Three months ago we began our annual reader survey, after two months' preparatory work in which we collected all the questions our staff members wanted to ask readers. These 100 or so topics were condensed by our planning team into what we hope was a manageable number of questions, so as to gain a better understanding of our readers' needs and thus be able to plan the direction our work should be taking.

Every magazine has its own aims and style, and thus its own particular readership. News weeklies generally closely follow news events and dig for inside information; but a monthly magazine will report more in depth and usually has a more cultural angle. Sinorama is a general-interest monthly which appears in four languages, and whose mission is to serve as a channel of communication between people inside and outside the ROC, and between Eastern and Western cultures. Hence its scope is even broader. The readers in our mind's eye are probably people who, like us, would like to look behind the news to know the background to events, and understand their influence.

Whenever a new phenomenon emerges in Taiwan, we want to know why. For instance, how did the concept of emotional intelligence (EQ) become such a hot topic in the space of just a year? Is it merely a fad whipped up to feed the commercial interests of publishing houses, or is it something which will have profound effects in the future? How has the surge of adult interest in EQ so quickly made itself felt in the world of children? And how can we keep this concept-along with the familiar concept of IQ, and the newly-emerging one of children's motor intelligence (MQ)-from being merely fashionable phrases which are mouthed parrot-fashion, and instead allow them to help us turn back from educational methods which have been twisted by an obsession with academic success, and give back to parents the opportunity to raise physically healthy and emotionally balanced children?

When some event keeps recurring, we want to find out what is behind it. For instance, over the last few years, air passengers from Taiwan have staged numerous strikes and sit-ins at airports. Is this due to unequal treatment, or low standards of service from our airlines? Or because since the lifting of martial law, the idea of "standing up for your rights" has become such a basic part of public psychology that people naturally resort to such "self-help" methods in all things? And when the Taipei stock market keeps going up and up after seven years in the doldrums, does it signal the return of the bull market, or just a short-lived bubble? Is today's stock market mature?

The broad scope of a general-interest magazine can reach back into the mists of time, or out across the wide oceans, but all our paths of thought begin in the here and now. Our thirst for knowledge is often aroused by events, people and phenomena close at hand, or even the beauty of the seasons. As spring passes into summer, the rhododendrons which have clothed grey Taipei in bright colors are also flowering throughout Taiwan's mountains, and all over the world. Perhaps some are blooming close to you. So wouldn't you like to know more about these flowers which have been admired since ancient times by the Chinese, and find out what they have to do with the cuckoo, a bird which in the West is associated more with madness?

A varied content and a diverse readership is in the nature of a general-interest magazine, but to present reports which the majority of readers will find interesting and valuable is a very challenging task. But it is this richness and the sense of closeness which springs from communication and shared ideals between writer and reader, which keep people in magazine publishing full of enthusiasm for their work even after many decades in the business.

Overall, the feeling we gleaned from readers' responses to our survey was one of having "friends everywhere." Many made very specific suggestions, and some of these are actually things we were already planning, such as starting new columns on topics like art, health and medicine, new developments in science and technology, and the lives of ordinary people, and improving our layout and presentation. Of course, sometimes our readers' opinions diverge, or are even directly at odds with each other, and some of their suggestions have been made in the past. For instance, for some readers our bilingual format seems extravagant; however, for reasons of cost we cannot print single-language editions at present. As to whether our Potpourri section should be translated, the articles reprinted there are mainly chosen for the beauty or individuality of the writing, and these are hard to reproduce in translation. However in the future we do plan to broaden the scope of this section by occasionally including some well-written articles about Taiwan from foreign-language publications.

Opinions also varied widely regarding our regular columns. The vast majority (around 95%) of readers were fairly satisfied, and felt the current columns were all of value; new ones could be added, but none should be discontinued. But about 10 readers said that the popular music section could be dropped; their main criticism was that as they had very little opportunity to hear these songs overseas, they did not find the reports relevant. Many readers put the Photo Essay and Eye on the News sections among their three favorite features, though some criticized them for taking up too much space or being too political. Nonetheless, the Photo Essay section, which a market research survey the year before last showed as readers' seventh favorite column, has now moved up to second place. Eye on the News, which takes third place, focuses on events which have attracted a great deal of public attention, and as such it is difficult to make it balanced in content. It mainly aims to give readers who lack the time to read long reports in detail the chance to stay in touch with the latest big events and public opinion trends in Taiwan.

Finally we would like to thank each and every reader who responded to our survey, for letting us know your hopes and expectations, and even more for the heartfelt friendship you showed by doing so. Perhaps we will never be able to fully meet your high standards, but you can rest assured that we are working in that direction, and we hope you will join us in this journey!