Letter from Ronald Tavel to Sterling Houston, prominent San Antonio playwright. Tavel writes from National Taiwan University in Taipei, where, thanks to a Fulbright scholarship, he has landed a teaching position. He thanks Houston for a copy of one his plays, The Marquise. He goes on to talk about his upcoming job in Taipei and gives Houston the address of his brother, Harvey Tavel, where royalty checks for production of a play can be sent. He encloses a xeroxed newspaper clipping of one his stage plays, Notorious Harik Will Kill the Pope.

The purpose of this study was to analyze and compare the values, beliefs, and ideas in school reading textbooks (Readers) in Taiwan and in Texas. It intended to examine the social control function of school Readers, with which a culture deliberately molds its young generation. This study employed primarily qualitative methods. The collection of data used the technique of content analysis, student surveys, and teacher expert panel discussions. The analysis of data followed a constant comparative approach. The themes shared by the two sets of Readers included family, friends, humans and living creatures, political ideals, reading/writing, appreciation of nature, science, indomitable spirit, turning danger into safety, setting goals, education, desirable and undesirable qualities or behaviors. Despite the similarities of these themes, the substance or focus of them may vary. The themes unique to the Texas Readers were content knowledge, cultural diversity, dilemma and choice, observations about people, words, tomorrow's technology, winning, and general truth. The themes unique to the Taiwan Readers included life philosophy, learning, necessary difficulties, sensitivity, and military strategies. The theme occurring most frequently in both sets of Readers was the desirable qualities or behaviors. The values advocated in the Taiwan Readers were idealistic and had a society-centered …

This study reviews the changes in Taiwan's newspaper industry during its current period of transition. Contemporary newspaper development in Taiwan after the lifting of martial law in July 1987 is evaluated in relation to transformations in the newspaper marketplace, journalistic practices, labor relations, and freedom of expression. This study concludes that changes in Taiwan's newspaper business are closely related to changes in the country's political atmosphere. The lifting of the Ban of Newspaper brought freedoms for which journalists had fought for decades; however, journalistic quality has not improved at the same speed. Changes will continue in the journalism industry; whether it grows in a healthy way is a topic for future study.

The phenomenon of seasonality of birth in schizophrenia is important in the study of the etiology of this mental disorder because it helps to give directions for further research. Patients' hospital files from 1981 to 1991 of two of the largest hospitals with psychiatric wards in Taiwan were reviewed, and dates of birth collected on 3346 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. After adjusting for the variations of the total monthly births in the population, an Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model was applied. Results support a seasonality phenomenon and indicate a disproportional excess of births in schizophrenia in the cold months (Nov. to Feb.) compared to the hot months (May to Aug.). These findings are compatible with many other studies in other countries and climates. Further investigations of season-related environmental factors in the etiology of schizophrenia are recommended.