To speed the development of science, the Chinese government is leaving no stone unturned. According to Dr. Wang Shih-chieh, chairman of the National Council on Science Development and concurrently president of the Academia Sinica, efforts will be centered on the training of 500 to 1,000 students at master's and doctoral levels in the next four years.
The shortage of first-rate teachers with advanced degrees long has constituted a grave problem. Under NCSD's long-range science development program, eminent scholars from abroad will be offered up to US$1,200 a month. The proposal was hotly debated in the local press. Most criticism was silenced by revelation that the funds will come from gifts and foreign foundations. Dr. Wang told the Legislative Yuan that "only men can develop science and that only with adequate pay can first-rate scholars be induced to throw in their lot with us." The nation's highest lawmaking body endorsed the proposal.
Another plan is to finance research projects by Chinese scholars returning from abroad. Approval of the council's executive committee is awaited.
Better Forecasting
The World Meteorological Association of the United Nations will help the Republic of China establish an improved typhoon and flood warning system. Liao Hsueh-yi, director of the forecast section of the Taiwan Provincial Weather Bureau, said a committee has already been set up.
UN meteorological specialists will come here. The project, including establishment of six automatic rainfall measurement stations and a weather radar station in southern Taiwan, will take four years. The UN Special Fund will provide US$600,000.
The six stations will be located in uninhabited mountainous areas which have relatively heavy rainfall. They will make possible more accurate flood forecasting.
The weather radar station will be Taiwan's second. A station in eastern Taiwan already provides valuable data on atmospheric conditions 400 kilometers east of Taiwan.
Scientific Pioneers
Dr. Shang Chieh-chien, head of the Space Science Department of the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., demonstrated the result of a unique National Science Foundation project in his laboratory April 7. A miniature tornado with winds of up to 55 miles per hour was turned on and off in a "cage" 9 feet high and 6 feet in diameter. The experiment simulates the destructive storm so it can be studied and controlled.
Chang was educated in China. He has won national recognition as one of the three inventors of the honeycomb sandwich construction used in airplanes and spacecraft.
Another China-born scientist made headlines in London. He is Dr. Charles K. Kao, a communications expert. His experiments may lead to a system of transmitting large numbers of telephone calls and TV broadcasts over long distances.
Dr. Kao is carrying out his research at Standard Telecommunication Laboratories Ltd., a UK affiliate of International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation. Just recently Dr. Kao demonstrated to a meeting of electrical engineers his technique of guiding light energy along special types of optical conductors.
The potential of coherent light as a communication medium is well known. What remains unsolved is the problem of using such light to communicate between remote points. A direct beam may be obstructed by the atmosphere and is limited by the visible horizon. Dr. Kao is guiding light along physical conductors by using propagation methods equivalent to those used in transmitting microwaves, the energy of which is propagated in true electromagnetic mode along a wavelength. Tests already have been carried out over short distances.
Dr. Kao left China in 1948 to study at the University of London, where he received his Ph.D. degree. He has been with ITT for nine years.
Funds for Education
The Provincial Government will spend NT$450 million (US$11.25 million) in the next three years for Taiwan's economic and social development, stressing education. Vocational and social education well receive NT$78 million (US$1.95 million). Emphasis will be placed on agricultural and fishery training. Unemployed young people will be recruited. Taiwan has a serious lack of skilled workers. More than 28,000 jobs are unfilled.
The Academia Sinica is planning to improve graduate research programs at colleges and universities. A council meeting of the Academia Sinica approved provision of both personnel and facilities. Dr. Wang also disclosed that a Sino-American conference on cooperation in the study of the humanities and social sciences will be held in Taipei in mid-June.
The council has agreed on the names of 18 candidates for Yuan Shih (academicians) from a list of 28 scholars recommended by various institutes. Included are Education Minister Yen Cheng-hsing and Dr. Wei Huo-yao, dean of the College of Medicine, National Taiwan University. The post of academician is a lifetime post without pay and the highest honor to which a Chinese scholar can aspire.
The Academia Sinica is conducting research under nine institute (also known as centers). An Institute on Agriculture Research co-sponsored by the National Council on Development and the Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction in collaboration with two universities and the Provincial Agricultural Experiment Center soon will be added. A total of NT$125 million (US$3.125 million) has been earmarked to underwrite the research development program. US$2.5 million will come from the Sino-American Social and Economic Fund, the rest from NCSD.
