The Elegy of a Benteng Woman

Driven by poverty and frustrated with men in her village, she went to Taiwan seeking a better life that has yet to come her way.

January 9, 2007

HARYANTI was not as fortunate as Yana. After years of hardship living with a Taiwanese husband, the 27-year-old whose Chinese name is Shiu Cen now lives alone in a rented room with plywood walls and without ventilation on the second floor of a house located behind the railway station in Tao Yuan City, about 60 kilometers from Taipei. The owner of the house is a grandfather who sells electronic goods on the lower floor.

I have lived here for four m

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