A 3rd Symposium on Mathematics was held last Monday and Tuesday (May 27 & 28), in which distinguished scholars from Beijing University, Professors Xie Zhong-jie, Geng Zhi, Fang Xiang-zhong and Liu Li-ping were honored guests of TKU. After the meeting, they were whisked away by their host, Mathematics Department, to pay a whirlwind visit to Academia Sinica, National Taiwan University and Tung Hwa University in Hualian.

Prof. Kao Chin-mei, Chair, Department of Mathematics, TKU, said, "It has been quite a while since there was an exchange experience between Bei Ta and TKU. And every two years we are seeing each other in an academic symposium. For instance, it's the second time that Prof. Geng Zhi came to visit us, and as for Prof. Xie, whose research on the probability rate of the Lotto tickets is a fact known to many people, yet he is even more amazing when we introduce him as a professor with so many titles."

Then Prof. Kao continued to say that when holding a conference together with Mainland China, the common language is Mandarin, and every detail is tackled from every angle, not like any other conferences when a paper would be read in outlines, not in detail.

The same thing happened this time, as predicted by Prof. Kao. There was a rapport between the audience and the speakers. It was a warm and friendly symposium.

Another conferee whose name is Prof. Ou Shih-tien, Department of Statistics. He said his most acute impression with the visiting scholars from China is that contrary to the fashion of Taiwan, many Ph.D.'s in Statistics in China would step out of the school and employed outside the academic circle by industries because being a professor is an arduous work whereas in Taiwan, Ph.D. holders would prefer to stay in school and be happy and contented in doing research work.