Chao Hai-ch'eng, editor-in-chief of the newspaper, says that the first issue was distributed on an entirely free basis, with all 50,000 copies that were printed up going in less than two weeks. The second issue had a circulation of 30,000 copies, of which half were sold and half distributed for free. The circulation figure at present is around 10,000 copies, with 3,000 to 4,000 paid subscribers and the rest sold over the counter. Each issue is priced at 150 yen.

The publication relies mainly on advertising for income. Labor and printing costs run 2 or 3 million yen an issue, but those can be met as long as the advertising space is filled at the bottom of each page. Chao frankly admits that the newspaper is still running in the red.

Its unbalanced account book doesn't reflect its influence in the Chinese community, however. It may not be a financial success, Chao says, but its influence is clear, and its reporters hardly ever run across people who haven't heard of it when they go to interview them. "At some Japanese language schools, they even tear it up into sections and pass it around for reading in turn," Chao says with some pride.

Just why was the newspaper founded?

The number of Chinese-speaking students is on the increase in Japan, and Ryugakusei Shimbun is designed for this growing readership. According to former deputy editor Yang Yuh-yang, the newspaper has two main purposes: service and communication. It carries all kinds of cultural, social, and entertainment news and information related to overseas students. In addition, the newspaper actively seeks out individuals and groups involved with overseas students in Japan so they can use the newspaper as a forum for exchanging ideas.

Ryugakusei Shimbun was founded by three Japanese with international vision. Asou Jun, a design expert, frequently travels abroad on business; Nakakei Ichiro worked as an editor of the English-language Tokyo magazine; and Koshibe Yoichiro (who has since withdrawn from the publication) is a Japanese born in Taiwan.

The Chinese-speaking students in Japan come chiefly from mainland China and Taiwan, and the real editing work is chiefly handled by Chao Hai-ch'eng, from Peking, and Lu Lan-chih, a graduate of National Chengchi University in Taiwan. As a result, the newspaper inevitably serves as something of a bridge of communication across the Taiwan Strait.

Not to mention anything else, Chao says, the feature "Reports from Home," which offers news from both Taiwan and the mainland, creates an opportunity for mutual understanding. In addition, regular interviews with figures from Taiwan and the mainland also enable people who have grown up under two different systems. Even more importantly, through the editors' networks of friends and acquaintances many students from Taiwan and the mainland have been able to communicate face to face in a natural situation working together at the same job.

Nonetheless, the two sides have been separated for some forty years, and even a student publication that declares itself "without political coloring" will run up against some tough political questions.

Identifying a student as coming from Hong Kong or a country in Southeast Asia is no problem, but Taiwan and the mainland present more trouble.

"We certainly couldn't say 'China and Taiwan' or 'China and the R.O.C.!'" says Yang Yuh-yang, who was brought up on Taiwan believing that the Republic of China is the only legitimate China.

After some discussion, they finally agreed on a compromise, calling the main land "mainland China" and leaving Taiwan as "Taiwan." "It's not just a petty question of names," Yang explains. "It's an affirmation of the place I grew up in."

They also ran into an argument on whether to print the newspaper in simplified or traditional characters. They finally decided on the latter, reasoning that most mainland students can read traditional characters but very few from Taiwan can read simplified characters.

After forty years there are differences in language and ways of thinking on either side of the Strait, and when those differences show up in articles they are sometimes highly amusing to the editors. Chao says that he has been "corrected" several times by readers complaining of mistakes in the newspaper's Chinese only to find they were actually referring to differences in usage.

Language differences are easy to clear up, but the gap in thinking requires more care and experience.

Chao says he has heard mainland students tell him more than once that students from Taiwan are too proud of their economy and all their talk about "helping" students from the mainland embarrasses them.

In fact, each side has cause for both pride and humility. Taiwan students have an inferiority complex about their international position, and mainland students are touchy about their poverty, backwardness, and lack of democracy.

But human nature is hard to fathom. "The more of an inferiority complex you have, the more defensive you are, and the more you worry what people say about you," Chao says, adding that he understands the psychology. So he always reminds students to be as cautious and circumspect as possible when touching on sensitive issues.

Asking a newspaper to handle an issue like "how to narrow the gap between the two sides" may well be demanding too much. But if the Ryugakusei Shimbun continues to stress its role in communication and exchange, that may be the direction in which it moves. A lot of people in Japan are eagerly waiting to find out.

[Picture Caption]

The Ryugakusei Shimbun, published in Tokyo, is a Chinese-language monthly newspaper aimed at Chinese students in Japan.

"How to expand circulation" is a challenge the newspaper is currently facing.

The deputy editor-in-chief, Lu Lan-chih (left), who is from Taiwan, says that working at the newspaper has been an instructive experience.

Chao Hai-ch'eng, who has been in the country for four years, looks Japanese at first glance.

Students from either side of the Taiwan Strait work together in the newspaper's office.

The number of mainland students in Japan has increased rapidly since 1986, causing problems for Japanese society. This picture was taken in Tokyo.

"How to expand circulation" is a challenge the newspaper is currently facing.

The deputy editor-in-chief, Lu Lan-chih （left）, who is from Taiwan, says that working at the newspaper has been an instructive experience.

Chao Hai-ch'eng, who has been in the country for four years, looks Japanese at first glance.

Students from either side of the Taiwan Strait work together in the newspaper's office.

The number of mainland students in Japan has increased rapidly since 1986, causing problems for Japanese society. This picture was taken in Tokyo.