Taiwan Today

First results of census given The Ministry of Interior completed preliminary statistics and analyses for last December 28's Population and Housing Census of the Republic of China. These were findings: 1. Growth of population has been moderated, falling from 4.3% in 1956-66 to 2.3% in 1966-75 and 2.2% in 1975-80. 2. The work force (those over 15 years of age) was increased from 57% in 1966 to 67% in 1980. 3. Growth of the employed population (3.3%) exceeded that of the total population (5.2%) in the last 14 years. 4. Family size declined from 5.9 members in 1966 to 4.7 in 1980. 5. The educational level has been significantly raised. In 1966, 23.3% of the population had attended high school versus 31.5% in 1980; 3.9% had attended college in 1966 versus 6.8% in 1980. 6. Population in northern Taiwan has been growing nearly twice as fast as that of the whole population. 7. Home ownership has reached 79.1 per cent of families. Chinese scholar heads Hawaii Center The East-West Center in Honolulu named Victor Hao Li, China-born professor of international legal studies at Stanford University, as its new president effective October 1, 1981. Li succeeds Dr. Everett Klein-jans, who retired. Dr. Li, 39, went to the United States with his parents as a small boy. He became a naturalized citizen in 1957. His father, General Li Han-hun was governor of Kwangtung Province from 1938 to 1945 and now lives in New York. At the age of 19, Dr. Li received a bachelor's degree in mathematics at Columbia University and a doctorate in jurisprudence at the Columbia Law School three years later. He taught law at Columbia and the Universities of Michigan and Hawaii. In 1972 he joined the faculty of the Stanford Law School and in 1974 was appointed to the Lewis Talbot and Nadine Hearn Shelton Chair of International Legal Studies. He was a director of the Center of East Asian Studies in 1974-76. The East-West Center was established by the U.S. Congress in 1960 to promote better relations and understanding between the United States and the nations and peoples of Asia through cooperative study, training and research. More than 1,500 men and women from many countries work together in five problem-oriented institutes to seek solutions to problems of mutual interest to East and West. Taipei density 8,195 per sq. km. Population density in Taipei Municipality in 1980 was the highest in the Taiwan, Kinmen and Matsu area at 8,195 per square kilometer, according to statistics of the Ministry of Interior. Density in Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu area was 494 persons per square kilometer last year. Of the population of 17,805,067, males numbered 9,288,199 and females 8,516,868. In Taipei Municipality, the most densely populated district was Chien Chen with 35,110 persons living in an area of 0.7638 of a square kilometer. Lung Shan District was next with density of 35,741 per square kilometer. Life expectancy in Taipei has risen to 72.6 for men and 76.64 for women. ROC leaders better educated Dr. Yung Wei, chairman of the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, compared the educational level of leaders in the Republic of China and the mainland. Dr. Wei reported that over 90 per cent of 31 Cabinet-rank officials in the ROC have received college educations. There are 11 holders of doctorates and 4 master's degrees. In Red China, only 3 of the 24 members of the Politburo are college graduates and nearly 42 per cent of them have had only a few years of formal schooling. The rest are military men or graduates of secondary schools. Reviewing education in the Republic of China, Dr. Wei said primary school attendance exceeds 99 per cent. College enrollment for the 1979-80 school year reached 329,603. There were 19.38 college students per 1,000 people, 19 times the ratio on the Chinese mainland. CCK Airport counts 6.91 m. passengers More than 6.91 million passengers arrived at and departed from the Chiang Kai-shek International Airport at Taoyuan between February 26, 1979, and January 31, 1981, according to statistics of the Civil Aeronautics Administration. In the same period, 67,060 planes took off or touched down at the airport. The daily average count was 99.5 planes. Cargo totaled 373,223 metric tons, averaging 554 tons per day. The 1980 growth rate for passengers was 5.54 per cent compared with 14.7 per cent for cargo. CAA is building a 12-story, 510-room hotel for transit passengers. PATA research conference slated The Pacific Area Travel Association will hold its Travel Research Conference in the Republic of China next November. Between 150 and 200 researchers from tourist agencies, air carriers and government bodies will attend. PATA formed the group to collect and distribute statistical data. 