Men of letters reiterated their determination to oppose Communism and use their pens to defend the nation.
Representatives of writers and artists said countering Chinese Communism calls for "exchange of visits by writers and joint ventures in movie production." They said the Communists are trying to deceive the free world with united front tactics.
The group said that if the Chinese Communists are sincere in their promise to respect writers on the mainland they should:
- Give up Marxism-Leninism and Mao Tse-tung thought.
- Disband the people's communes and end the dictatorship of the proletariat.
- Scrap the "six criteria" set by Mao Tse-tung in his Yenan talks on literary creation.
- Give up such dogma as "combination of revolutionary realism and revolutionary romanticism."
- Give up the class struggle line in literary works.
- Place newspapers, magazines, TV, theaters, news agencies, printing presses, bookstores and movie studios in private hands.
- Give up "thought reform" and "labor reform" of writers.
- Let men of letters travel anywhere in the world.
Rural medical care will be improved
The Taiwan Provincial Government will allocate NT$1.178 billion to improve medical care in villages over the next four years.
The money will be used to hire medical personnel, strengthen medical organizations and establish medical information centers.
The Provincial Government said there are 7,633 doctors in the province but most are practicing in cities.
Villages average a doctor for every 5,569 persons. Many remote areas have no doctors.
One hundred and sixteen clinics will be established in villages and 69 in rural areas.
Twenty medical service trucks will be purchased and at least one hospital built. Rural medical personnel numbering 1,455 will be employed.
Another 774 persons will be hired at provincial hospitals and 718 at regional medical centers.
July dates set for college exams
Two test sites will be added for this July's joint college entrance examinations.
Students living in Chiayi and Penghu will be able to take the exam at home.
Due to rising paper and printing costs, each student will be charged NT$250 at registration, an NT$30 increase.
Tests in academic subjects will be held July 1 and 2. Special tests of such techniques as singing and painting will be held July 7, 8 and 9.
Applications for those who left school before May, 1979, will be accepted between May 26 and 29. Applications of graduating high school seniors will be made through schools from May 31 to June 3.
Taiwan has 118 tourist hotels
There are 118 international and ordinary hotels with 15,897 rooms, the ROC Hotel Association said.
The distribution is as follows: Taipei, 18 international hotels and 42 standard tourist hotels; Keelung, 1 international and 3 standard; Taichung, 1 international and 6 standard; Changhua, 1 standard; Sun Moon Lake, 2 international; Alishan, 1 standard; Tainan, 1 international and 3 standard; Kaohsiung, 4 international and 13 standard; Pingtung, 1 standard; Taitung, 1 standard; Hualien, 2 international and 2 standard; Ilan, 1 international.
In the next three years, 28 hotels with 7,516 rooms will be opened.
Taipei scenic areas improved
Taipei suburban facilities for rest and relaxation will accommodate six million people annually by 1982, the Central News Agency said.
The Reconstruction Department of the Taipei City Government began construction and renovation of facilities in 1975.
Surveys have been undertaken in the Neihu, Peitou, Shuanghsi and Yangming scenic areas.
Seventy-two new mountain paths total 150 kilometers. Another 40 of 120 kilometers are in Taipei County. Signposts total 638.
Two campgrounds in the Mucha and Yangmingshan areas are being improved.
University Club elects officers
George Wu, board chairman of Central Reinsurance Corporation, was re-elected president of the American University Club.
Nancy Yu-huang, publisher of the China Post, and Robert Belt, director of the International Executive Service Corporation, were re-elected vice presidents.
Fredrick Chien, vice foreign minister, was elected honorary executive secretary and Ronald Ho, general manager of the China International Commercial Bank, honorary treasurer.
President Wu's nominations of committee chairmen were approved as follows: Vivian Wu Yen and Wang Shao-yu, finance; Yung Wei, membership; Raymond Chen, program; Paul Wang, publicity; Yen Shao-chang, roster; and Robert Chien, scholarship.
