Taiwan Today

Since ancient times, Chinese women have emerged as national leaders and heroines. The Empress, wife of Huang Ti, the Yellow Emperor, taught the nation how to weave. In the Han dynasty, heroine Hua Mu-lan went to war in place of her aged father, and in the Sung dynas­ty, Liang Hung-yu was at her husband's side in battles against the soldiers of Chin. The tradition of exemplary service by modern women was publicly celebrat­ed with initiation of the Gold Phoenix Awards in 1966.

As a result of the rapid changes in modern society, women now play more complicated roles than the heroines of ancient times. Besides the roles of wife and mother, they contribute to the nation and society. This year's ten out standing women were chosen from among nominees. They are Wu Yan-hwa and Wang Yu in science; Bonnie Sun in education; Belly YM. Ju in public services; Chwang Leh-chii in social services; Lin Ching-yun in medi­cine; Kuo Hsiao-chuang in art; Tan Kok­-choo in people-to-people diplomacy; Julie Shih in industry and business; and Lu Sun-fang in mass communications.

Shanghai-born Bonnie Sun: a true patriot

Born in Shanghai but brought up in Taiwan, Bonnie Sun inherited her par­ents' deep love for study. After gradua­tion from National Taiwan College of Marine Science Technology, she went to the U.S. for further studies, earning M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from University of Massachusetts and Rutgers University, respectively.

Bonnie Sun and her husband, Joshua Pan, spent years in the United States. Though the couple had excellent jobs and a fine home in America, they decided to return in to take part in the life of their own land. Currently, Bonnie is teaching at her alma mater; she has published research papers since her return.

Bonnie has led her students to overcome psychological and environmental difficulties. For instance, when she first returned, her department was so short of research equipment that she had to use makeshifts to achieve expected results for the class. When their research products were confirmed, other institutions decided to donate expensive scientific equipment, allowing them to proceed with their research.

Most of Sun's research subjects are familiar items, such as bleaching by hydrogen peroxide, identification of fluorescence in dried baby shrimp, the quality evaluation of dehydrated fishery products and the prevention of formation in canned tuna and bonito products. Her goals are to raise the quality of domestic food processing to win increas­ing foreign markets for ROC production.

In her spare time, she writes articles for such magazines as "Cosmic Light" and "Campus," and teaches at Sunday schools. In spite of a vigorous schedule, she still finds time to share a happy family life with her husband and two daughters.

Wang Yu: a dedication to science

Sporting a Hepburn hair style, plain clothes and a pair of large eyeglasses, Wang Yu, professor of chemistry at National Taiwan University, looks much younger than her age. She said that she was not quite prepared to receive the special honor of the award and was some what taken aback by this outside intrusion into her life.

Since her student days in the chemistry department of National Taiwan University, Wang Yu has been interested in basic science. And ever since then she has been leading a dedicated life, concentrating on chemical substances in laboratories. Wang Yu feels she is handsomely rewarded by the fruit of her research. She encourages her students to combine patience and enthusiasm in pursuing their careers in this field.

Wang Yu, during her studies abroad, began to concentrate on "crystallography by X-ray and neutron diffraction." From the study of crystallography, she came to a better understanding of the nature of molecules and atoms. After her return to the ROC, she spared no effort in promoting the local development of crystallography, and invites interested experts to hold seminars in this field.

About half a year ago, the National Science Council established a Taipei regional analytical instrument center and purchased a single crystal diffractometer for the measurement of molecular structure. Wang Yu is in charge of the single crystal diffraction lab. She is very excited about it: "This instrument coordinates with micro-computer calculations can speed up research procedures. Besides offering services on behalf of local studies in chemistry, and leading students into more concrete contact with crystallography, hopefully, we will be able to conduct some systematic research."

Chwang Leh-chii: health for the nation

Since she signed on as a nutrition researcher at the Bureau of Public Health of the National Health Administration in 1973, Chwang Leh-chii has been working to improve nutrition habits on Taiwan. She says that-though the Chinese people are noted for their delicious foods-they have not paid proper attention to balanced nutrition. As people here have grown increasingly prosperous, they have begun to overeat, she says, and need guidance to cultivate healthful habits.

She first trained personnel for a public health and nutrition network. She designed a five-petal plum blossom to illustrate in an easy-to-understand way, the five categories of nutrition. Also, she eagerly cultivated popular knowledge of nutrition via lectures and the mass communications media.

