Some pretty big changes took place in the world political situation last year, bringing home the old saying, "The only thing constant in the world is change."
The Tienanmen massacre of June 4 last year produced worldwide condemnation of the despotic Chinese Communist regime. Many pro-democracy activists fled overseas to safety and set up organizations in various locales to continue to strive for democracy and freedom. At the end of last year and the beginning of this, a number of prominent figures from the pro-democracy movement were invited to Taiwan to attend a conference. What sort of sparks were produced by the contact among intellectuals on either side of the Taiwan Strait? This issue has a detailed report.
In another regard, there is a group of Torghut Monolians, who have been called history's most pitiful refugees, that left their ancestral home land in search of freendon and entered on a life of hardship and exile until they were finally received in the United States under the status of stateless persons with the assistance of the United Nations. We sent a special team overseas to interview this group of firm anti-Communists in their present home in the U.S., where they told us about their history of blood and tears.
Our series on Sinologists Around the World this ussue reports on Professor Harro von Senger, a Swiss sinologist and author of the book Strategeme. If you're interested in China's "Thirty-Six Stratagems," or curious about finding out, then you'll want to read about this foreigner who has become an expert in China's traditional "bag of tricks."
In addition, in our special feature "A Memorable Coffeehouse" we captured some final pictures of the Astoria Coffeehouse in Taipei before it was torn down and asked the author Pai Hsien-yung together with the noted literary couple Lomen and Yungtze to share their recollections with us about this noted literary coffeehouse now that it is gone.