Women in the Republic of China enjoy complete equality with men and are active in national life, Vice President C. K. Yen told the sixth convention of the Federation of Asian Women's Associations in Taipei.
"They are no longer held in an inferior position in a political, legal or social sense," he said.
Noting that women's equal status is guaranteed by the Constitution, Vice President Yen told Asian women leaders that Chinese women exercise their rights to own property, engage in business and pursue advanced education.
"It is the common belief in my country that equality between the sexes is a convincing testimony not only to cultural progress but also to social stability. We also believe that development of women's potential will provide the necessary dynamism to enrich the national life," the Vice President said.
Yen said nearly a third of the labor force in this country is feminine. "This is a very meaningful force in sustaining the rapid growth of my country," he said.
Vice President Yen said Asia is proud of its womanhood, "whose characteristics have long been identified as kindness and friendship."
He said members of FAWA "are in a pivotal position to rally modern Asian women to enhance the economic, cultural and spiritual development of Asia."
Million young people in summer program
More than a million young people are taking part in the vacation programs of July and August, the China Youth Corps announced.
More than 400,000 participants are grouped in 2,594 teams engaged in 163 activities.
Another 600,000 youths are entering activities on an individual basis.
Some 400 foreign youths are participating.
Premier Chiang Ching-kuo urged young people to have the "insight and fortitude to overcome all difficulties and usher in a new era of progress for the nation."
Speaking at a Youth Work Seminar in Taipei, the Premier said he knew that young men and women of today value truth above fame and wealth.
To get at the truth, Premier Chiang said, "one has to study history and gain insight." He pledges that his administration would do all it could to help youths realize a bright future for themselves and the nation.
"We in the government consider youth to be the regenerating force of our nation," Premier Chiang said. "Only through a perfectly harmonious joining of government and youth," he said, "can our nation hope to have hope and our youths hope to have a future."
He urged young men and women to develop interest in affairs of state. "The government is willing and ready to listen to constructive criticism and recommendations from youth," he said.
Judy Miller stars in opera
Some 1,000 Chinese opera fans applauded a talented amateur performance starring Judy Miller, the wife of the information officer of the USIS in Taipei. She played the role of Wang Pao-chuan, a legendary character respected for her chastity, faithfulness to her husband and perseverance in the face of hardship.
The three-hour performance was of the last three acts of the "Story of Wang Pao-chuan and Hsueh Ping-kuei."
Mrs. Miller won a standing ovation. Her soprano voice could be clearly heard in every corner of Shih Chien Hall.
It was Mrs. Miller's first stage appearance in Taipei. She arrived last year with her husband.
In Hongkong, Mrs. Miller had performed several times with Chao Pei-hsing.
Among fans at the theater were Finance Minister K. T. Li, Lt. Gen. Wego Chiang, Dr. Yu Ta-wei, the former defense minister, artist Ma Shou-hua, actress Hsu Lu and Mrs. Tu Yueh-sheng.
Other performers were Chang Chao-tai, Mrs. Julie King, Mrs. Lan, Jui-ching and Mrs. Chang Ta-hsia.
The performance was presented by the Kuo Feng Amateur Mandarin Opera Club under the sponsorship of the Opera Appreciation Council.
Scholars from abroad to join in forum
One hundred and twenty Chinese scholars and researchers a broad will return to Taipei in August for the second summer national reconstruction seminar.
They will take part in the two-week discussion of ways and means of expediting national reconstruction.
At least three-quarters of them will come from the United States. Asia will send 10 per cent and Europe 15 per cent.
There will be eight discussion panels, each with 15 returning scholars and researchers. Five local members will be added to each group.
Topics will be education and culture, science, foreign affairs and international publicity, taxes and finance, industrial development and trade, transportation and urban renewal, rural reconstruction, and social welfare and public health.
The forthcoming seminar will represent a cross-section of scholars abroad. Political considerations were ruled out in selecting those invited.