Three years ago, she became chief of the dietetic section of Veterans General Hospital and published manuals on nutrition for the patients and for retired servicemen. She maintains her office in the middle of the hospital's kitchen so she can directly superintend its nutritional function. She is a board member of the Chinese Consumer Foundation, a member of the board of directors and deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Nutrition Society and a lecturer at Fu Jen University and Taipei Medical College.

After graduation from National Taiwan University, Chwang went to the University of Hawaii, where she earned her M.S. degree in 1973.

Her summation of Taiwan's nutrition problems-"As a result of rapid economic development, people tend to overeat but fail to take in balanced nutrition. The young ladies are largely on unbalanced diets to keep nice figures while children eat too much junk food. These all need to be attended to."

Lu Sun-fang: journalism and parenting

After her graduation from the Department of Journalism of National Chengchi University in 1967, Lu Sun-fang joined the China Daily News. In the following 15 years, Lu covered the news in the fields of culture, education, scientific technology, art, films, theater and women's and youth activities. She is now director for news-coverage and deputy editor-in-chief of the China Daily News.

Lu is never content with current achievement and purposefully learns from the rich experiences of veterans such as deputy publisher Huang Chao-heng.

Lu starts her workday about 5 p.m. Her 15 years of experience help her to recognize the calibre and performance of each of her 30-member crew. She spares no effort in discussing errors and exchanging views with her colleagues. The crew, in response, call her sister.

About half the crew are older than she is. And recognizing her role as a young female superintendent, Lu has her own philosophy of management: "To treat senior colleagues with respect and to instruct younger ones with love is my principle. Women must not show weaknesses in capability but must show some tenderness in attitude."

Lu's three books, entitled Portraits of the Successful, Women Who Challenge the Times and Sparkling Life, have won medals for journalistic literature. Lu Sun-fang attributed her achievements to teacher Chu Sung-chiu, publisher Chien Chen and her husband, Lee Tzu-yuan. To make better use of the limited time she can spend on family chores, Lu depends on a variety of electrical appliances to speed up operations. She, however, makes mistakes now and then. "I have burned out 20 tea pots in 12 years of married life," she said in self-mockery.

Since she has to work very late, she records tapes for her daughter to show her constant concern and love.

On the eve of the awards ceremony, Lu cut short the long hair which she had sported over the past 15 years. She said: "In the past 15 years, I earned a journalist's position; from today, I look to another 15 years of achievement."

Dr. Lin Ching-yun: an inspiration to all women

Dr. Lin Ching-yun comments on her role as the first female surgeon in the Republic of China: "I intruded in this world of man and have held on for seven years to prove that women can also be good surgeons."

Her dedication to her work at Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taipei has earned her the nickname "superwoman" among her colleagues. A specialist in micro-surgery, Dr. Lin performs 2-3 operations a week in addition to general duties. She is on call 24 hours a day, and may have to drive for an hour from her suburban home at a moment's notice, perhaps in the middle of the night, to perform emergency surgery. Even when she has to work all night, she never com plains. In seven years of practicing, she has only been absent once-to take maternity leave.

Her colleagues in a male-dominated field are amazed at her talent and energy. But Dr. Lin shrugs off their plaudits. "Only if you respect yourself will others respect you. Every woman has to over come the barriers of sex discrimination. If she asks for special treatment, she is only perpetuating such discrimination."

Dr. Lin grew up in a family of doctors. As a child, she spent long periods in her father's operating and examination rooms. Taiwan's medical facilities were in their infancy, performing such routine tasks as taking pulses and reading blood pressures. Because of early exposure to medicine, her heart was set on becoming a doctor at a time when her playmates' main interest lay in making mud pies.

After leaving the National Taiwan University hospital, the top medical institution in the ROC, in 1975, Dr. Lin went on to specialize in micro and plastic surgery. Her job starts after facial surgery has been completed by another surgeon. Then, she grafts skin implants over the stitched wounds so that the patient's physical appearance is not impaired.

Over the past six months, Dr. Lin has successfully treated patients with cleft palates, broken jaws and facial injuries suffered in accidents. Her work shows amply that plastic surgery is not just concerned with cosmetic effects.

After undergoing extensive advanced training in Japan and the U.S., last year she temporarily joined the Chinese-Saudi medical team at the Jeddah General Hospital in Saudi Arabia. At first, patients were suspicious over the idea of a woman performing such important work. But her reputation as a successful surgeon soon spread through the kingdom and her name appeared in the headlines of local papers.

