Premier Lee Huan assumed office on June 1 and in mid July he held his first press conference, facing the media and the public.
He then took part in the National Development Seminar, where he met and communicated with overseas scholars, listening to their views and suggestions.
Although Premier Lee was "not very satisfied" with his performance at his first press conference, his desire to communicate with the public and the importance he attaches to public opinion were confirmed. Everyone hopes that the premier can live up to the high expectations people have of him.
With this issue our series on "Sinology Around the World" enters a new stage. Besides those in France and Britain, another important European center of China studies is the Institute of Sinology at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands.
Leiden, located about 30 kilometers south of Amsterdam, has a population of more than 100,000. The university is one of the oldest in Europe, and its Sinology Institute was founded more than 60 years ago. There we interviewed noted sinologists Professor Erik Zucher and Professor Wilt Idema there. We also managed to interview Dr. W. R. van Gulik, eldest son of the legendary Dutch sinologist R. H. van Gulik and now the head of the Leiden Ethnology Museum, as well as Madam Shui Shih-fang, R. H. van Gulik's widow, who lives in retirement in the south of Spain. In addition, Dr. Leonard Blusse, a professor of history at Leiden University opened a window for us on the early relations between Taiwan and the Netherlands. Those reports will follow in a future issue.