New superintendent for American School
Dr. Norman D. Brust, who has been superintendent of the Acton-Boxborough Regional School District in Massachusetts, takes up his duties as the superintendent of Taipei American School July 1.
Dr. Brust was selected by the board of directors from more than 100 applicants.
He has taught sixth grade and high school English, held positions as curriculum coordinator and director of personnel, and supervised student teachers in a study program at the University of Illinois.
He was an elementary school principal for five years and superintendent of schools in Mundelein, Illinois.
Dr. Brust holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from Northern Illinois University and received his Ed. D. from the University of Illinois.
He compares the present to the Renaissance period. However, he said, the present cultural upheaval involves "a searching for new values and a restructuring of the priorities of our present values. "
Educators of the immediate future must focus on social crisis and value conflicts, individual versus mass education, ethnic and accountability.
Regarding accountability, Dr. Brust believes education has a set of methods of evaluation which can be used to measure many educational products both for quality and quantity.
In all educational problems, "the needs of the learner" come first, he said.
Government employees offered vacations
Government employees and their spouses are being offered subsidized rest and recreation package tours under a Tourism Bureau program.
A two-day tour of Sun Moon Lake or Hsitou will cost only NT$450 (US$11.80) for two.
Hsitou is a summer resort near Sun Moon Lake. National Taiwan University has a forestry experimental station there.
Fees are for hotel accommodations and board. Transportation will be free in air-conditioned buses.
Participants will stay overnight at a tourist hotel and have five meals.
The minimum cost of such an outing would be NT$1,200 (US$31.50) without subsidy.
Only employees of the Executive Yuan (Cabinet) and agencies under its direct control are eligible.
After three years of service, a government employee is entitled to two weeks of leave a year.
Adm. Ni named top sports official
Admiral Ni Yue-si, newly elected president of the Chinese National Amateur Athletic Federation, has pledged an all-out effort to encourage the national physical fitness program.
He said he will do "everything within my power" to promote sports and help win victories in international athletic contests.
Ni said a number of sports will receive increased support.
Born in Szechwan in 1914, Ni was graduated from the Naval Academy in 1934. He became a four-star admiral in 1966.
Ni was chief of the General Staff in 1965-1967, personal chief of staff to the President in 1967-1970 and ambassador to Turkey in 1970-1971.
General Yang Sen, outgoing NAAF president, chaired the election meeting. A new board was named.
Henry Hsu, only Chinese member of the International Olympic Committee, was elected vice president, a newly created post.
One of the most challenging tasks ahead for the reorganized NAAF is the Republic of China's participation in the seventh Asian Games at Teheran. The Chinese Communists hope to exclude the Republic of China and send a team to Iran.
Museum staff saves valuable antiques
The Collection Department of the National Museum of History of Taipei has mended 2,000 broken art treasures in the last two years.
Items include more than 1,000 cracked or broken pieces of brass and ceramics from the Chou dynasty (1122-221 B.C.), Han dynasty (206 B.C.-221 A.D.) and the Tang dynasty (618-907). These were unearthed in different parts of Honan from 1923 to 1936.
Detailed descriptions were set down and pictures taken when the masterpieces were unearthed.
Chin Ching-ching, director of the Collection Department, said funds for the restoration were approved only two years ago.
Some cracks are easy to mend, Chin said, but extensive damage is another matter.
To mend an incomplete piece of earthenware, a mold is made. The resultant piece may be buried for months to give it the ancient look.
Shih Chang means teacher's husband
From now on students must address the husbands of their teachers as Shih Chang.
The Ministry of the Interior picked this form of address from the several suggested.
Shih Chang means "teacher's husband" and sounds more dignified than other appellations.
Shih Chang was also the choice of the majority of women teachers at 27 schools in Taipei and Taichung.
The term will be included in primary and middle school textbooks.
Taiwan has 53,000 women teachers, or 40.61 per cent of the total.
Women find "lib" in their singing
Fifty wives, mothers and grandmothers of the Taipei Junghsing Housewives' Choir are finding a new dimension to life through singing.
