Taiwan Today

Spread the people around, K.T. Li says The government should help prevent overconcentration of population, in order to protect the quality of life on Taiwan, K.T. Li, minister without portfolio, declared. Li, former economic affairs and finance minister, was instru­mental in the economic miracle of the 1960s and 70s. He spoke on population and the quality of life at the Social Reports Seminar, sponsored by the Center on Research into the Quality of Life of the Ming Teh Foundation. Li said many people believe population concentration is inevitable in the course of economic development. But, he said, with a little effort the government can help prevent polarization of population. Minister Li made these points: Overconcentration creates problems both for areas that lose and gain population. Areas that lose population usually are left with a high proportion of older people. They lose people at their most productive ages. Areas that gain population face such problems as difficulty in adding public facilities fast enough to meet the needs of peo­ple, high land prices, expensive housing, traffic congestion and pollution. Li suggested that the government increase its investment in central Taiwan and encourage gov­ernment facilities as well as private enterprises to move there. The government should act to raise the levels of education, medi­cal services and cultural activities in rural areas, he said. He urged government agen­cies to abandon sectionalism and cited National Chung-hsing Uni­versity as an example. Chung­ hsing's College of Law and Commerce now in Taipei, should be returned to the campus of the uni­versity in Taichung, he said. Prestigious schools such as National Taiwan University and Chien Kuo Senior High School should open campuses in central and southern Taiwan. At the same time, the government should per­mit government agencies and corporations to open special schools for children of their employees. Such efforts, he said, can retard the overconcentration of population. He said the Chungshan Acad­emy of Sciences at Lungtan, Tao­yuan, should have attracted peo­ple from Taipei to Lungtan, but didn't because employees can't find suitable schools for their children. So workers commute from Taipei, he said. The Kaohsiung Refinery is an opposite case. Its employees live in a self-sufficient community in Kaohsiung which features an excellent school for their children, Minister Li said. Density second to Bangladesh Taiwan population density is the world's second highest after Bangladesh, according to the Man­power Planning Committee of the Council for Economic Planning and Development. Taiwan has an average of 499 persons per square kilometer; Bangladesh has 744. In population density per square kilometer of arable land, Taiwan with 1,979 also ranked second, after Japan with 2,348. Taiwan's population was 17,953,742 as of June 30. Natural population growth (not including immigration) is estimated at 1.84 percent this year compared with last year's 1.86 percent. Life expectancy in Taipei City was two years longer last year than in 1972, according to Wei Teng-hsien, director of the Taipei Department of Public Health. The life expectancy for men in 1980 was 72.94, up from 1972's 70.94, and for women 76.57, up from 74.94. The mortality rate dropped to 0.164 percent last year from 0.253 percent in 1972. The infant death rate declined to 0.573 per­cent from 0.743 percent. The number of people over the age of 65 living in Taipei has risen to 104,360. This is 4.07 per­cent of the population and a 0.17 percent increase over 1980. Taipei will have a resident population of 3,010,000 by 1988, an increase of some 810,000, Mayor Lee Teng-hui predicted. In a report to the Taipei City Council, the mayor said since there will be 360,000 nonresident workers in the city in 1988, the city's daytime population will reach 3,370,000. Hu Huey-te, commissioner of the Provincial Health Department, said that the birth rate this year will rise. He said he doubted the goal of 2.33 percent could be met. More than 136,000 couples were married in Taiwan last year, 13,000 couples more than in 1979. The 1980 birth rate was 2.399 percent, lower than the 2.411 percent recorded in 1979 but still higher than the target. The birth rate in 1980 drop­ped because fewer couples were married in 1979. The year 1979 was called "the year of the lonely bird" in the Chinese horoscope. As a lonely bird suggested widow­-hood to many young people, 10,000 fewer couples married in 1979 than in 1978. Family income up 24.6 percent Average unadjusted family income in Taiwan reached NT$250,484 last year, an increase of 24.6 percent over 1979. Adjusting for inflation, real income growth rate was 4.4 percent, Lin Ka-fan, director of the Department of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, reported to the Taiwan Provincial Assembly. Individuals' income averaged NT$50,715, 25.8 percent above 1979; but the real growth rate was 5.4 percent, Lin said. Lin said the increase occurred despite inflation and international recession, demonstrating the basic economic health of the nation. Vegetable, fruit and pork sellers earn more than teachers and most government employees, according