'Newsreel' Wang succumbs at 81 H.S. "Newsreel" Wang, a widely known press photographer during World War II, died at his home in Taipei of diabetes March 9. He was 81. H.S. Wang was the first newsreel man in China and worked for MGM's "News of the Day" during the Second World War. One of his notable pictures was that of a baby sitting beside his dead mother at the Shanghai Railway Station. Literature, art awards given The Board of Trustees of the National Fund for Literature and Art announced eight winners of sixth National Literary and Art Awards as follows: Art and literary theory (criticism): Su Hsueh-lin, 82, a native of Anhwei. Poetry (classical); Wu Tien-jen, 65, Kwangtung. Prose: Liu Ching-chuan, 40, Taiwan. Journalistic literature: O-Yang Ku, 67, Hunan. Biographical literature: Peng Kuei-feng, 44, Taipei. Arts (handicraft): Chen Chun-ming, 42, Taichung. Arts (Western painting): Chen Yung-sheng, 36, Fukien. Drama (TV playwriting): Chai Chun-shih, 60, Honan. 3,720 foreign students in Taiwan Foreign students enrolled in schools of the Republic of China numbered 3,720 in the 1980 academic year, up from 3,170 the year before. Men were counted at 2,255 and women at 1,465. There were 930 Japanese, 860 Americans, 423 Koreans and others from scores of other countries. Only 531 were enrolled in studies for degrees. Most were studying the Chinese language. Spiritual life receives emphasis James Soong, director general of the Government Information Office, urged society to emphasize spiritual life. Speaking at a seminar held by the magazine Taipei Weekly to initiate the "Daddy, come home for dinner" campaign, Dr. Soong said that the new movement will strengthen family unity. He called on the mass media to lead the way in advocating new spiritual ideas. "As the economy of our country becomes more prosperous, the social atmosphere may change for the worse because of extravagance "and emphasis on materialism," Dr. Soong said. National park set for Kenting Development of the Kenting area in southern Taiwan as the first national park in the Republic of China will start soon, Interior Minister Chiu Chuang-huan said. The park development plan is being screened for the second time. Development work will begin as soon as the Cabinet gives the signal. Minister Chin reported the government has picked the Yushan (Mt. Morrison) area as the site of the second national park. A survey team of forestry officials, geologists and botanists will make an on-the-spot inspection of the area. American School gets new head Dr. Guy Lott Jr. will become superintendent of the Taipei American School July 1, 1981, John Brantingham, chairman of the board of directors, announced. Dr. Lott succeeds Dr. Thomas J. Donahue. He has been headmaster of the Canadian Academy in Kobe, Japan, since 1977. He holds B.A. and M.A. degrees from William Paterson College, New Jersey, and a doctorate in school administration from Pacific States University. He has two additional years of graduate work at Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. and Mrs. Lott have been educators in India, Pakistan, Kuwait and Japan since 1952 and spent the last nine years in Japan. He is the author of Education in Postwar Japan. Mrs. Lott, a graduate of Asbury College in Kentucky, is an elementary school teacher. Sperm bank opens at Veterans General A sperm bank, the first of its kind in Taiwan, has been established by the Obstetrics-Gynecology Department of the Veterans General Hospital. Sperm is stored at 196 degrees below zero Centigrade. Dr. Wu Hsiang-ta, chief of the Obstetrics-Gynecology Department, said the bank functions in three ways. It will accept sperm from the husband before a vasectomy or from a husband who is not producing enough spermatozoa. In the latter case the deposits can be combined so as to raise the total to a point sufficient for fertilization. The bank also can offer sperm to a wife when her husband has none. Dr. Wu said donors would be carefully selected. Sperm banks have been in use in the United States for 17 years. The only other Asian bank is in Japan. Sports stadium work under way Construction of the 66-hectare Chiang Kai-shek Sports Stadium got under way at Kuishan, Taoyuan, six years after the groundbreaking ceremony in 1975. Work was held up by refusal of four brick kilns to move. The stadium to be completed in February, 1983, will seat 16,000 and cost NT$780 million. Wang Yung-ching, head of the Formosa Plastics Group, is the principal donor. The Ministry of Education is providing NT$120 million. There will be a 50,000-seat stadium, indoor swimming pool, soccer and rugby field, outdoor and indoor tennis courts, an archery ground and gymnasium. Hepatitis vaccine offered volunteers Type-B hepatitis vaccinations will be given school children whose parents request it, said Dr. M. Wang, director general of the National Health Administration. Doctors will supervise the vaccinations and observe subjects for 30 minutes afterward. Free care will be given children who show side effects. Volunteers are free to drop out of the program at any time. Parking garage to be computerized Taipei will have the Far East's first computer-controlled parking garage. The Ching-an Parking Garage will have four stories underground with room for 240 cars. The parking system from West Germany includes an entry gate mechanism, vertical hydraulic elevators, horizontal telescopic shifter, electronic controls and exit gate mechanism. Drivers will place their vehicles in the assigned position and receive coded cards from the operator's room. Cars are picked up or delivered in a minute or less.