Love Boat (study Tour) - Changes Over The Years

Changes Over The Years

The study tour has gone through many changes over the years which correspond with Taiwan's changing politics and economy. When the tour first started 1967, the program hosted 60–70 participants from America and Canada, with an age range of between 14 and 25, at a small college in Taiwan. As the popularity of the program grew, the number of participants increased and the headquarters moved to Jiantan Campus in Taipei in the 1970s. The average size of the program grew to 100–200 students up until 1988 and in 1989 peaked exponentially at 1200 participants. Due to the overwhelming increase in demand participants had to be placed in two separate campuses in 1990, one remaining at Jiantan Campus and the other new one held at Taipei's Tam Kang Campus.

This increase in enrollment coincided with both Taiwan's 1987 lifting of martial law and also its astronomical economic rise in the technology boom which greatly increased the island's reputation and prosperity. Further, because many originally skeptical participants were returning home with a greater appreciation of Taiwanese culture, improved Chinese language skills and were raving about the quality of the tour to their family, this consequently led to good word of mouth about the program being spread within the National Chinese Community. This was especially pertinent in the 1970s and 1980s when Chinese communities were smaller than present day and a clear sense of "Asian American identity" for many North American born Chinese was nebulous at best. Many American-born Chinese who initially did not have any Chinese language skills and who refused to date a fellow Asian, returned from the tour not only expressing a greater appreciation of Chinese language and culture but also a greater willingness to date within the Asian community. There were many reasons for this, but especially for those participants who came from communities without many Chinese, the Study tour provided a unique forum to share their common "Chinese North American Experience" of growing up and needing to reconcile both North American and Asian Cultures in a predominantly Caucasian society.

However, a by-product of the Study tour's increased popularity was increased competition by parents to register their children especially at large urban centers in New York and California. In fact, there were often waiting lists to get on the program and for some parents getting their child on the program became a symbol of status and often pertinent or high-ranking connections facilitated the application process for their child. Students who were interested in attending would often neglect to inform their parents about the Tour's Love Boat reputation for fear of not being allowed to go. Conversely, some parents desiring their children to find a "suitable Chinese spouse" sent their unsuspecting children on the trip while telling them it was chiefly a Language Study tour.

By the 1990s, the study tour had become a 6 week long program with an enrollment of 1200 participants aged from 18–23 with a management staff of over 80 Counselors. The trip now included a "9 day trip down South" which took all 1200 study tour participants on a bus tour around the entire island of Taiwan to see the major scenic areas. Another prerequisite of the program had by that time become mandatory university enrollment with a preference for students in Ivy League universities and students in their final year of university and thus near the age limit. Further rules stipulated that a family could only send one of its children at a time during any particular tour year so as to avoiding hoarding of spots by families. Exceptions were made however to twins and siblings from Europe. Participation had gradually increased from Europe especially from the countries such as England, France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, and Holland. Countries such as Australia and those from South America and Africa also began sending small numbers of Study tour participants. This contributed greatly to the sense of international community among Overseas Chinese worldwide.