Newly elected directors are Chang-ching Wang, Kan Lee, Robert C.T. Lee, Lee Teng-hui, Nancy Yu-Huang, George Y.L. Wu, K.H. Yu, Henry Y.S. Kao, Konsin C. Shah, Clement C.P. Chang, Philip C.C. Chang, Chen Li-an, Walter H. Fei, Y.S. Tsiang, Wego Chiang, Fredrick F. Chien, Yen Hsiao-chang, Vivian Wu Yen, Robert W. Belt, William A. Brown, Raymond C.F. Chen, Thomas J. Donahue, Neil T. Donnelly, John H. Feder Jr., Melvin H. Levine, James B. Linder and Gale Peabody.
New supervisors are Soong Chang-chih, T.H. Shen, Han Lih-wu, Joseph K. Twanmoh, Shih Liang Chien, Yen Cheng-hsing, Warren H. Bruns, Antonio T. Chong and Lawrence E. Cox.
Student totals for spring semester
As the spring semester began, Taiwan had 2,319,000 pupils in primary schools, 1,075,000 in middle schools, 488,000 in high schools and 309,000 in colleges and universities.
There are 2,400 primary schools, 624 middle schools, 364 high schools and 102 colleges and universities.
The number of the primary school students occupies 13.7 percent, middle school 6.3 percent, high school 2.8 percent and college and university 1.8 percent of the population.
Ninety-nine percent of schoo1age children go to primary schools and 94 percent to middle schools.
Lao Sung Primary School is the biggest with 4,657 pupils.
Ongoing plans made for U.S. facilities
The American Forces Net work Taiwan (AFNT, a Christmas gift of the Ministry of National Defense to the American military decades ago, may be given back to the government and the Taipei American School may move to Tienmou from its present site in Shihlin.
Harold Wilson, chairman of Goodyear Taiwan Ltd. and concurrently serving as head of an ad hoc committee to arrange broadcasting rights after AFNT goes off the air, and Dr. Thomas Donahue, superintendent of TAS, reported these possibilities to the American Chamber of Commerce.
Wilson said that the Government Information Office has given "verbal assurances" that the Chamber can operate a substitute station but will not allow advertising.
Wilson warned of a suspension for an uncertain period of time unless funding and staffing are forthcoming. The new station would cost about US$400,000 a year.
Dr. Donahue said the Taipei American School will be renamed Taipei International School and will become more academic and college preparatory.
He said the Chinese government has agreed in principle to allow the school to use Tienmou property owned by the Bank of Taiwan.
There are swimming pool, bowling alley and other facilities at the new site. Dr. Donahue said the number of students will drop from the present l,000-odd to about 700 this fall. Non-Americans will make up around 50 percent of the student body.
U.S. Information Center established
To provide more information on American opinion about Asia to newsmen and others, the U.S. International Communication Agency has set up an Information Center on the third floor of its offices on Nanhai Road.
Newspaper clippings on economic and political subjects from a variety of American newspapers are available in folders.
The center also has a video tape machine and selection of tapes, American news magazines, Taipei newspapers with English summaries of important articles and various reference works in English and Chinese.
Users of the Information Center may avail themselves of the larger reference collection and Xerox services at the first-floor library.
The Center also has an Associated Press teleprompter.
Hilton receives cookbook award
Two Frenchmen came to Taipei to present an award to the Hilton Hotel. M. Gaston Landry Panuel, president des Professionals of the Association of L'Academe de Gastronome Brillat-Savarin, and M. Rene Gessler bestowed their association's literary prize for 1978 on the Taipei Hilton for its Chinese Culinary Heritage Cookbook.
Taipei Hilton general manager James A. Smith received the award at a dinner of the Chaine des Rotisseurs, an international association of gourmets.
The 261-page cookbook presents the historical background, symbolism and regional differences of Chinese cuisine, as well as 72 recipes from six Chinese provinces. The text is accompanied by hundreds of color photographs.
Written and produced by the Taipei Hilton staff, the cookbook was recently reprinted and is available at the Taipei Hilton bookshop, the Packing Service on the second floor or Caves Book store. The price is NT$700 or US$12.46.
Hsu Hsin-fa hugs his mother at happy reunion as his sister looks on. (File photo)
Mainland escapee meets mother
A Taiwan-born businessman who spent 21 years under the Communists on the mainland was reunited with his 86-year-old mother in Taipei.
Hsu Hsin-fa, 63, was born in Taoyuan. He went to Japan in 1940 when he was 25 and married a Japanese. In 1953, he took his wife and three children to the mainland.
