2024/12/26

Taiwan Today

Taiwan Review

Magazine digest

June 01, 1971
The Constitutionalist­ - Dr. Sun's many names

Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Founding Father of the Republic of China, ac­quired many different names in his lifetime. Each reflected either his mode of thinking or his revolutionary deeds.

Dr. Sun's childhood name was Sun Te-ming, given him by his father. It means the bright and virtuous one. He never used it later.

Sun Ti-hsiang was the name given him by a teacher, who believed his pupil would perform great deeds. This name conveyed the wish that Dr. Sun would become as great as an emperor.

In April, 1884, Dr. Sun entered Queen's College in Hongkong, where he became acquainted with an American missionary, Charles R. Hager. Later he was baptized as a member of the Congregational Church. The name Sun Jih-hsin was his baptismal name, meaning daily renovation. Dr. Sun's revolutionary thought began to take form at this time.

One of Dr. Sun's college professors was , who had taught Sinology at the . Dr. Sun aspired to be like him. Chu later gave him the name Sun Yat-sen, which was used on his diploma from the . After the Manchus tried to kidnap him in . the name Sun Yat-sen became known worldwide.

While Dr. Sun was in Hongkong practicing medicine, he wrote a num­ber of articles on agriculture under the pen name Sun Tsui-hsi. This conveys the beauty of a green land and stream.

In 1895 Dr. Sun was urged by the English sinologist Sir Herbert Giles to write an autobiography. On this occasion Dr. Sun used the name Sun Wen, which he had adopted before on a paper on 's national salvation submitted to Viceroy Li Hung-chang in 1894.

In August, 1897, Dr. Sun arrived in by way of and visited his close friend Inukai Takeshi. They exchanged views on the world situa­tion and his revolutionary plans. When Dr. Sun registered at a hotel, another of his Japanese friends, Hirayama Shiyu, signed him in as Chung­shan. The characters for Chungshan are pronounced as Nakayama in Japanese. Dr. Sun added the character for "chao," meaning woodcutter. This was to say he was a Chinese mountain woodcutter.

After the failure of the up­rising in November, 1895, Dr. Sun was wanted by the imperial government of the Ch'ing dynasty. His name was misspelled on the warrant as Sun Ven.

Dr. Sun then changed his name to Chen Wen but used the name Nagao Takano in . Sometimes he used Nagao and Takano separately. While in preparing for another uprising, he changed his name to Kung Wu or Wu Yang-shen. He used these names in corresponding with his comrades, friends and relatives.

Dr. Sun was Chen Wen in , too. He arrived in in June, 1896, by way of and got in touch with overseas Chinese groups there in seeking funds for the revolution.

Nagao Tabao was sometimes found in Dr. Sun's letters. The meaning in Chinese is to lead a group of heroes and a vast view.

Kung Wu conveyed Dr. Sun's revolutionary spirit of justice and firmness. This name was adopted to encourage his comrades.

Wu Yang-shen was used by Dr. Sun to evade the Manchu court. He kept in close communication with his colleagues and followers. The name suggests good health and that all is well.

On April 1, 1930, the Central Gov­ernment honored Dr. Sun Yat-sen as the Founding Father of the Republic of China in appreciation for his great contributions. -Shao Chieh-ling

Asian Outlook­ - Laureate-to-be?

Startling news has come from the scientific world. At a special news conference, Dr. Philip R. Lee, chancellor of the of at an­nounced that a group of scientists headed by biochemist Dr. Li Cho-hao had made the first synthesis of the human growth hormone. Dr. Lee pointed out that this was a milestone in the history of basic research.

The announcement made the front page of newspapers throughout the and is sure to be one of the top stories of the year. However, rather than a sudden breakthrough, the achievement was the result of the patient efforts of a Chinese-born scientist through 30 years in the laboratory.

Li Cho-hao will sooner or later win the Nobel Prize. Born in in 1913, he comes from a family (11 brothers and sisters) which has produced many scholars. One is economist Dr. Li Cho-min, chancellor of the .