Dr. Lin's example has inspired many other women to enter the surgeon's profession, and they have not been slow to acknowledge her role in changing the medical landscape in the Republic of China.

Betty Y.M. Ju: home on the range, in a lab

A born pet lover, Betty Y.M. Ju has, since childhood, picked up small animals wandering in the streets near her home, washed them clean, brushed their fur and even sprayed cologne on their bodies. Today she is the chief animal husbandry technician at the Heng chun Cattle Ranch.

Animal husbandry, she notes, includes such heavy chores as pasture and cattle contol, and lighter chores such as feeding, nutrition and delivering calves. The former suits men, she says, and the latter women, because women have more patience and love to devote to the individual needs of the cattle. After more than ten years on the ranch, Ju sings "cattle songs," varying her renditions to the emotional needs of her charges.

In 1972, she went to Australia to study animal physiology, with special attention to the impact of refrigeration on spermatozoa physiology. The warm and humid climate of Taiwan greatly influences the quality of spermatozoa. In order to elevate the standards of the island's animal husbandry, it is necessary to make use of artificial insemination. Ju joined the training class of the Australian Breeding Society and was graduated with the near-perfect mark of 98.5. She passed the exam for A-grade technician rating in artificial insemination, to become the first Chinese among 25 A grade ratings granted by the Victoria Department of Agriculture.

After returning to this country, she and her husband began work at the Heng chun branch of the "Taiwan Live stock Research Institute; the breeding of feeder cattle was her target. In an attempt to establish a system for simultaneous pregnancies among the cattle, she used artificial insemination techniques. As a result, the calves will all be born in the same period the following year when the fodder is growing abundantly. The Heng chun Ranch inseminates an average of 500 head of cattle a year and delivers approximately 350 healthy calves. Their growth rate is about the same as that achieved in Europe and the U.S.

Julie Shih: a climber of roof-tops

Though determined even as a small child to be a musician, Julie Shih grew up to find that architecture had greater attractions. When she decided to enter the department of architecture at Chung Yuan Christian University, her music teacher at Taichung High School derided: "Julie Shih quits music to climb roof-tops."

Three years after her graduation, she joined the Taiwan Power Company. In two years of pre-job training, she learned to coordinate architectural design with electrical, mechanical and civil engineering. "TPC provides an ideal training environment," she said, "since it does not discriminate against female engineers. The training fostered my ability to handle such work areas as design, construction, contracts and other official paper, and coordination work." During her five-year stay at TPC, she passed an examination to win certification as a qualified architect. She has since joined such major projects as the Jung Hua Special Project and the "Design for a Saudi Arabian Military Academy." She gained from these projects experience in team work and from her communication with foreign consultants on issues involving civil engineering, structure and electrical engineering, she increased her own competence.

Following outstanding performances on projects of the Taiwan Power Company, Suao Harbor, the China Petroleum Company and Saudi Arabia, Chu was invited to design the project for construction of a public recreation center at Tsengwen Reservoir. The center high lights man-made cataracts, a tunnel under the water, a theater over the water, a stamina training ground and large and small piers. It is especially de signed to invite participation by teenagers in active sports.

Shih intends to further her professional capabilities in electrical engineering, hydraulics, fire protection, air conditioning and mechanics to perfect her capabilities.

Wu Yan-hwa: smooth road to success

For Wu Yan-hwa, life has been a smooth road leading to college, graduate school, study abroad, research at Georgetown University and to her employment by the BRL Company as a consultant. It seems so natural to her that she remarks: "Anyone following my steps will have the same achievements."

In 1979, she was employed by National Yang Ming Medical College, where she furthered her research into the relationship between viruses in milk and breast cancer. Meanwhile, she also participated in a project capitalizing on the technique of recombinant DNA to produce the vaccine for B-hepatitis, sponsored by the National Science Council.

Last year, Wu attended the 65th Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology in the United States and delivered a paper on DNA polymerase appearing in the particles of Chinese women's milk. Last August she was honored lecturer at the Chinling Basic Medical Research Center.

