Every student who leaves Taiwan for advanced study abroad represents an important but inexpensive investment in the future of the Republic of China. Most of these students go to colleges in the United States, but Canada and European countries also attract a number. Those choosing American schools become more numerous with each passing year. More than 7,000 Chinese from Taiwan are estimated to be on American campuses for the 1969-70 school year. Statistics on the rate of increase for the whole of the United States are not available, but the experience of one American university may be regarded as typical. The International Students Division of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Illinois, reported in May that it had 810 students from 87 foreign countries. Of these, 165 were Chinese.
As recently as 1960, SIU had only 253 foreign students and not more than 10 were from Taiwan. Of the 165 Chinese, about 100 are from Taiwan with Hongkong in second place. At the graduate level, favored areas of study are economics, government, mathematics and chemistry. It is significant however, that other disciplines are beginning to attract more students from Taiwan. One example is Liu Wann-hong, the son of Dr. Liu Chi-hung, president of National Chengchi University. Instead of following in his father's footsteps and choosing political science, the younger Liu soon will receive his master's degree in the School of Fine Arts, where his principal interest is design.
Wann-hong is the first Chinese to enroll in fine arts at SIU. His adviser, Professor Brent Kington, is convinced that Wann-hong's impressive record will encourage others to follow his example. When the School of Fine Arts held its annual exhibition last spring, each student was invited to submit three examples of his work for possible inclusion. Two of the three submissions of Wann-hong were selected by the committee, a better record than that of some member's of the faculty.
One of the two, a bronze jewelry chest with a patina suggesting the ancient bronzes of China, brought an offer of US$500 that Warm-hong declined. He designs fine jewelry of silver and gold. In the School of Fine Arts, candidates are not required to write a thesis. Instead, they prepare an exhibit of their work. Wann-hong will submit an exhibit of several hundred pieces.
Professor Kington said Warm-hong is a hard working, dedicated student. "He has a real talent for design, an understanding of the tradition of Chinese art and a feeling for modern design," his teacher said.
After graduation, Wann-hong hopes to teach in the United States for several years before returning to Taiwan. Professor Kington believes he will have no trouble finding a teaching job.
Another Chinese student who has achieved recognition in her field is Mrs. Auxilia C. Hsu. Mrs. Hsu received a master's degree in advertising from SIU in 1967. She is now the advertising manager of one of the exclusive women's dress shops in Raleigh, North Carolina. She prepares all the shop's advertising, including the art work, and also has the responsibility for dressing the display windows. She is helping support her husband, John C. Hsu, while he completes work on a doctorate in nuclear physics. Both plan to return to Taiwan to work in their chosen fields.
Winner of distinction in still another field is Mrs. Gregory Chen, whose father, Professor Hu, is a member of the faculty of the School of Education at National Chengchi University. Mrs. Chen received her doctorate in agricultural chemistry at the University of California at Davis. After her marriage, she and her husband went to the University of Wisconsin to continue their research. This fall her husband will join the faculty of Temple University in Philadelphia as an assistant professor.
Liu Han-shan is completing his work on a doctorate in political science at SIU. Last April he became the first Chinese student in the United States to have an article published 'in the Public Affairs Bulletin, a scholarly publication for political scientists. His study was of the major political parties of Illinois from 1946 to 1966.
Liu is a graduate assistant in the Department of Government at SIU and teaches undergraduate courses. He received a master's degree in journalism from SIU. He plans to teach in the United States before returning to Taiwan. In the same field, Joseph C. Huang, who received his doctorate in political science from SIU in 1963, is now an associate professor at Tougaloo College in Mississippi.
Dr. Liu Shu-hsien was an assoclate professor at Tunghai University before coming to Southern Illinois University in 1964. He received his doctorate in 1966. When his adviser, Dr. William Harris of the Department of Philosophy, died in 1967, Dr. Liu was asked to take over Dr. Harris' classes in the Asian Studies program, which was started by Dr. Harris after his return from a visit to Taiwan. Dr. Liu is doing research on recent trends in Chinese philosophy.
