Man bites dog is news. Dog bites man isn't.
For a long time now, most of us have fallen into the mind set of paying attention only to the biggest, the unique or the most distinctive.
Under this "principle," Taiwan ecologists have done much to restore endangered native species. A big Formosan Black Bear that was kept as a pet for two years was returned to the wild on 3,000-meter-high Yushan recently. Formosan Sika, which have vanished from the wild, are being propagated and restored at Kenting. And artificially propagated Taiwan Trout have been released in Tachia Stream in Lishan . . . At the same time, though, the butterflies, fireflies, tadpoles, dragonflies, eagles and other creatures that accompanied the postwar generation in growing up have been quietly disappearing from our surroundings and are "rare and endangered species" in the eyes of the younger generation.
Breaking the Myth of the "Biggest": The restoration of endangered species brooks no delay, yet the "childhood companions" that are becoming scarcer and scarcer around us shouldn't be allowed to vanish either. "After all, for urbanites who live in the concrete jungle, a Muntjac on top of Yushan is not nearly as meaningful as a bulbul you can see everyday," points out Lin Yao-sung, director of the Department of Zoology at National Taiwan University, hitting the nail right on the head.
To find out how many types of wild animals have left our midst, what the situation is like with them today and how we can bring them back to our side so that the elementary science textbooks of one generation don't become the fairy tales of the next, we asked associate copy editor Chang Chin-ju, who has covered environmental stories for six years, to produce this issue's cover story, "Faded Childhood Memories of Wildlife," which also includes articles on how exotic species are driving out Taiwan's native species and how the White-Headed Weng and the Wu-t'ou Weng have been interbreeding and fighting over territory.
Another article that breaks through the myths of only considering the "biggest" and "number one" is the special feature, "Opening Doors to International Organizations."
When international organizations are mentioned, the first one everyone thinks of is the United Nations. Ever since the R.O.C. withdrew from the U.N. in 1971, returning to this, the most important of all international organizations, has remained the common ambition of the government and public alike. The widely watched television debate between Chang Hsiao- yen and Frank Hsieh and the march by the Alliance for the Promotion of U.N. Membership for Taiwan in front of the U.N. building in September were both concerned with the U.N., and Premier Hao Pei-tsun has clearly stated that returning to the U.N. is the ultimate goal of our efforts to join international organizations.
Don't Let the Orchids Wither: Given the current world situation, we don't have a lot of support from other countries in returning to the U.N. right now, as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs found out by inquiring through its agencies overseas. On the other hand, regional and economic international organizations have been growing more and more important since the end of the Cold War. "We have to fight as few battles that we're not sure of winning as possible to avoid wasting limited resources on meaningless frays," says Minister of Foreign Affairs Fredrick Chien, who states that our current foreign policy is oriented mainly toward regional, economic and functional areas. Our recent breakthroughs in joining the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation conference and applying for membership in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade are important gains in this new direction.
A line by the poet Hsu Chih-mo goes: "I watered the roses each day but the orchids withered." If we cast off the mindset of "the biggest" and the "one and only," perhaps that can be avoided.
[Picture Caption]
In the headquarters of the Taiwan Cement Corp., "ambassador of trade" Koo Chen-fu talks with staff writer Wei Hung-chin and copy editor Elaine Chen about his experiences with international organizations.