As a student at in , Dr. Li had not decided on his major. By chance he became laboratory assistant to a professor of chemistry and had his atten­tion drawn to science. After gradu­ating from Chin Ling in 1933, he remained for two years as an instructor in chemistry, then was accepted by the for work in biochemistry.

When he arrived in , his brother, who had just received a Ph.D. in economics at the of , and his younger sister, who was studying psychology there, persuaded him to study at . At first the dean of the graduate school did not want to accept him because he had never heard of . Fortunately, Dr. Li had just had an article in the Journal of the American Chemical Society and was ac­cepted on a six-month trial basis.

In 1938, he received his doctor's degree in biochemistry and remained at the university as a research fellow. The pay was so low nobody else want­ed the post.

His destiny became linked with the secretion glands and the . Twelve years later, he was a full professor and director of the Hormone Research Laboratory of the UC Medical School.

Dr. Li and his assistants managed to analyze six hormones with im­portant functions, one of them human growth. On the basis of Dr. Li's find­ings, the injected dwarfs with doses of cattle growth hormone which was specially treated. The dwarfs resumed growth.

Progress in his research was difficult because the growth hormone had to be obtained from human bodies and the amount is small. With the help of the secretion bank of the Uni­versity of California Medical School and the international secretion bank, Dr. Li was able to obtain the growth hormone from 60,000 cadavers annually.

The hormone is a secretion similar to protein which upon analysis was revealed to consist of 188 fatty acids. Only 25 had been analyzed. Dr. Li's first task was to analyze the rest and then discover the interrelationships. Results of these experiments were published in the Journal of the Ameri­can Chemical Society.

For the last four years, Dr. Li and his assistants have concentrated their energies on synthesizing the 188 dif­ferent fatty acids. The human growth hormone they have developed can assist normal development and cure abnormalities, help mend broken bones and heal wounds, reduce cholestorol levels in the blood, increase resistance and strengthen sexual functions. Dr. Li suggested that since the growth hormone can be manufactured, anti­-growth hormones may also be created to combat cancer.

Dr. and Mrs. Li have three children. The oldest is a surgeon, the second a veterinarian and the youngest, a girl, a student of engineering. Two years ago, Mrs. Li insisted that her 57-year-old husband shouldn't work week-ends. This change, Dr. Li said, gave him a chance to "collect stamps and coins and do some reading". -Li Ta-wei

Journalism Association­ - ROC's free press

had the first newspaper in the world: the Kai Yuan Miscellaneous News of the Tang dynasty (618-907). Several copies of the paper were found in .

The Chinese invention of paper­making and printing and the political philosophy of "listen to the voice of the people" led to this paper.

Paper was invented in the Han dynasty (206 B.C..D.) by Tsai Lun. The first paper was made of tree bark, rags and fish nets. It replaced bamboo and silk as a writing material.

Woodcut reproductions appeared in .D. during the Sui dynasty to print Buddhist sutras.

During the Sung dynasty (960­-1280), Pi Shen invented movable type. Gutenberg's re-invention came much later.

An ancient Chinese saying has it:

"The heaven sees what the people see and the heaven hears what the people hear." There were many ways in which the ancient Chinese could express their opinions. The most common was by means of publications. A court gazette, Ti Pao, was established in the Han dynasty and continued until the end of the Ch'ing dynasty ( 1644-1911).

The modern Chinese press learned its techniques partly from the West and partly from its predecessors.

Early modern Chinese newspapers included the Shen Pao (China Herald) and Sin Wen Pao (Daily News), operated by British and Americans. An outstanding contributor was Robert Morrison, who started the Chinese Monthly Magazine at Malacca, , in 1814.

Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Founding Father of the Republic of China, was the first statesman to understand the role of the press in the modernization of . He established newspapers in Hongkong, and to serve his revolutionary undertakings.

Censorship was abolished in 1945. Newspaper financing comes mostly from advertising, which has increased steadily in recent years. In 1962, advertising revenue of news­ papers was NT$146.9 million (US$3.67 million). This had risen to NT$365 million (US$9.1 million) in 1970.

has more newspapers than any city in Europe or .

