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Letters:

Don't laud China

Sushil Seth's analysis was insightful ("Is Chinese optimism misplaced" Aug. 11, page 8). It's true, the political system of China and the old Soviet Union, are in different stages and forms of terminal decline.

Because they are closed systems, they lack workable communication and consultation between the government and the masses.

Like its twin brother in Taiwan the old KMT, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has never known the difference between party and country.

For example, in the infamous Article 23 of Hong Kong, if one criticizes the communist party, one would be persecuted for acting subversively against the country. Just because the party led and won the revolution, it thinks it owns the country.

In order to love the country one has to love the party blindly.

The old KMT persecuted, and the current CCP persecutes, those who criticize the party as traitors.

To know the difference between the party and the country is obviously a task the CCP does not intend to achieve.

For the rest of the world, to be treated as traitors for criticizing a political party is absurd.

For "political analysts" the world over, ignoring this fact in their optimism about China is not only irresponsibly misplaced, but also an absurdity in its own right.

Chen Ming-chung

Chicago
Reading aids discovery

Those concerned with students' performance on the Joint College Entrance Examination Center English test ("Not making the grade in English," July 29, page 8) might be interested in my research results.

I found only one significant predictor of performance on writing performance in English for college students in Taiwan: The amount of recreational reading done in English outside of school.

Instructional factors did not predict writing performance. This result agrees with a great deal of previously published research on writing and is described in detail in my book What Makes it Difficult to Write.

One important point: My results do not mean that English class is a waste of time.

Classes are a wonderful place to introduce students to good reading in English, and to help them establish a reading habit.

Classes can also help students develop good writing strategies, like planning and revision.

Use of these strategies does not result in better writing styles and more correct grammar, but it helps writers solve problems and discover new ideas.

Lee Sy-ying
Department of Foreign Languages and Applied Linguistics, National Taipei University
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