Dear Editor,

Greetings! I am a Chinese intellectual living in Australia. Under the influence of the literary world and with a background of a quiet personal life at university, the seeds of all kinds of culture were planted in the soil of my spirit from an early age.

In the midst of trying to row the boat of my own existence, by pure chance I read Sinorama. Immediately I felt as if I had met a group of friends who could talk to me about the subjects that concern me, opening a new, bright window in my life. I can feel in my heart that the entire staff of Sinorama are highly cultured and have outstanding vision. The editors of Sinorama's magazine and book series have made an immense contribution to Chinese culture. The world can only like it more and more and come to cherish its publication.

Besides expressing my respect for you, I wish in this letter to also order When West Meets East--International Sinology and Sinologists. In the past I read bits of articles on this subject, and the sinologist John King Fairbank. I think I would like this book very much. Western and Eastern culture are similarly rich and have a long history. Generally speaking, only to research each other is not enough. Of course, the reasons involved are very complicated. Speaking from my own limited knowledge of Western and Eastern culture, if there were one ideal state of affairs in this world, it would be a result of incorporating Western and Eastern cultural consciousness, extracting the essential kernels of each and doing away with the chaff. Perhaps that should be the objective of all mankind.

Reading Sinorama startled me. After the Chinese on either side of the Straits have been separated for more than 30 years, when they see each other again, their temperament, ways of thinking, ethics, and value systems are so similar. Economically, Taiwan took off 20 years earlier than the mainland. At present, mainland China seems to be mired in the various problems that Taiwan had when it first began its development. Is this an unavoidable path? Is this a genetic defect of humankind? Or is it due to Chinese character? I have no answer to these questions now.

Nowadays, although the mainland and Taiwan are advancing different paces, without doubt our entire Chinese people are confronted with new birth. No matter whether Taiwan becomes independent or reunifies with the mainland, I believe Chinese people are ultimately of the same stock, and they will necessarily go hand-in-hand to cooperate with the world and assimilate into it.

Liao Xiaohua, Australia

Dear Editor:

I am a student from Taiwan who has gone abroad to study, where I have taken great pleasure in reading Sinorama.

Take, for instance, the article on passports ("Mixed Emotions: Passport and National Identity") in the November 1993 overseas edition. It touched on much that should make ROC nationals feel proud about their passports, as well as some that may engender mixed emotions. On page 34, however, it reads, "Many people feel humiliated that Japan and European countries such as England and France do not stamp their visas in ROC passports, issuing them on separate sheets of paper." At the very least, the French do issue visas directly in ROC passport. Could Sinorama look into this matter and make an explanation so as not to be unfair to France?

Yuan Chu-min, the United States

Editor's Reply: In making interviews for this article, Sinorama interviewed many who had encountered such problems when applying for visas to these countries and indeed who had such visas in their passports. When we asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the explanation it gave was t hat in Taiwan, France directly issues visas to ROC passport holders on separate sheets stuck into passports. But in other countries, France puts the visas they issue to ROC citizens directly in passports. It may be that France only has paper of this kind in its Taiwan office.