to a recent survey con­ducted by the Council for Agricultural Planning and Development. The survey showed that a vegetable vendor can earn NT$32,000, a fruit dealer NT$30,000 and a pork dealer NT$25,000 per month. The July survey covered 19 pork dealers, 18 vegetable ped­dlers and 13 fruit dealers from 10 marketplaces in downtown Taipei. Implementation of the gov­ernment policy of equitable distribution of wealth in the Republic of China has proved an extraor­dinary success, government statistics show. In 1966 average per capita income of the 20 percent in the top bracket was 5.3 times that of the 20 percent in the bottom bracket. By 1979 the gap had been narrowed to 4.3 times. Income gaps in other coun­tries include: United States, 9.5 times, West Germany, 7.1 times; Britain, 6.2 times; Turkey, 16.6 times; and Brazil, 33 times. Schools corral most of the young Almost 100 percent of chil­dren aged 6-11 are attending primary schools and 90 percent of children aged 12-14 are in junior high schools. In the 6-11 age group, 98.8 percent of school-age boys and 99 percent of girls are enrolled. In the 12-14 bracket, 88.7 percent of boys and 86 percent of girls are attending junior high schools. Fifty-seven percent of boys and 56.3 percent of girls aged 15-17 are enrolled in high schools. Of those aged 18-21, 22.5 percent of boys and 22.7 percent of girls are in college. For ages 22 to 24, only 6 percent of boys and 4.9 percent of girls are still in school. Tuition and miscellaneous fees were increased 7 percent in all higher-level public schools and 10 percent in private schools for the academic year 1981-82. In government-supported health care schools, tuition and fees rose from NT$7,860 to NT$8,370 in departments of medicine, from NT$6,540 to NT$6,960 in departments of dentistry and from NT$6,250 to NT$6,670 in other departments. In private medical schools, tuition rose from NT$22,600 to NT$24,650 in medicine, from NT$20,730 to NT$22,610 in dentistry and from NT$18,090 to NT$19,730 in other disciplines. Government-supported col­leges of engineering increased their fees by NT$420 and private institutions by NT$1,530. In col­leges of agriculture and natural sciences, fees were raised from NT$6,220 to NT$6,620 at public institutions and from NT$16,610 to NT$18,120 at private colleges. Fees in public colleges of commerce rose from NT$4,910 to NT$5,230 and from NT$13,800 to NT$15,050 in private schools. Public colleges of liberal arts and law raised fees NT$300 and pri­vate colleges by NT$1,220. Foreign students in the ROC numbered 3,720 in 1980. They came from more than 50 countries, and 3,442 (92.53 percent) were in the humanities. National day of India marked More than 300 Indian na­tionals, dignitaries of the Republic of China and members of the diplomatic community met to commemorate the 34th anniversary of the independence of the Republic of India and to inau­gurate the first India-ROC Cultural and Economic Seminar. The meeting was sponsored by members of the Indian As­sociation of Taipei, representing 120 companies. The association was founded in 1974. Resolutions called for ex­change of chambers of commerce, opening of an Indian trade center in Taipei, exchange of commercial banks, simplification of travel procedures and establishment of Chinese and Indian cultural study programs. IAT President Chandur D. Gidwani said the group will help Chinese here obtain Indian visas. The meeting was the first of its kind since India severed diplomatic relations with the Republic of China in 1949. Gidwani attributes schisms between the two peoples to lack of communication. "If we can first 'throw open the doors' to each other, the amount of trade between India and ROC will grow sky-high." Vincent C. Siew, deputy di­rector general of the Board of Foreign Trade, told the seminar that Sino-Indian trade increased 70 percent in 1980. Also addressing the meeting was General Ho Ying-chin, commander in chief of the Chinese Armed Forces in World War II. He represented President Chiang Kai-shek in accepting the surrender of the Japanese in the China Theater. Cardinal Yupin — man of our times Premier Sun Yun-suan eulogized Cardinal Paul Yupin as an outstanding philosopher, educator and theologian at a memorial meeting marking the third anniversary of the cardinal's death. Premier Sun said Cardinal Yupin was versed in Latin, English, French, Italian, German and Es­peranto. Whether the subject was politics, economics, social science, philosophy or theology, Cardinal Yupin could be called on to make a noteworthy judgment, the Premier added. Premier Sun said Cardinal Yupin was also known for his generosity and devotion to the common man. During the War of Resistance against Japan, Cardinal Yupin left the country eight times to make over 200 speeches around the world on Japanese war crimes and to seek the support of other coun­tries. Koreans join in Dr. Sun tribute Eight scholars from the Re­public of Korea and 23 from the Republic of China met at National Chengchi University to discuss the ideology of Dr. Sun Yat-sen. Chairman of the conference Tsai Hung-wen told participants that it is the mutual responsibility of the Republics of Korea and China to practice