Dear Editor:

I am a longtime reader of your magazine. Over the years, I have read many reports on what's happening in Taiwan's film and video industry. Taking advantage of your valuable space, I would like to offer some small opinions of my own.

Taiwan films are rarely shown in theaters in Malaysia. However, television serials are not difficult to find in video rental shops. These videos give people the impression of being slow-paced, having lots of meaningless dialogue, and of being nothing but ridiculous crying, screaming and arguing. They are crudely moralistic, and the contents are meaningless and uninteresting. Moreover, the dialogue goes by so fast you can't even understand what they are saying. As a result, not many people really like to watch Taiwan videos.

Compared with Hong Kong films, the difference is like heaven and earth. Hong Kong films are interesting and exciting. However, Hong Kong films are in the Can-tonese dialect, and consequently spread this dialect everywhere, which is harmful to the promotion and unification of the Chinese national language (Mandarin). In my country, many Taiwan films or television programs of better quality are translated into Cantonese. There is a reason for that.

Those trying to market Taiwan videos clearly neither care about the market, nor have plans for it. Compare this to Hong Kong business people. They have established offices in my country, undertaking market surveys and sales activities. Even Taiwan videos have come under their control. When interesting Taiwan-made films or TV series appear, they are immediately translated into Cantonese, so that people get the impression that the only video products worth watching are Cantonese ones, which they assume to be made in Hong Kong.

Besides their attractive plots, the success of Hong Kong films is also due to marketing. In the 1950s and '60s, the Shaw Brothers group of Hong Kong successfully knocked Taiwanese films out of the Southeast Asian market. People should have learned from this example. Obviously, in terms of film production, marketing, and strategy, Taiwan is well behind Hong Kong.

I look forward to Taiwan films as they advance toward international standards, but hope even more that Taiwan business people will place more emphasis on marketing, personally coming to my country to organize offices, personally serving as agents for films, and personally doing market research and sales. They should not allow others to control the fate of Taiwan films. Moreover, Hong Kong film and video businesses have established a film company in my country, and are developing rapidly. They are filming local Hong Kong-style films, allowing the film and video industry to develop further.

Why have Taiwan film and video always been controlled by others? Why don't Taiwan film and video businesses take the offensive, going overseas and translating other people's films and videos into Mandarin Chinese? These questions are worth thinking about.