Time Hero Chen Shu-Chu

(images from Formosa TV)

I am not sure what it is about this simple vegetable vendor from Taitung that touches me most. Could it be her shy smile, her quiet humbleness or her ceaseless sense of giving and generosity? Or is it her uncombed hair, her look of ordinariness or her endless knack for work? As I watched the morning news coverage about 61 year old Chen Shu-Chu 陳樹菊, something about her moved me to tears.

Named by Time Magagzine as one of 2010's Heroes, Oscar-crowned Taiwanese director Ang Lee had this to say about Chen, :

What's so wonderful about Chen's achievement is not its extraordinariness but that it is so simple and matter of fact in its generosity. "Money serves its purpose only when it is used for those who need it," she told a newspaper.

Indeed, Chen came from such a poor upbringing that she could not even finish elementary school, and began working at the market since the age of 7 to support her family. Having lost her parents at 13, she worked to raise her two siblings. Earlier, Forbes named her one of the "Heroes of Philantrophy" for her charitable donations which in the last five decades mount to a significant sum of NT$10million (approx. US$330,000). All of her donations come from the vegetables that she sells and all the savings she accumulated living a thrifty and frugal life. Hearing news that she won recognition for her philanthropic work, reporters found her busy hauling vegetables at the market. "What award? I don't know any award. [Giving donations] is not a contest!"



Yesterday, she boarded the plane and made her way to New York where she will receive the Time award. She had on her a handbag that cost NT$190 (US$6), most likely from the traditional market where she hawks her goods every day. On her feet were sports shoes, and her clothes were no more elaborate or fancy than the outfits that she has been spotted wearing at the market. All that was missing was her trademark red apron, though she did say if she had her way she would most like to wear the apron to the award ceremony.

Being the first time Chen has ever been abroad, the Foreign Affairs Ministry expedited her passport application and the (de-facto) US embassy granted Chen her visa within one hour. Due to chronic cellulitis in her legs from standing too long all the time, she limps, and Eva Air has kindly upgraded her to Business Class to make sure this newly-discovered celebrity makes her journey to the other side of the world in comfort.

"I promise if I get the chance I will say something for Taiwan", she told reporters. It takes someone like her, an ordinary nobody from the countryside living in obscurity with no family, to bring together and touch the heart of a nation that for too long is shunned as a pariah in the world.

Chen has fostered two dozen children from an orphanage, and donated millions to build a library at the elementary school she never graduated from. She works 16 hours a day from 3 in the morning everyday, resting only one day a year, and eats a diet of just rice with soy sauce and vegetables. On occasion she would treat herself to a bento box, but even that she can spread the meal over a whole day. Little by little, penny by penny, she saves her income just in order to give. "Giving makes me feel so happy. I can sleep very well that night".

Her simpleness of life, her selfless philosophy of living is an example to us all.