Two Chinese students have received master's degrees in home economics at SIU. Miss Chiang Mulan's thesis dealt with a study of vitamin A in rats. After her graduation last year she joined the staff of the Fircrest Research Laboratory, which is connected with the School of Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle. Her work concerns nutritional deficiencies in retarded children. Miss Linda Yuan, whose field is textiles and clothing, earned her master's degree in 1967 and is now employed by Sears, Roebuck and Co. in Chicago.
Miss Teresa Chen, who earned a master's degree at SIU in 1967, is now studying library science at the University of California at Berkeley and expects to receive her second graduate degree. She plans to work in an American library for a few years before returning to Taiwan.
The diversity of fields of study cited here are from a typical American university. While SIU has more students from Taiwan than many institutions, the same range of areas of concentration will be found at most American colleges and universities.
Journalism has been the choice of a number of Taiwan students at SIU. Among those working toward graduate degrees are Chu Chi-ying, who expects to receive his doctorate in 1970 and return to Taiwan to teach; George Chu, former city editor of the China Post; and Philip Cheng, a former staff member of the Central News Agency. The latter two are candidates for master's degrees.
SIU has several alumni who have returned to Taiwan and are working on publications there and teaching journalism. William Fang, who received his master's in 1965, supervises three English publications and is working on a study of the Chinese Communist Party in addition to teaching at Chengchi University. Yao Peng is one of the editors of the Shin Sheng Pao and was named one of the 10 outstanding young men of Taiwan three years ago. Joseph Hung, managing editor of the China Post, received a master's degree at SIU in 1965. Lt. Col. Chu Chen-hua returned to Taipei after receiving a master's degree in speech in 1967 and is the chairman of the Department of Radio and Television at the National Academy of Arts.
Lawrence Chang received a master's in journalism in 1967. He has been working for the Chinese Student Association publication in New York City and continuing his studies at Columbia University. He plans to return to Taiwan next year. Much of his graduate work was concentrated on content analysis and readership studies and his thesis was published in the Journalism Quarterly, the scholarly publication of the Association for Education in Journalism. His background will be useful in Taiwan in the development of advertising.
One of the important dividends accruing from the studies of Taiwan students in the United States and other countries is frequently overlooked. The Republic of China will need many more teachers for Taiwan's rapidly growing student population. Last March, Education Minister Yen Chen-hsing reported that Taiwan had 2,614,767 students, comprising 26.38 per cent of the population. College students, including those in the five-year junior colleges, totaled 161,000, an increase of more than 22,000 over the previous academic year.
This bronze jewelry chest designed and cast by Liu Wann-hong brought a US$500 offer at an SIU design exhibition. (File Photo)
The great majority of Chinese students in the United States plan to teach when they return to Taiwan. Their experiences in U.S. institutions of higher learning will enable them to contribute the best of American education to blend with the best of traditional Chinese culture. More important, they can help train the thousands of new teachers who will be needed at lower levels.
Not all of the students in the United States will return to Taiwan. Chinese students who receive graduate degrees are finding increasing opportunities in American teaching and industry. One of the significant developments in U.S. education in recent years is the increase in the number of universities establishing Asian Study Centers. Taiwan graduates find numerous opportunities in such centers. As faculty members of American colleges and universities, they have opportunity to tell American students more about Taiwan and the Republic of China. There is also the opportunity to win the support of their American colleagues. These opportunities do not mean that there is, or should be, a deliberate attempt to make friends and influence Americans. The truth is sufficiently effective. The story of Taiwan's political and economic progress is impressive enough.
There is another way students from Taiwan help spread word of their homeland's progress. Not all American universities have as many countries represented as SIU but most schools have a closely knit organization of foreign students. In exchanging ideas and comparing notes, these students learn about Taiwan. When they return home they will be leaders in their communities.
Building goodwill and understanding is a slow process. However, all these contacts are helping strengthen the Taiwan image in the free world.