Taiwan Today

A young woman in Zhubei City in the northern Taiwan county of Hsinchu used the occasion of Christmas to pay back many times over for a minor theft she had committed as a child. At a little after 10 a.m. Dec. 25, a young woman walked into the famous Daxin Double Happiness Cookies store, placing a letter on the counter before she left. The storeowner, Zhuang Shi-rong, first thought that the woman was just thanking them for providing cookies for some occasion. He was then shocked to discover NT$6,000 (US$186.1) inside the envelope. Included was a letter expressing how the woman wanted to apologize to the storeowner, saying that, over 20 years ago, she took several small containers of a yogurt drink from a small refrigerator placed outside the store without paying for them. The woman wrote: "I am truly very sorry for what I did. I ask that you forgive a young girl who did not understand the meaning of her actions. The money I am enclosing is compensation for your losses then. I respectfully ask that you accept it." The letters was signed with a pseudonym, “Yu-guo.” Zhuang said the bottles of Yakult probiotic beverage were not worth much, adding that he had no idea of the theft at the time, and even if he had been aware of it, he would not have cared. Now seeing what the woman has done, Zhuang said he deeply admires how she eventually owned up to her mistakes and bravely tried to set things straight. He stresses that the character the woman exhibited from her decision is something that money cannot buy. Zhuang's wife, Huang Yu-ying, said a small container of the drink the girl stole then cost only NT$4. "Even if she wanted to pay us back for what she took, the amount is really not that much!" Huang speculated that at the time, the girl probably lived in the area and likely was a student at Zhuren Elementary School. Feeling that they could not accept the money, the couple decided to write out a flyer reading "A Christmas surprise. We've met an angel!" They rode their motorcycles through the streets and alleys of Zhubei to distribute the flyer, hoping that they would be able to find the woman and return the money to her. "Let bygones be bygones," Zhuang said, adding that he understands the woman's intentions and is happy about her actions, but he cannot accept the money. The 63-year-old Zhuang is a member of the Huaxing Lion's Club as well as head of the Zhubei civil defense unit. He said he has experienced much through his participation in these two social groups. He hopes that "Yu-guo" will come forward to reclaim the money. Either way, the members of the two groups are willing to double the money through donations, bringing the sum to NT$12,000, and donate the funds in Yu-guo's name to charitable organizations. (This article first appeared in the “Liberty Times” Dec. 30, 2009.)