Heart transplants these days are no longer considered extremely difficult operations. But for Chinese people, who believe that the heart is more than just another bodily organ, the psychological and ethical problems involved are greater than for other people. This August news of the release of heart transplant patient Yi Pien from Tri-Service General Hospital and the introduction of the Phoenix artificial heart rocked the domestic medical world. This issue's cover story reports on heart transplants, the artificial heart, and organ donations on Taiwan.
After their announcement in April that Hainan Island would be promoted to provincial status, the Chinese Communists declared that in twenty years its living standards would catch up to those of Taiwan during the 1970s. Will Hainan become a second Taiwan? Besides analyzing the feasibility of transplanting Taiwan's experience to Hainan in view of its environment, background, and economic situation, this month's special feature also carries a report by a young photographer who took the opportunity to travel to the island while visiting his relatives on the mainland.
In the middle of August Premier Yu Kuo-hwa led an official delegation to Paraguay but broke off the visit to rush back to Taiwan in view of serious flooding in the south of the island. In addition "On the Subject of Sex" discusses sex education for young people, and the photo essay "Wang Yeh Hui" reports on a colorful and fascinating Chinese ceremony.