How much do you know about the religious views of Chinese? Westerners carefully avoid the contentious topics of religion and politics, but Chinese religion is pluralistic and inclusive. Asking Chinese to believe in only "one true faith" isn't likely to correspond to people's feelings.
This issue's cover story "The Chinese Otherworld View" and the discussion by Academia Sinica's Li Yih-yuan of "Faith and Daily Life" are the openers for a new series on Chinese religion(s).
"Traditional" is another focus of this issue: It ranges from a story on the ch'in (zither) master Sun Yu-ch'in and a look at Wu Shou-li, who has deeply researched the origins of the Fukienese dialect, to a look back at competitive temple building and the historic town of Hsinwu.
On the "modern" side, Taiwan will soon hold an election quite different than those in the past. Also, current en vironmental work is focussed on the problem of recycling--"Recycling Bottlenecks" looks at the advantages and dif ficulties involved.
Our special overseas visit is to the Hong Kong village of Rennie's Mill, "doomed" by the approach of 1997. What kind of place is it, anyway?
And in "Adopting to Conditions," we introduce two major domestic adoption agencies--what's surprising is that many of the adopting parents are from abroad!
This month's issue really deserves a careful look.