Dear Editor:
I am a 16-year-old girl, and I have lived in the U.S. for most of my life. For the past three years, I have greatly enjoyed reading your magazine. I like the idea of being able to read and understand the same magazine as my parents. Because we visit Taiwan frequently and still have family there, I hold the country close to my heart.
The volume 17, no. 10, October 1992 issue was the most interesting issue I've read so far. My favorite article was the one on "Craze for Personal Real-Me Photo Albums," which discussed the fad among Taiwanese teenage girls of shooting and collecting "celebrity-like" photos of themselves. This was something I can relate to and find interesting, as well as amusing.
The other features in the issue were also as fun to read. An avid baseball fan, I was able to learn a bit more about Taiwan's renowned little league in the sports and leisure section. The cover story on "Taipei Transit" and the special feature of "In Search of Industrial Heirlooms" are just two of many other articles I found to be very informative.
I would like to thank you for your articles and all the pleasurable times I've had reading them!
Emily Hsu
The United States
Dear Editor:
I had the great pleasure and privilege to get hold of Sinorama and read a few of your excellent numbers, which enabled me to get a much closer look at Chinese culture, today's China, the changes that are taking place in society, the links with the outside world and a lot more.
I feel the need to praise your magazine. Everything is perfect. Nothing is left to chance, only --this is very important--the open interpretation by the reader.
I specially want to thank the English-language editors, the ones that make it possible for us, non-Chinese speaking foreigners, to have a clearer picture of China.
Your magazine, especially the bilingual edition, serves as a bridge between east and west, for there is only one human kind on planet earth, and we are the settlers that happen to have this star as a dwelling place.
As a beginning Chinese language student, I find it very, very hard to get tuition material, such as workbooks and dictionaries here. I already checked with the main bookstores downtown and called up some others. I also wrote to the Taiwanese cultural and commercial representative without any luck.
For me these no's were kind of a low blow. I can't understand the indolence of some Chinese regarding what they call wai-kuo jen. I am very sensitive and immediately smell this as "foreigner condescendence." For me this kind of behavior equals the behavior Westerners proffer to a great extent to Orientals. Are preconceits deeply enrooted everywhere?
That is why your magazine is so meritorious, for it overcomes the obstacles built up by ignorance founded on prejudices, overbridges the differences and portrays the new generation and a new China.
Harold Zander
Argentina
Dear Editor:
We are Chinese-Filipinos. We read in the October issue that certain organizations in Taiwan are recycling old clothes to help people in backward countries. We live in a remote, backward area of the Philippines, where the inhabitants are all poor. Our church goes up in the mountains each month to preach the gospel and bring them clothes and food. Could you please tell us how to apply for these clothes?
Wang Mei-chia
The Philippines
Editors' reply: We have forwarded your letter to the appropriate agencies concerned and hope they may be of help.