What Taiwanese want to call Taiwanese is up to Taiwanese people to decide. Up until now (2004/9/20) I have not seen any evidence in language use in Taiwanese society to call Mandarin as part of Taiwanese. The issue is not to be settled by a Chinese literature scholar. What does "Red chamber…", or similarly other "great" books such as "war and peace" or "Romeo and Juliet", have anything to do with Taiwanese literature? The "Red" book can only be used as a scale to measure Chinese literature in Taiwan. I would like to quote and to rewrite Tu's words as follows "I respect people who are trying to create a "Chinese" literature "in Taiwan", and if they can produce a book like Dream of the Red Chamber then many people will refer to it as the bible of "Chinese" literature. If such a great writer did > emerge in "Chinese", he or she could open up a new tradition within > Taiwanese literature. But this is easier said than done."… The statement that he made in Taipei Times on 2004/0/19 that "Taiwanese literature is literature that deals with Taiwan, with this island and its experience." is simply over-extending the definition of Taiwanese literature. Has anyone ever claimed that Pearl Buck's "the Good Earth" which was written in English and was considered one of the best novel to depict pre-WWII Chinese people and their plights a part of CHINESE literature? "What" and "what" literature is a self-constructed identity issue. It is just too difficult for a Chinese literature scholar to understand. Sichong