TAIWAN: Island China

Cooke went looking for China and found it on the island of Taiwan where guides from the Government Information Office showed him a veritable utopia-workers happily toiling from dawn to dusk to increase their standard of living; an education system untroubled by student demonstrations; the best of Chinese culture being preserved; and lavish restaurant banquets of sophisticated Chinese cuisine. Cooke realizes that not all of Taiwan's people eat as well as he did, but according to one of his local informants, ""it really doesn't matter, though, because most of our people prefer rice to other types of food."" Meanwhile on the mainland a large majority of the people are longing for the return of Chiang's men. . . . Does reconquest seem unlikely? Well, nothing's impossible for such a miracle--working people. Cooke saw exactly what his guides wanted him to see and not a bit more, and he repeats it here with an enthusiasm that can be most charitably regarded as naive.