Her special academic contributions are as follows. 1. She purified the enzyme aspartere aminotransferase from the beef liver, and first adopted the affinity chromatography method to prove that this enzyme has non-interfering subunits. Then she used the nanosecond fluorescence emission method to study the interaction of this enzyme with glutamate dehydrogenase. 2. She first purified the reverse transcriptase contained in a virus in normal women's milk, and adopted an immunization method to demonstrate that it is different from the DNA polymerase contained in ordinary cells. 3. She first discovered that the two reverse transcriptases contained in Chinese milk may come from different virus particles contained in the milk. 4. She first observed that defected areas of breast cancer victims contain two reverse transcriptases, which may be similar to that contained in milk. 5. She first fixed restriction endollulease on sepharose 4 B to facilitate the recombinant DNA experiments. 6. She first purified Bgl I to further study its features.

It was while studying for her Ph.D. that she learned to fulfill the role of a researcher, which is to "bury yourself daily in the lab equipment," she commented.

Asked if her career had hindered her in her role as mother and wife for son and husband, she acknowledged a debt to her own mother's assistance. Her husband is currently teaching at National Tsinghua University in Hsinchu, and the couple gets together twice a week.

Kuo Hsiao-chuang devotes herself to new opera forms

The music is mellower

By Earl Vinecour

Even the most ardent Chinese opera aficionados are forced to admit these days that it looks as if their beloved form of opera seems headed for extinction. The diminishing audiences - be they in Taipei, Hongkong or Singapore-are getting older and older. To a generation of Chinese reared on pop, rock-n-roll and now disco, the archaic stylized movements of Chinese opera seem as remote as their grandparents' way of life.

Will it just be a matter of time, therefore, before Chinese opera disappears as a living art form? None other than one of the world's most famous and well known Chinese opera stars thinks so, and she has decided that it's about time something was done to reverse this trend toward obsolescence. She is Kuo Hsiao-chuang, and the changes she has set in motion have generated an excitement seldom seen in opera circles any where in the world. To her critics, she is too revolutionary. But to her numerous fans, she is one of the most talented, creative and, what is more, beautiful women in the Orient.

Like all beautiful and controversial women, Miss Kuo is surrounded by mystery and gossip. One story currently being spread about is that several hand some young men committed suicide out of their passionate love for her. Another story relates that her voice is so finely developed that it can shatter glass. Such rumors, plus the fact that few people have seen Miss Kuo without her theatrical makeup, added an even more exciting dimension to Miss Kuo's consenting to meet me in private to discuss her revitalization program for Chinese opera.

I arrived early for the interview at Miss Kuo's home in Taipei and was greeted at the door by her secretary, Nancy Cheng. Miss Cheng ushered me into a rather Hollywood-style living room decorated with various awards Miss Kuo had received. Miss Kuo would be a bit late, Nancy said, and suggested that she begin to fill me in on the singer's background. Miss Kuo began her studies in Chinese opera, it seems, at the tender age of eight. She made her debut at fifteen and, at seventeen, was regarded by the critics as one of the greatest opera stars in Asia.

By twenty, she had earned an inter national reputation for her talent and beauty and was a smashing success at New York's Lincoln Center, in San Francisco and in Japan. Simultaneously with her opera career, Nancy said, Miss Kuo became a motion picture actress and won the "Best Actress of the Year" award at the Hongkong Film Festival in the early 1970s.

At this point, Miss Kuo arrived from a rehearsal-tired, but stunningly vivacious and as elegant and delicate as she appears on stage. Yes, fans, she is as beautiful beneath all her theatrical makeup as she is with it on. So beautiful, in fact, that I could hardly concentrate on the interview. What is most amazing is that after so many years of practising and perfecting artistic body language, she has incorporated its refinement and ballet like sensuality into her offstage presence and bearing.

Since the hour was late and Miss Kuo was tired, I got right to the point. How was she going about trying to make Chinese opera relevant to twentieth century audiences? The first thing she did, Miss Kuo answered, was to address college and university groups and ask the students to be frank about their complaints.

"Again and again," she sighed, "they told me that they found Peking Opera old fashioned, boring, repetitive that the music was too loud, shrill and unappealing-the sets too unimaginative.

"After twenty years in the opera, I'm afraid I had to agree with them. All my life I have been in the shadow of the previous generations' understanding of opera. Yet my studies and research showed that Chinese opera had continuously changed and adapted to new needs and tastes. By freezing it in time, we are really not preserving it. We are fossilizing it!" Miss Kuo's attempts, however, to convince established troupes to renovate and update their programs fell on polite and interested, but deaf ears.