Dr. Sun's Three Principles of the People. Chin Shao-yi, head of the Kuomintang's Department of Party History, said ultimate solutions of the people's problems can be found in the Three Principles of Dr. Sun Yat-sen. The conference was jointly sponsored by National Chengchi University, the Sino-Korean Cultural Foundation and the KMT's Departments of Party History and Cultural Affairs. Minister of Education Chu Hwei-sen; Archbishop Stanislaus Lokuang, president of Fu Jen Catholic University; and Hsun Ou­-yang, president of National Chengchi University, were among the guests at the meeting. Seventeen papers were read and discussed. Youths come on summer tours The 1981 International Youth Activity Seminar attracted more than 200 representatives. Pan Chen-chew, director of the sponsoring China Youth Corps, presided at the opening ceremony. Participants were from Japan, Hongkong, South Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrein, South Africa, Belgium, Greece, Italy, France, West Germany, the United States, Costa Rica, EI Salvador, Colom­bia, Ecuador and Guatemala. Also convened by CYC was the 1981 Study Tour of Saudi Youth. The program sought to deepen Saudi understanding of Chinese culture and history, the economic establishment in Taiwan and the development of youth activities. Participants visited famous scenic spots and museums during a month's stay. The program encouraged par­ticipants to befriend Taiwan youths and promote cultural ex­changes between the two countries. Enough homemade beer by 1985 Taiwan will no longer need to import beer when its fourth brewery is completed in 1985. Annual production capacity of the four is set at 92 million dozen bottles. Construction of the new plant costing NT$3 billion will be started this year at the Chiting In­dustrial Zone in Miaoli on an area of 40 hectares. According to Wu Yueh-ay, director of the Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau, the fourth brewery will produce 50 million dozen bottles of beer annually — 30 million dozens in the first phase and 20 million in the second. Beer is now imported from Singapore, the Netherlands, Korea and the United States. Consumption averages 20 bottles per person and will rise to 40 bottles in 1985, Wu said. In comparison, the Germans are the world's greatest beer drinkers with per capita consumption of 300 bottles a year. Americans drink 200 bottles and Japanese 100. Computers digest the characters Science News Magazine of Boston discussed development of Chinese character computers in a recent issue. An article by Robert J. Trotter said Chinese calligraphy is exquisite and eloquent but causes trouble for computers. Unlike the Latin alphabet of 26 characters, the Chinese lan­guage has some 50,000 words, with about 10,000 in common cir­culation. The article introduces a new IBM information processing system developed for Japan and the Republic of China. Developed over a period of 10 years, the system can handle thousands of char­acters. An enlarged keyboard and character generator are included. It takes an operator about six weeks of training to attain a top speed of 60 to 70 characters per minute. The article also introduces an ideographic word processing system developed by Wang Labora­tories of Lowell, Massachusetts. Instead of displaying thousands of characters on a keyboard, the Wang processor uses a coding system. A minimum number of keys can be used to form 10,000 characters. Each character has a six-digit identification number based on the shape of the character. Users familiar with the basic shape and structure of Chinese characters can be trained to use the system (called the Three Comer Coding Method) quickly and easily, the article said. In fact, an operator needs to use only 297 character elements and 15 rules to be fully proficient after two weeks of training. Tourism shows modest increase A total of 812,120 tourists visited Taiwan in the first half of this year, an increase of 22,607 or 2.9 percent over the same period last year, the Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Communications announced. Foreign visitors totaled 657,766, 1.8 percent over last year. Touring overseas Chinese numbered 154,345, up 7.7 per­cent. However, tourists decreased by 767 in July compared with a year ago. Visitors spent an average of 7.75 days in Taiwan. Governor Lin Yang-kang sug­gested a department of tourism be set up in the Provincial Govern­ment to cooperate with the Tour­ism Bureau of the Ministry of Communications. Lin said that the TPG now has a tourism section under its Department of Communications which does not function well due to limited personnel and budget. Besides, he continued, the Tourism Bureau and tourism sec­tions of city and county govern­ments fail to cover all tourist spots. The governor made the suggestion to members of the Com­munications Commission of the Legislative Yuan. The Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Communications plans to develop camp sites at three beaches. These are Fulung and Chin­-shan beaches at the northeastern tip of Taiwan and Yieyu beach on Lanyu (Orchid Island). The bureau said more tourists stay at scenic places for longer periods. The Taiwan Provincial Gov­ernment