After reading the letter of Mr. Andrew Chia (Australia) in the March 1995 issue of Sinorama, I re-read carefully all the writings related to the "new new youth" in Taipei in the November 1994 issue. Still, I could not understand why Mr. Chia was so "offended" and upset. First of all, the article was not a research paper which would require covering some "well-known" theoretical ground and making hypothetical statements. Secondly, the editor clearly stated in the November issue (p.2) that the magazine's "purpose in talking about this (new new youth) topic is neither to criticize nor to censure, but rather to present the youth of today as they really are. . ." Perhaps Mr. Chia misunderstood that what the editor meant was the "new new youth" ONLY IN TAIPEI, but not second-generation Taiwanese in "Paris, New York" or in some other country such as Australia. Furthermore, someone might be a well-known psychologist in Europe, but his/her theories may or may not be applicable to the people and environment in an Asian country.
We can not agree with Mr. Chia's statement that the many "strange" kinds of behavior and attitudes described in the article in the November issue of Sinorama "are considered to be a normal part of adolescence in Westernized nations."
I am a social scientist with a PhD from an American university. Speaking from my studies and research as well as from my (and my husband's) experience of living in this country, we have never heard this kind of "positive" statement about such abnormal behavior. If those strange forms of behavior are to be regarded as normal, those "Westernized nations" themselves must be abnormal. What was described in the article in November's Sinorama was exactly what the youth went through in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s: motorcycle gangs, males wearing long hair and earrings, etc. What the "new new youth" in Taipei or in Shanghai have not yet experienced (and hopefully never will) is group sex, drug addiction, or alcoholism. Some adolescents mess up their lives due to the influence of various internal and external factors, so that they may have to spend their adulthood in jail, if they insist on their abnormal attitudes.
The self-told stories of Chang Chih-chien and Che-ho carried in the same November issue of Sinorama, however, enlightened readers. These young men, after going through the phase of "bucking against paternal authority," still "consider parents and family the most important things" in their lives. It seems that, although Taiwan and other countries are indeed Westernized, the "new new youth" have kept something valuable--whether inherited from their parents and families or influenced by their general education--that is unmatched by the youth of the Western world.
Sincerely yours, Dr. Len Jie, USA
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