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Over the past three decades political relationships between mainland China and Taiwan have fluctuated precariously between warm peace and cold war. Instead of playing the role of the biblical peacemaker, Christian theologians on both sides have developed irreconcilable nationalist theologies in order to sanctify their respective nationalist programs: Chinese unification versus Taiwanese independence. For the purpose of constructing peace across the Taiwan Strait, a new political theology needs to be built on the centrality of religious freedom to be found in the Bible, democratic values, and the actual politics of both China and Taiwan. The second section of this article analyzes the biblical sources of a Chinese unification theology and a Taiwanese independence theology. The third and fourth sections introduce the historical development of nationalism and nationalist theology in both societies. The fifth section concludes by proposing a democratic union theology that builds on the centrality of religious freedom in the Bible, democratic values, and actual politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why did the East Asian economies make remarkable achievements before the 1990s, but suffer greatly since the foreign exchange crisis of 1997? Current theories of both liberal economics and the developmental state cannot provide a satisfactory answer, nor can they offer effective policy suggestions to solve the current crisis. This article suggests that a politico-institutional approach provides a better explanation to the above question and offers more effective prescriptions than current theories. The authors argue that politico-institutional relationships among the state, the ruling party, local factions, and conglomerates in these countries contributed significantly to the massive mobilization of resources but also generated long-term inefficiencies in resource utilization, which ultimately led to the economic breakdown during the foreign exchange crisis. Thus, solutions to the East Asian recession come not from cosmetic and inflationary Keynesian policies, which, in fact, might be counterproductive, but rather from the readjustment of the politico-institutional relationships among the four institutional actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neolitsea acuminatissima (Lauraceae) is an endemic plant in Taiwan. One new carboline alkaloid, demethoxydaibucarboline A (1), two new eudesmanolide-type sesquiterpenes, methyl-neolitacumone A (2), neolitacumone E (3), and twelve known compounds (4–15) were isolated from the root of Neolitsea acuminatissima. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic analysis. Glucuronidation represents a major metabolism process of detoxification for carcinogens in the liver. However, intestinal bacterial β-Glucuronidase (βG) has been considered pivotal to colorectal carcinogenesis. To develop specific bacterial-βG inhibitors with no effect on human βG, methanolic extract of roots of N. acuminatissima was selected to evaluate their anti-βG activity. Among the isolates, demethoxydaibucarboline A (1) and quercetin (8) showed a strong bacterial βG inhibitory effect with an inhibition ratio of about 80%. Methylneolitacumone A (2) and epicatechin (10) exhibited a moderate or weak inhibitory effect and the enzyme activity was less than 45% and 74%, respectively. These four compounds specifically inhibit bacterial βG but not human βG. Thus, they are expected to be used for the purpose of reducing chemotherapy-induced diarrhea (CID). The results suggest that the constituents of N. acuminatissima have the potential to be used as CID relief candidates. However, further investigation is required to determine their mechanisms of action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]