I am a scholar who specializes in the mythological aspects of Chinese written history and I have argued that the historical records of the Xia Dynasty (
Two points are at issue. One is the supposed attempt of the Xia Shang Zhou
The other is the date of the Zhou
The debate will go on. And why not? Is it somehow inherently suspect for the Chinese to research their own past?
Sarah Allan
Professor of Asian Studies
Dartmouth College
New Hampshire
Well done, A-Bian
It is really nice to see that A-Bian
Also, Chen and Vice-President Annette Lu's (
They should do this by setting up a world class university (equivalent to Yale, Harvard or Oxford) with the best researchers and professors from all over the world, providing both undergraduate and post-graduate courses in the following areas: green technologies (of all kinds, agriculture, transport, etc) and environmentally-friendly sources of energy; actuarial studies with a specialization in ethical investments and fund management; world development -- with a strong stress on social, political, environmental, economic and human rights situations and changes.
The lessons should be held in English and the venue should be somewhere like Pingtung or Hualien, where land is cheaper, and where there is a more urgent need to create jobs.
I understand that, given the current political climate, this idea is not feasible, but I hope that something similar will be adopted by the DPP administration once the Legislative Yuan has been disinfected of all those KMT parasites in the next legislative election."
George Dukess
Guildford, Surrey, UK
Not about economic growth
William Hoyle's letter critical of Chen's nuclear policies ("Nuclear pros and cons, Nov. 15, page 8) makes an error common among observers of this controversy. It is not and never was about economic growth. Critics of the plant have demonstrated over and over again that Taiwan does not need such a dangerous white elephant. Merely upgrading Taiwan's existing conventional single-cycle generators would provide the greater power output with much less risk. Alternatives have not been well-explored, despite Taiwan's potential for the Ocean Thermal Energy Converter (OTEC), geothermal, wind and other systems. Every day over 100 public and private incinerators on the island pollute the air, most without generating a single watt of power to compensate. All that trash is just so much wasted energy.
No, the nuclear plant is a symbol in a political struggle over what kind of place Taiwan will be. The KMT is angry because of the disappearance, as a result of Chen's decision, of fat contracts for KMT-owned and KMT-connected companies. Perhaps Hoyle is right and Chen's timing was wrong. But his economic instincts, and his heart, are in the right place.
Michael A. Turton
Leander, Texas
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