He worked at a textile mill at Changchow, Kiangsu, as an accountant for 84 renminbi monthly. Four years later, he was transferred to a factory as a laborer and his pay was cut to 50 renminbi. By then he had six children.
In April, 1958, Mrs. Hsu was permitted to leave the mainland for Japan with the children. Hsu wasn't permitted to leave until June, 1974. He went to Japan to join his wife and children.
He said life under the Chinese Communists was a nightmare. "I shouldn't have listened to the Communist propaganda," he said.
Hsu's mother came from Taoyuan for the reunion with the son she hadn't seen for 28 years.
Department stores keen competitors
Competition among the scores of department stores in Taipei is becoming keener.
The latest comer, Lai Lai Shopping Mall, offers a new challenge to its rivals. Located on Wuchang Street in downtown Taipei, Lai Lai offers spacious aisles and new ways of displaying merchandise.
Comfortable chairs give customers a chance to rest while shopping.
Because of the keen competition, several old department stores, including Nan Yang and Chung Wai, have been forced to shut their doors. Even Taipei's first big department store, the First Company, is being severely challenged. First's store was opened October 5, 1965.
The second big store was the Far Eastern Department Store opened in October, 1967, and the third was Today's opened in December, 1968.
Department stores opened since include Shin Shin, Jen Jen, Chung Wai, Young Young and Shin Kong.
Stores compete with discounts and gifts. Their merchandise is largely identical. Prices vary but there is no price advertising, so customers must visit all the stores to get the best buy.
Most goods are domestic. Because of higher prices, imports do not do so well.
Far Eastern is the biggest department store in terms of outlets and sales. Far Eastern's two stores in Taipei and one each in Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung rang up NT$2 billion in sales last year.
Y.S. Hsu, Far Eastern board chairman, said 14 more stores will be opened in various cities in the next 10 years.
Far Eastern opened a branch in Honolulu two years ago and is the first department store to be listed on the Taipei stock exchange.
Today's was second in sales last year at NT$786 million. It has two stores in Taipei.
Shin Kong opened its first store in Taipei December 7, 1974, and now has four others. Sales were NT$520 million last year. More outlets are planned in Taipei and other cities.
Cancer afflicts 10,187 in 8 years
Taiwan cancer cases number 10,187 in the last eight years, according to the Veterans' General Hospital.
Statistics compiled for the Tao Sheng-yang Cancer Society showed cancer of the lungs afflicted 1,785 persons, followed by 1,262 with stomach cancer.
Between January 1, 1970, and December 31, 1977, cases involving 7,341 males and 2,846 females were reported.
Those aged 51 to 60 composed the largest group with a total of 3,818. Next came the 41 to 50 age group with 2,270 and then the sexagenarians with 2,090.
Persons aged 51 to 60 led in the incidence of lung cancer and stomach cancer.
Women between 41 and 50 are the most prone to breast cancer and cancer of the uterus.
Septuagenarian patients are mostly plagued by lung cancer, while those under 30 are subject to sinus cancer and leukemia.
Job education receives funds
The Executive Yuan will allocate NT$1.8 billion to improve vocational education.
The fund will strengthen the training of teachers, improvement of facilities and provision of advanced studies.
The Executive Yuan said a vocational education reform mission will include scholars, experts and officials. Improvement of textbooks, teaching methods and materials will be sought.
Graduates of vocational schools will be encouraged to continue studies in technological colleges of industrial institutes.
Teachers with knowledge of heavy chemical and technology intensive industries will be hired in high schools. Evening classes for teachers will be opened in universities.
Academy impresses Olympic officials
Two International Olympic Committee members who came to Taiwan for a six-day fact-finding mission said they would report on the activities of the National Olympic Academy.
Lance S. Cross of New Zealand and Roy Anthony Bridge of Jamaica said "it's impressive that a country like the Republic of China has an academy which is active in promoting the Olympic spirit.”
The only other countries with such academies are the United States, Greece, Spain and Japan. Seminars are held for athletes, journalists and sports officials.
The visitors were told that two seminars have been held in the last two years with 188 participants. Ten outstanding participants were chosen to take part in summer seminars of the International Olympic Academy in Greece.