Visiting foreign students in the Republic of China were invited to a special New Year's Eve party hosted by Education Minister Y. S. Tsiang. They enjoyed Chinese food and presented a variety show. Minister Tsiang told the foreign students that they are welcomed to study or to do research in any subject. He expressed his hope that the more than 1,000 foreign students in this country would promote friendship between Chinese people and their own.
President Yen Chia-kan received the Rt. Rev. Monsignor Thomas A. White, Charge d'Affaires a. i. of the Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See to the Republic of China, at the Presidential Office on December 20, and accepted a copy of Pope Paul VI's Peace Day Message 1977.
President Yen responded with a letter in which he said the Republic of China is pleased that the Holy See has provided the world with the badly needed spiritual leadership for peace in the past decade of violence and chaos.
A girls' soccer team of 21 members flew to Bangkok on January 5 for a three-week visit in South east Asia. General Cheng Weiyuan, President of Soccer Association of the Republic of China, went to Taipei Airport to see them off. This was the first girls' soccer team to go abroad. They were to visit Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia for eight to ten games with teams in those countries.
On the afternoon of December 28, the one-millionth tourist of 1976 arrived in Taipei to set a significant record in the history of tourism. The tourist with the lucky number, Professor Wilhelm Emil Muhlmann from West Germany, and his wife, became special guests of the Tourism Bureau. They were warmly welcomed and were treated with a free stay in Taiwan. Before departing, Dr. Muhlmann commented that Taiwan is a place of harmony between strength and beauty.