is planning a Taiwan aborigine cultural center at Machia Village in Pingtung County, Kao Yu-jen, commissioner of the Provincial Department of Civil Af­fairs, announced. The Taiwan Aborigine Cultural Park will cost NT$258 million and will include buildings of aborigine architecture. Arts and artifacts of the various tribes will be displayed. Machia Village has been the site of many excavations. Some artifacts go back to 1,000 B.C. Among the articles are 1,416 stone vessels, 497 jade pieces, and 337 items of earthenware. Money awaits mainland writers The producer of the film "If I Were for Real" said that if the three writers of the original script now on the mainland can come to Taiwan to see the movie, he will be more than happy to give them the money he has deposited for their royalties. Chiang Jih-shen, owner of the Yung Shen Movie Studio, was commenting on a wire service report that the writers — Sha Yeh­-hsin, Li Shou-cheng and Yao Ming-teh —had protested against the filming of the story without their consent. Chiang said that before he started filming, he deposited NT$200,000 with the Government In­formation Office for payment of the writers. Chiang said he had no political motives. "It's a good story, that's all. We stuck to the original script closely," he said. California leads in U.S. Chinese The state of California has the largest concentration of Chi­nese in the United States but Florida saw the fastest increase in Chinese population over the last decade, according to the 1980 Census of Population in the United States. Figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau show California's Chinese population was 322,340, or 40 percent of the total in the United States. Following California are New York with 148,104, Hawaii with 56,260, Illinois with 28,590 and Texas with 25,459. According to the census, Chi­nese live in all 50 states of the U.S. but 10 states have fewer than 1,000 Chinese each. The state with the smallest Chinese population is South Dakota (269), fol­lowed by Vermont (271), North Dakota (305) and Montana (346). Regionally, the western United States, including mountain and Pacific states, has the largest Chinese population with 424,776, followed by the northeast with 217,730, south central area with 90,616 and north central states with 72,905. The Chinese population in the U.S. was 806,027, an increase of 85.3 percent in the past 10 years and 0.4 percent of the U.S. population, compared with 0.2 percent in 1970. Florida saw the fastest in­ crease with a 330 percent jump from 3,133 in 1970 to 13,471 in 1980. Virginia had the second largest increase during the period from 2,805 to 9,360, a 223 per­cent rise. Texas also had a 223 percent increase — from 7,635 in 1970 to 25,459 in 1980. Other states with big increases were Georgia (173 percent), Colorado (161 percent), New Jersey (153 percent) and North Carolina (152 percent). Hawaii had the smallest in­crease with only 8.1 percent. But the Chinese population in Hawaii accounts for 5.8 percent of the overall population in that state. Chinese in the U.S. have overtaken the Japanese as the largest ethnic Asian group in the U.S. The Japanese population increased only by 18.5 percent in the last 10 years and now stands at 700,747. The Korean population has grown the fastest among the Asians, achieving a 412.8 percent rise. The Filipinos had a 125.8 percent increase. Worker diseases to be combatted Labor insurance program of­ficials say a large number of those insured and in need of medical care suffer from job-related dis­eases, especially factory workers and miners. Government hospitals and private clinics are not equipped or staffed to handle diseases caused by occupational hazards, officials said. The government is planning to spend NT$4 billion in the next six years to build hospitals to treat some 2.4 million workers covered by insurance. Of the 2.4 million, 490,000 are in Taipei City, 380,000 in Taipei County, 250,000 in Kao­hsiung City and 100,000 each in Taoyuan and Taichung Counties. The hospitals will be built in these areas. New centers to give drivers' licenses The Provincial Communications Department will authorize Provincial Government driving training centers in northern, central and southern Taiwan to issue drivers' licenses. Communications Department officials say these centers are well equipped. Only National Government vehicle registries have been authorized to issue licenses. The new centers will relieve the application load at these three. Officials say if private driving schools are found to be comparably well equipped and offer similar training, they may also be au­thorized to issue licenses. Girls' band, choir wow 'em in U.S. The 120-member Goodwill Mission of Taipei First Girls' High School returned to Taipei after a 25-day visit to the United States. Mayor Lee Teng-hui said the mission had done a good job of promoting friendship among over­seas Chinese. The leader of the mission, Huang Kun-huei, director of Taipei's Municipal Department of Education, said "these enthusias­tic and sprightly young girls" won enthusiastic applause and a warm welcome wherever they went. The school choir and band gave 32 performances in 11 major U.S. cities.