its policies on mainland students, including forbidding them from receiving scholarships, doing part-time work or seeking local employment after graduation. Some believe this discrimination is behind the cooling enrollment of mainland students.

Taiwan planned to enroll 3,805 students from the mainland in 2013, but official statistics showed only 1,822 actually came and registered.

ACTING MOM

In February, Liu left her job in Fuzhou City to attend psychology and media courses at Fu Jen University.

The former host of call-in advice radio programs now devotes much of her time to consulting with mainland students, sometimes rushing to the care of sick students in lieu of their parents.

She arranges weekly dinner parties at her small rental apartment and cooks for a few mainland students.

"It's mostly simple home-cooked food. What matters is the family atmosphere for everyone to talk out their minds," Liu said.

Liu has a bigger ambition. She wants to establish a "mama's league" for similar parties, an idea that has already attracted a couple of Taiwanese mothers who are willing to cook for the mainland students.

Liu said she no longer feels sad, as she is loved by the students. Once she left her cellphone in the apartment while going shopping. Hearing the rings from inside the door but getting no response from knocking, a student became so panicked for her safety that she even made attempts to break into the room.

"Even biological children could do no more than that," Liu said. "My love was repaid -- the children love me."

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