TANG
Our History
With over 20 years of experience, TANG is the largest Taiwanese American summer camp in the East Coast.
TANG traces its roots back to TACEC (Taiwanese American Conference East Coast 美東臺灣人夏令會),
a conference formed by the first wave of Taiwanese immigrants arriving in America in the 70’s and 80’s. Though it began as a retreat for families living in the Northeast, TACEC’s focus soon grew to incorporate issues related to human rights and advancing freedom and democracy inTaiwan.
Throughout the 80s/90s, parents attending TACEC brought their children in tow, creating an impromptu community for second generation Taiwanese Americans. These youth eventually organized to create their own programming and served as one of the nation’s earliest communities for native born Taiwanese Americans.
In 2003, TANG (Taiwanese American Next Generation) was created with the explicit goal of organizing a formal program for young Taiwanese Americans attending TACEC.
From 2001-2004, Dave Yang was a key leader for second generation programming for TACEC, which was concerned about declining second generation (2G) attendance.
Dave surmised the 2G was left “without a feeling of ownership in their Taiwanese American community. The work of the 2G programs can no longer be taken as a periphery to the first generation programs.” In 2003, Dave got to work with his staff and the program developed would become what we know today as TANG.
TANG Founding Team
Back Row (L to R): Wil Chung, Jonathan Lee, Rob Hsu, Dave Yang (1979-2020), Leslie Liao, Steve Lin
Front Row. (L to R): Keimay Yang (1976-2007), Margaret Chen, Jennifer Chung