"The traditionalists believe that nothing can be changed if Peking Opera is to be authentic. They feel that the younger generation must be educated to appreciate it as it has been in the past few centuries-that youth, not the opera must change." Since none of Asia's established opera groups would make any of the changes Miss Kuo wanted, she decided, in 1979, to start her own opera troupe, calling it the Graceful Melody Ensemble.

"It is a very expensive project," she said. "The costumes had to be made in Hongkong. We had to hire artists to design the sets. Luckily, many wealthy people identified with what we were trying to do and helped us financially.

"We, in the troupe, are relatively young-the average age is 27 - so we can understand the complaints modern audiences have with Chinese opera. Our founding premise is that opera can be relevant and appealing in the 1980s."

The first thing Miss Kuo did was to condense the drawn-out traditional scripts, deleting all repetition. This would help liven up the story, she felt, which was much too slow for modern taste. New, exciting passages were added to enhance and dramatize the plot. She also decided that since Asia's Chinese opera groups were all doing the same old repertoire, she would zero in on those seldom-performed operas she felt would be of more interest.

"Traditionally, Chinese opera was audience-oriented," she said. "Now it is so stylized that it is only form-oriented. I wanted to recapture the original spirit, so I set about changing the sets, the lighting, the music."

To replace the clanging cacophony, she established a 28-piece classical Chinese orchestra to accompany the arias, yet she maintained the traditional musical form and style.

"The major change I felt needed was the transformation of the old role from one-dimensional characters to multi dimensional, credible personalities modern people could identify with."

Miss Kuo's emphasis on character development-something highly innovative for Chinese opera-is best seen, per haps, in her renditions of the dramatic tragedy, Injustice to Tou O, and in the introspective, yet bawdy piece, Thinking of Worldly Things.

Injustice to Tou O is based on a fourth century tale of a widow's loyalty to her mother-in-law. In a biblical manner, it teaches that filial piety has cosmic significance. In the role of the widow Tou O, Miss Kuo goes far beyond anything ever seen in Chinese opera. She infuses her own personality and unique talents into the character and creates, thereby, a real, flesh and blood woman with believable conflicts and emotions. Here again Miss Kuo breaks with the established tradition. Instead of keeping the same frozen, painted face throughout the performance as is always done in Peking Opera, she changes her makeup between scenes to add emphasis to the inner changes and moods 'of the characters.

In choosing the duet Thinking of Worldly Things, Miss Kuo set an extremely difficult goal for herself and her partner. This rarely performed opera is in the kun-chu and not the Peking style and thus required learning a new dialect and different body language techniques. It took Miss Kuo three months of intensive drill to prepare the role. The scenario is very much like an eastern variation of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, dealing with a nun's renunciation of her vows and her ensuing romantic encounter with a monk who also has left the fold. Miss Kuo's brilliant use of traditional mime, plus her skillful rendering of kun chu body language gave her role a multi dimensional quality seldom seen in any opera- Eastern and Western.

"To me," Miss Kuo said, "the Buddhist nun was innocent and naive, not irreverent. She had been forced into the convent at an early age by her parents and thus was never given the opportunity to develop or even to discover her own identity or personality. In many ways, she epitomizes the Asian woman up to our own day-forced by convention and tradition into rigid roles which allow her little freedom for self-discovery. I tried to convey the nun's inner conflicts and struggles, and the flowering of her sexuality."

The nun's struggle to break out of a role others had established for her, to assert her own uniqueness and 'discover her femininity ... are all, of course, highly relevant themes to modern youth in conservative Asian society. Combine this with the bawdy repartee of the youthful nun and the very human escapades of th.e lovers-and you have a very appealing opera.

How successful, then, is Miss Kuo in her attempts to revitalize Chinese opera? Despite the fact that her performances are always sold out and the audiences are overwhelmingly young, most Chinese youth today are still far removed from either an interest in, or an appreciation of, opera. Why? Perhaps because to youth in Southeast Asia, Western pop culture with its free form, zesty beat and fast pace is far more appealing than their traditionally conservative cultures. Opera-no mailer how revitalized-is still associated by many youth with the Victorian past they are struggling to break with. Miss Kuo readily admits this and realizes that despite her change, Chinese opera may never again have the mass appeal it once had. What she hopes to build, therefore, is a loyal and knowledgeable core of youth to, at least, allow the art form to grow, be creative and vibrant. To further this goal, she has taken on a fulltime teaching position at Taipei's University of Chinese Culture.

