In this publication, we offer 1) “The Perils of Ignoring China --- Teddy Roosevelt's Lessons for Obama” by James Bradley; and 2) “The American adoption family I know of” by Meixin Dai.

Happy New Year!

Comments from Rdgs, Leo

Good Afternoon Sir,

I am very interested in your article about the Liu Qiu Islands (Ryukyu Island), as being an overseas Chinese, my family has been searching for my Grand father's birth place for a while now, as from the information that was left behind, we know the following: a) His birth place of Lew Chew (but which Lew Chew?- Liu Qiu (Ryukyu Islands or Leizhou China) we are unsure; b) His entire clan were massacred in a war where he was the only survivor who later managed to escaped to Indonesia; c) He left during the 1990 period; d) He did not make any trip back to his homeland ever since his escape as he claim that there is nothing there for him; e) And no one could understand him when he spoke in tongue (dialect) so he opted for Mandarin even when communicating with his family (lost our mother tongue). My questions are: 1) why was the Ryukyus Island called Liu Qiu? 2) Is it because of the Liu Qiu people living there and where did they come from? 3) And what had happen to them since the Japanese took over the Islands?

Response from author Tieh-lin Yin of the article “Liu Qiu Islands (Ryukyu Islands) Is No Japanese Territory--It Should Resume Independence as a Buffer Zone” (“中國所犯的戰略錯誤在琉球群島” 作者 印鐵林)

Dear Mr. /Ms. Leo,

I am glad to receive your comments and can feel your enthusiasm and emotion for understanding more about Liu Qiu where your family originally came from. I try to answer your three questions with the information known from reliable sources such as encyclopedia or history books I read before.

1) Liu Qiu is a traditional and formal Chinese name for Ryukyu in history. This was how “Ryukyu” originated as used by Westerners; that explains why Ryukyu sounds so much like Liu Qiu.

2) Most of the Liu Qiu people came from the Fu-jian Province of China, which is directly across the strait from Taiwan. It was said in history that there were 36 big family names derived from the immigrants who sailed to Liu Qiu.

3) Japan tried to occupy Liu Qiu and Taiwan at almost the same time; the Japanese claimed that some Liu Qiu people killed some Japanese. Therefore China sent troops to Taiwan and defeated the Japanese troops there. But the Chinese troops were not able to protect Liu Qiu which was traditionally a tributary kingdom of China. So Liu Qiu was taken by Japan in 1879 without any treaty. After occupying Liu Qiu, Japan massacred almost all the resistant people as they were basically pro-China (according to Wikipedia). Japan has never treated the people in Liu Qiu truly equally and there are independence movements for Liu Qiu.

I hope I have answered your questions with some basic information. You may wish to do more research yourself. And I will appreciate your feedback.

Sincerely, and wishing you a wonderful New Year.