Dear Editor:
I receive Sinorama Magazine regularly as I have for many years. It was the July 1996 copy that attracted my attention particularly. In it you featured two article on turtles-one concerned the part that turtle products play in Chinese medicine and how this conflicts in some cases with the conservation of some endangered turtle species; the other dealt with the Turtle's place in Chinese culture. In the British Chelonia Group we have two main concerns-one is to help British people look after their tortoises and terrapins properly and the second is to alert our members to the need for conservation of chelonia since many of the species are now greatly endangered or rapidly becoming so. As your former articles pointed out, the needs of medicine in the traditional Chinese way is an important factor in this decline. I know that many of the turtles found in Southeast Asia are being collected to fulfill this need and some are becoming very rare indeed.
I am very grateful to you for this balanced and interesting duo of articles. If you could help me by putting me in contact with the Life Conservationist Association mentioned on page 95 it would allow me to exchange turtle information with them.
Yours sincerely
R.P. Langton
Chairman BCG
Asian Racism
Dear Editor:
It never ceases to amaze me that only white on whatever (white against black/Asian/Hispanic, etc.) racism is highlighted. Beating a dead horse.
Asians emigrating to New Zealand? Try to emigrate into Asia as a white. It's against the law. Marry a local girl? No problem, but you have almost zero rights. Have children with a local-zero rights for you and the child.
Post a bond? Pass a language test? Hah, those are reasonable requests compared to the blatant, legal racism practiced by Asians.
I've lived in Taiwan for almost five years, people, including friends, still call me a foreigner. Granted my Chinese isn't perfect, but I will always be called a foreigner or worse.
Asians want rights and respect in the countries they emigrate to? Try giving a little at home.
Write an article about Asian racism. Write an article about what it means to forever be a foreigner without hope of even legal status.
Editor's Reply: The question of whether racism is widespread among the Chinese is a topic well worth examining from the perspectives of both traditional and modern society, and we plan to present a feature on this subject as soon as possible. We invite readers to write in with opinions, or to recount any relevant incidents which you or your friends may have experienced.
@List.jpg?w=522&h=410&mode=crop&format=webp&quality=80)