Freedom of the press is guaranteed but press anarchy is not tolerated. In September, 1963, newspapers of established a self-discipline or­ganization called the Chinese Press Council. There are seven members; all are experts on journalism and legal affairs. The term of office is two years. The functions of the council are:

-To prepare special reports on the elevation of moral standard in reporting.

-To hold hearings in disputes be­tween newspapers. All decisions must be by two-thirds. -Ma Hsin-yeh

Police Torch - Traffic radio station

The first traffic radio station in went on the air March 1, 1971. It serves as a link between police and drivers.

In 1967, the Taipei Municipal Government set up a committee to supervise and improve the traffic situation. Progress was made but rush hour congestion continued.

The Taipei Police Department sent its deputy chief, Kao Sung-hua, to in 1970 on an inspection tour. After his return he reported on 's traffic radio station, which broadcasts 24 hours a day.

's station was established under the Police Broadcasting Network. It presents prompt information on traffic situations and promotes traffic order and safety.

The transmitter is at Jungho, county, with an antenna 310 feet high.

A statistical analysis of vehicles was carried out in November, 1970, for reference of the station. The survey showed had 9,959 taxis and suburban 1,365. The count of private cars in was 14,301 with the suburbs.

Taxi drivers numbered 25,000 and others 15,000. Two per cent of motorists are college graduates, 28 per cent are middle school graduates, 68 per cent are primary school graduates and 2 per cent are illiterate.

Besides road conditions, the sta­tion reports on lost and found vehicles and articles, relays emergency mes­sages to those on the road and indi­cates job opportunities.

Safety education includes reports on accidents and causes, regulations, driver-passenger cooperation, drivers' good deeds and exchanges of ex­periences.

Although 75 per cent of motorists speak the dialect (Taiwanese), over 95 per cent of them understand and speak Mandarin.

Broadcasts of the station reach and its suburbs.

Every traffic policeman on duty carries a transistor radio to receive instructions through the station. --Chen Hu

Asian Outlook - Farm aid to Thailand

Delegates of the Republic of China and agreed to exten­sion of the Sino-Thai Agricultural Technical Cooperative Agreement, which was due to expire June 30, 1971.

After the Third Sino-Thai Economic Conference in , Pote Sarasin, chief delegate of the Thai delegation, praised work of the Chinese Agricultural Technical Mission in .

In 1968, the First Sino-Thai Tech­nical Cooperation Conference was held in . proposed exchange of technical personnel and asked the Republic of China to dispatch a mission to to help with agricultural development.

In May of 1969, the Chinese Agri­cultural Technical Mission led by Hsin Ming-lieh, consisting of 17 experts on farmers' associations, agricultural development, irrigation, plowing and harvesting, arrived in .

The mission worked in central on an area of 6,585 hectares. There are 26 villages and 3.000 families.

A water source nearby was not used for irrigation because of the lack of piping. Most farmers raised only one crop a year, were not sure when to plant, could not estimate the harvest and lacked a satisfactory distribution system. Farmers worked hard the year round without much gain.

The mission and the rainy season arrived together. A demonstration dis­trict was set up. Paddies were established and crop rotation introduced. Farmers' associations were patterned after those of .

Yields increased rapidly and continuously. Output per hectare in 1969 was 3,750 kilograms, a 50 per cent increase over 1968. The expected 1971 yield is per hectare. Water conservancy and irrigation system are operating. Farmers' incomes are up.

Additional experts will cultivate cotton, corn and soybeans in an ex­perimental area of 125 hectares. In March of 1972, experimentation will begin with dry land crops ..

Economic Affairs Minister Sun told the Sino-Thai economic confer­ence that the two countries are two of the most cooperative partners of the anti-Communist front.

The experience of the Chinese agri­cultural mission in should pave the way for economic coopera­tion among friendly countries in the Asian and Pacific area and help win the final victory over Communism. -Ho Chao-li

Popular

Latest