The Provincial Education Department announced a plan to train more physical education teachers, to hold inter-city athletic meets, and to revise textbooks. Some 800 physical education teachers will receive special training this summer.
Advanced Schooling
Of 190,000 children who will be graduated from Taipei's primary schools this year, nearly three-fourths hope to continue their education at secondary schools. This was disclosed in a survey carried out by the City Government Education Bureau. Some of the graduates expressed interest in the new five-year vocational schools.
The survey is a preliminary step in the planned abolition of entrance examinations at junior high schools. About 150,000 children want to go to junior high schools. Figures for vocational school admission are: 2,411 this year, 3,412 next year, 3,757 in 1968, 3,937 in 1969, 4,022 in 1970, and 4,231 in 1971.
Award Winners
Literature and Art Day was observed May 4. It was on May 4, 1919, that Peiping students staged protest demonstrations against the Chinese government's failure to stand up against Japan. The resultant movement toward democracy and modernity brought a new era in Chinese history, and May 4 has been celebrated ever since.
Central Motion Picture Corp. stars and executives at ribbon-cutting to mark the start of new film. (File photo)
The Ministry of Education announced these winners of 1966 academic and literary awards: Dr. Lu Yueh-hua (liberal arts), Dr. Ho Hsiao-yuan (law), Prof. Yu Chao chung (engineering), Prof. Lo Ching-tse (agrkulture), Yin Hsueh-man (literature), Ting Yi (drama), and Prof. Chang Ku-nien (fine arts). Each of the winners received NT$20,000 (US$500) in cash and a gold trophy.
The awards of the Chinese Writers and Artists Association went to Chang Fang and Chung Chao-shen (fiction), Fan Hsi-huan (music), Chao Tse-hsu (art), Pen Hsin-tsai (playwright-director), Tsou Ming-ke (acting), and Hsu Chien (radio broadcasting).
For Young Artists
The Taipei International Women's Club picked 30 winners from 271 college and middle school students who participated in its fifth annual art contest.
Mrs. Lai Ming-tang, president of TIWC, presented the cash awards at International House April 25. Classes included Chinese calligraphy, landscape painting, Chinese and bird painting, watercolor, and oil. Sixty finalists were required to paint impromptu works at a competition April 24. The works of the winners were exhibited at International House.
The "Silent Wife", feature film of the Central Motion Picture Corporation, won best scenario award at the 13th Asian Film Festival at Seoul in May. The same picture won another Golden Harvest trophy for best color photography. "Orchids and My Love", a CMPC production starring Tang Pao-yun and Hsieh Lin-lin, was the music winner.
Miss Wang Mou-chou, star of "The Silent Wife", won a special award in recognition of her successful enactment of the deaf-mute wife. Hsieh Lin-lin was named best child actor for her performance in "Orchids and My Love".
CMPC has begun shooting "Fire Bulls" in wide-screen color. The story is set in the Warring States (403-221 B.C.). A determined, patriotic people fight their way back to freedom under the heroic leadership of Tien Tan. The film conveys a timely message of mainland recovery as expressed in the four Chinese characters Wu Wang Tsai Chu (Remember Chu). These characters, suggested by President Chiang Kai-shek, are engraved on a block of granite on the offshore island of Kinmen.
The picture will be released before the Double Tenth National Day in October.
Culture for Americans
For nearly 18 years Chinese-educated Joan Hsu has given her spare time to the introduction of Chinese culture in the United States. She has thereby contributed materially to Sino-American friendship.
Joan Hsu is contributing to Sino-American amity. (File photo)
Miss Hsu incorporated the Overseas Chinese Music and Arts Center in New York in 1959 and it was granted tax exempt status by the U.S. government in 1962. OCMAC gives programs based on slides and films of folk dancing, Chinese opera, and other cultural activities and scenic spots at hundreds of educational institutions.
OCMAC presented the first Chinese opera program at Wellesley College, the alma mater of Madame Chiang Kai-shek. OCMAC-sponsored programs also appear on TV. By the end of 1965 the group had given 1,069 performances, of which 800 were for audiences at the New York World's Fair and at other public places in New York.
Miss Hsu came to Taiwan late last year to seek materials. She will return to the United States soon.
Miss Hsu was graduated from Yenching University in 1928. She said OCMAC is financed by donations. Its motto is: "Better international understanding through cultural exchange for world peace."