They practice at the residence of Ku Wei-fu, organizer of the Junghsing Children's Choir. Lu Chuan-shen is the conductor.
"As soon as I step inside the rehearsal room, my troubles disappear. Only music and singing occupy my mind," said Mrs. Huan Lin Chu, who has been a member for two years.
"I have learned a lot The progress of the choir is my hope and consolation," said Mrs. Lin Hsieh Fu-mei who with 17 other members has been with the group since it was formed 10 years ago.
"It's never too late to sing," Lu said.
Also a founder-member and the oldest, Mrs. Hung Yeh-she, 55, has missed classes only when she was in the hospital last year.
Warfare College beckons young men
The Political Warfare College is beckoning to high school graduates aiming at a military career without concentration on combat.
Although a service school, the college is different in that it trains officers who will fight the Communists not with bullets but on the psychological and ideological front.
Founded in 1951, the college is located on the site of a prewar racetrack at Fuhsingkang near Peitou. The enrollment has risen 10 times to 4,000 students.
The four-year political warfare cadet officer course is equivalent to college training. There are eight departments: Political Science, Law, Journalism, Fine Arts, Music, Movies and Drama, Physical Education and Foreign Languages. Graduation from high school is required. B.A., B.L. or B.E. degrees are awarded by the Ministry of Education and graduates are commissioned first lieutenants by the Ministry of National Defense.
Another political Warfare course lasts for a year. Students are selected from the ranks of non-commissioned officers and high school graduates. There is a 10-week political warfare l:ourse for ROTC graduates of colleges and universities.
A 16-week course is offered for company grade officers on active duty. Political warfare officers study basic techniques with emphasis on thinking, speaking, writing and investigating.
An advanced course of 20 weeks is given for field grade officers on active duty. Emphasis is on organization, administration, leadership and combat skills.
The senior course of 26 weeks is equivalent to the command and general staff level of training. Students are colonels and generals.
Art in miniature on classic fans
The National Palace Museum opened an exhibition of 296 folding fans. Eighty-six are damaged and will be remounted as album leaves when the exhibition is over.
The folding fan may seem to be a simple frame covered with paper. But the framework, which the Chinese call the "bones," may be made of ebony, ivory, sandalwood, roots of black bamboo or carved speckled bamboo.
The paper may be gold flecked or "porcelain green." Silk is also used.
What transforms the fan from a useful article to a work of art is the decoration.
The earliest fan painting in the collection is by Shang Mao, who lived from 1313 to 1362. Also included are works by four great masters of the Ming dynasty. Shen Chou's "Studio in a Bamboo Grove" and T'ang Yin's "Autumn Trees" have been shrunk to a size which can be held in the hand.
Litterers, spitters face punishment
Spitting in the streets of Taipei is now liable to a fine of NT$120 (US$3.15) Litterbugs will be fined the same amount and may be detained for repeated violations.
Other offenses and punishments:
- Unauthorized bill posting:
NT$120 or eight hours of labor and possible detention for repeated offenses.
- Damage to or blocking of drainage ditches: NT$120 or eight hours of labor.
- Untreated effluents: NT$180 (US$4.73) or detention. If the offender is a factory or a bath house, operations may be suspended.
- Burning of bituminous coal: NT$300 (US$7.89) or detention.
- Sale of bituminous coal in controlled areas: NT$300 and suspension of business.
- Pollution of the air: NTS 180 and/or suspension of business.
- Livestock raising in controlled areas: NT$180.
- Failure to keep premises clean: NT$90 (US$2.63).
Youth commission offers more loans
The Youth Vocational Assistance Commission will expand its loan program to help young people start their own businesses.
The loans will go to those with sound plans who cannot obtain bank loans for lack of collateral.
The commission has extended loans totaling NT$43,750,000 provided by the Sino-American Fund for Social and Economic Development. NT$15,530,000 has been paid back.
Projects numbered 407 involving NT$229,730,000 in capital. These projects have annual output of NT$863,170,000 and employ 5,311 persons.