Say cheese!

This photograph was taken on a small island in the Pacific Ocean thousands of miles from Taiwan, in the Kingdom of Tonga. Where's that?

On a world map Tonga shows up as just nine tiny dots, if it shows up at all. Located to the northeast of New Zealand and slightly to the west of the international date line, the islands, divided into three large groups, add up to 748 square kilometers of area in all, less than one fifth of Taiwan's.

Tonga is not only small; it's also far away. Flying from Taipei to Tongatapu the nation's largest island, takes about sixteen or seventeen hours, and there may be just one flight a week.

This remote spot is home to an R.O.C. embassy.

The Kingdom of Tonga and the Republic of China established diplomatic relations in 1972, whereupon the number of Chinese there began to increase. Over forty Chinese live in Tonga at present, and all but one or two of them, who are from Hong Kong, come from Taiwan.

That's no coincidence. Ever since it became independent on June 4, 1970, the Kingdom of Tonga has been a constitutional monarchy and staunchly anticommunist, strictly limiting the entry or immigration of people from Communist countries.

On a bright, sunny day, a visiting Sinorama reporter asked all the Chinese in Tonga to gather together for a "family portrait." In the center are the R.O.C.'s diplomatic officers. Our ambassador, Mr. Clement A.K. Tsien, and his wife look natural and friendly--he screens the sun with his hand and she with a fan.

The sun really is hot, but it hasn't scorched the spirits of the Chinese people here. Some have come to run restaurants, and some to do business, and some with no other purpose than to find a "broader horizon." but they each have an adventurous spirit in their eyes.

And they each have stories to tell. Hsu Chang-lung (sitting on the right of the ambassador's wife) moved here from Taiwan half a year ago with his entire family, all ten of them, and Tonga's Chinese population suddenly jumped by one half. Their reason for coming? "To see the ocean!" quips the family's elder son (last row, second from right), but it's partly the truth--the Hsu boys are both excellent divers. The boys may be in their element, but that hasn't stopped the Hsu family from pursuing its real business in Tonga: opening a mini supermarket with a special department for imported clothes.

In the middle, second from the right, is Janice Fletcher, who's holding a fan. She worked as a stewardess before marrying an American and settling down with him here. He's a representative for Budweiser beer, and he runs a bar and snack shop in Tonga's only airport.

The woman standing beside Mrs. Fletcher and blocked partly by the fan is Wang Ch'ing-jui, part owner of the Tong Hua Chinese Restaurant, Tonga's largest. Her husband, Ku Chen-k'ang, is standing in the first row, left corner. Mr. Ku has been on Tonga for eleven years, but it wasn't until eight years ago that he asked Mrs. Ku to come. Just after she arrived, they used to sit together and weep after dark, thinking about Taiwan, Mrs. Ku says. But now they've adapted. Not only have they "started to think of Tonga as home," but they've also become the parents of a pair little girls, who speak Tongan and run about barefoot like their little Tongan friends.

Richard Chen, fourth from the left in the back row, has an even more exotic story. After graduating in mass media from Fu Jen Catholic University, he decided to come to Tonga to raise pigs. He failed in that venture, but he did succeed in marrying a beautiful Tongan and in becoming the father of a Chinese-Tongan child. His son went back to Taiwan last year and met the family there he'd heard so much about. He also learned to speak Mandarin "better than some people born on Taiwan."

Also in the picture are two chefs: Kuo Jui-chang of the HUA-HUA Restaurant (third from right, back row) and Ts'ai Ming-sen of the WAY IN Restaurant (second from left, second row). Once every week they rotate with Mr. Kuo of the Tong Hua Restaurant in cooking for the king of Tonga--certainly a most direct form of person-to-person diplomacy!

There are also two Chinese visitors in the picture: Liu Han-ch'iang and Liu I-ch'iang (fourth from right and first on right in the last row). The owners of a small Taiwan company, they came to Tonga just a few days before the picture was taken to explore the country's investment environment. When they heard about the get-together with the ambassador, they were eager to join in.

"It's a nice feeling being able to see the R.O.C. flag here!" Liu Han-ch'iang exclaims with some fervor.

He's right! The sun may be bright and the place remote, but to stand under the flag and have your picture taken--in faraway Tonga--really is something.

[Picture Caption]

(photo by Vincent Chang/time: 3 p.m. February 26, 1988/place: grounds of the R.O.C. embassy in Tonga)