"What I am attempting by its very nature is only for the 1980s. After that, it will be up to the next decade to decide the worth and value of continuing Chinese opera ... and, if need be, make their changes and add their own ideas. Only in this way is there hope for the opera's meaningful and not fossilized survival"

After the interview, when we became more informal and relaxed, Miss Kuo confided that she had heard nothing of handsome young men killing them selves over her, and she hoped it wasn't true. As far as her singing talent enabling her to shatter glass, she laughed:

"Yes, that is true! I often break glasses here in my home ... but with my hands, not my voice." - From The Asia Magazine.

Tan Kok-choo International Lawyer

"Two tigers" at peace with each other in the same cage

She distinguishes herself in the trade to which she is dedicated by her solid learning and experienced practice, not because of her sex.

Though a female lawyer, Tan Kok-choo, a name heard often in local legal circles specializing in international law, does what any lawyer is supposed to do-take business trips with clients and make deals with negotiators-and does it better than most. "Tan is pretty sharp and very capable in dealing with complicated legal affairs. Her talents and professional discipline have made her what she is today," said Chi Chen, a well known athlete and chairman of the Republic of China Track & Field Association. Chi once was Tan's client in the courts of London.

Born and raised in Hongkong, Tan Kok-choo left home for Britain at 17, and was graduated from law school there at 20. Before graduation, Tan married a school-mate, Ding Mow Sung. During their first seven years of marriage, they lived in Singapore. New York and San Francisco. Tan and her husband had a prosperous career and a comfortable family life abroad. But, though she lived overseas for years, Tan Kok-choo had strong feelings for her mother country and was eager to do something for her fellow countrymen.

In 1975, since a series of major construction projects was underway in the Republic of China, a wealth of talent was urgently needed. Supposing that their talent - professional discipline and sophisticated experience as barristers -would be useful, Mr. and Mrs. Ding decided to come home and pursue their careers in Taiwan.

"Here in Taiwan the export trade is blooming and foreign investors are swarming; a lot of legal affairs involve U.S. or English law, in which my husband and I are amply proficient. Since we can communicate with clients easily in both Chinese and English, we thought we would be needed," Tan recalled.

Six years ago, with seven others, Mr. and Mrs. Ding founded a law firm with the musical name, Ding & Ding, in Taipei. An old Chinese saying maintains that two tigers will never be at peace with each other if they are kept in the same cage. Fortunately, this fate did not befall Ding & Ding. "We perform a task by division of labor," Tan said. Although Tan admires her husband as a creative lawyer, she also appreciates her own good qualities. "I have a remarkable memory, able to survey complicated matters and retrieve a key point quickly from among trifling detail. Since my husband and I are aware of each other's merits and shortcomings, we are in tune with each other while working on the same case."

Through their circumspect cooperation, this unique couple have established a reputation for success in international litigation. One contributing case involved litigation concerned with the ROC's membership in the International Track & Field Association. They won the case for the ROC in the British higher courts.

Several large government-owned enterprises, such as China Airlines, the Taiwan Power Company, and the China Shipbuilding Corporation, became clients of Ding & Ding. Foreign-invested firms utilize their counsel in the process of negotiation to form joint businesses with local enterprises.

In the six years it has been operating, Ding & Ding has increased its staff from 7 to 42.

Shen Chia-min, chairman of the ROC International Olympic Committee, once commented publicly on his regard for Tan: "I admire Tan. Without her help, we would be in difficulty in international law suits."

"She always offers us constructive, feasible ideas which just meet our needs," remarks Richard Krieger, vice president of a U.S. invested company. Cheng Lan, vice general manager of the Taiwan Power Company, states, "We can trust her ability totally. Tan is very professional when dealing with official matters, but she is very humanized when it comes to getting along with people."

Although she lived overseas for so long, Tan never forgot her homeland. In 1974, Tan flew back from the U.S. to give birth to her first child in Taiwan. "I wanted to have our child born and raised in Taiwan where our roots are," she said. She is now the mother of two-a boy of 7 and a girl of 5.

Tan's affection for Chinese culture is reflected in her successful efforts to raise funds for the establishment of the first museum for children in Taiwan. The Chinese Children's Museum was founded a year ago and has become a popular destination for families with small children, who learn about Chinese culture through museum exhibits.

Now, at 34, Tan has been selected as one of the ten outstanding young women of the Republic of China in 1982.

"Everything that comes to me seems to be just what I need. I am the luckiest woman in the world," she said.