During the last quarter of the twentieth century, higher education in Taiwan expanded phenomenally, and equality among men and women advanced significantly. Meanwhile, women’s average earnings and labor force participation improved, substantially reducing the gender differences. As a result, the conventional pattern of assortive mating for women, i.e., homogamy and hypergamy, changed. Based on the results of the Surveys of Manpower in 1990 and 2000, we study the changes in nuptiality for men and women. A gender differentiation seems to have resulted in response to the elevation of women's socio-economic status. The proportion never married appears to increase among the less-educated men while it tends to increase among the bettereducated women. To document the changes in assortive mating, we examine the results of the Surveys of Marriage, Fertility and Employment of Women in 1990, 1993 and 2000. Profiles of education-earnings-age assortive mating of three marriage cohorts, those married in 1970-1979, 1980-1989, and 1990-2000 respectively, are generated and compared. The results indicate a significantdecrease in the proportion of educational hypergamy, with some increase in the proportion of educational homogamy and a large increase in the proportion of downward marriage pertaining to women. A glass ceiling on downward marriage appears to exist and results in an increased proportion of never married for women with a post-graduate education, however. Considering the education, earnings, and age aspects of assortive mating together, changes in assortive mating become negligible. It seems that downward marriage in one aspect tends to be compensated by hypergamy in another aspect. Among the three aspects of assortive mating, it appears the earnings hypergamy tends to be the most persistent, and the educational hypergamy the least binding.

Except in the U.S., the total fertility rates of developed countries have been smaller than the replacement level of 2.1. Without exception, the total fertility rates in Taiwan dropped to a historic low (1.2) in 2004 and are expected to be even smaller in 2006. In this study, we used the fertility data of four developed countries, Taiwan, Japan, the Netherlands and the USA (representing countries in Asia, Europe, and America), to fit the frequently used models (Gamma, Lee-Carter, Principal Component Analysis, Age- Group Fertility Rate, and Diffusion models) and determine which model has the best fit. We found that, for the total fertility rates, the best model in Taiwan, Japan, and the USA is our modified diffusion model, while in the Netherlands it is the age-group fertility rate model. For the age-specific fertility rates, the best model in Taiwan, Japan, and the Netherlands is the modified diffusion model, while in the USA it is the age-group fertility rate model.
In addition, we use computer simulation to check the relativestability and relative efficiency of these fertility models. The age-group fertility rate model and the modified diffusion model also outperform other models. In conclusion, we recommend the readers use these two models.

The China-born cohort among New Zealand's ethnic Chinese constitutes 35% of the total of over 100,000 ethnic Chinese in the most recent census of 2001. It is the single largest group, out-stripping the local born and totally overshadowing the immigrant Chinese groups born in other diasporic centers.
In recent years, immigrants from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have shown a strong tendency of return migration and transnationalism. This paper will explore the circulatory movements of this group, highlighting various social indicators as a pointer to their relative attachment to their sending country and host country respectively.
The paper uses the China-born specific data1 of the latest New Zealand census as background. Primary research data is derived from a two-part field study, first in New Zealand (the settlement country) and then in China (the country of origin). One hundred respondents, drawn from the snowballing sampling method, were interviewed in Auckland. It was found that while the immigrants maintained close links with China, few of them remitted money back. While community links are reasonably strong, few relied on fellow Chinese for their first job.
Two rounds of in-depth qualitative interviews were carried out in China on ten respondents who returned from New Zealand. Questions were asked to ascertain their motivation for returning, their experience of re-entry, and what their future intentions might be. This article will look particularly at the returnees’ sense of identity and affinity with both their countries of origin and adoption, and to find out about their self-perceived roles in an increasingly globalized world.

Ever since Diana Pearce proposed the concept of “Feminization of Poverty” approximately 30 years ago, academia has accumulated voluminous related discussions. However, because the concept was created to describe the phenomenon of an exceptionally high proportion of females in poverty, it did not provide a clear and verifiable definition. As a result, a wide range of measurement methods and discussions on positivistic research of the concept have thus proliferated. After decades of positivistic research on “Feminization of Poverty,” only one of its definitions, “the percentage of female householders in poverty has increased,” received empirical support. This paper, based on the data from the Household Income and Expenditure surveys by DGBAS of the Executive Yuan, tries to analyze whether the phenomena involved in “Feminization of Poverty” occurred in Taiwan between 1990 and 2003. After verifying all the definitions involved in “Feminization of Poverty,” this study has found only one phenomenon to be obvious: the percentage of female householders in poverty has increased. This finding is the same as the current research result in America.

The purpose of this study is to explore the successful aging perspective of elder learners. The sample of the study consisted of 451 older adult learners. The instrument is a “successful aging questionnaire”. Statistical analysis yielded the following results. First, successful aging, is composed of six dimensions: elder learners regard the health dimension as the most important, and the family dimension the second. Second, the importance of the successful aging dimension is affected by age, education, health, economic status and residence of elder learners. Third, among the determinants of successful aging, the health dimension is foremost; the next is economic.
Based on the results, this research proposes the following suggestions: one should first recognize the importance of health and economics and engage in advanced planning; second, possess a positive attitude toward the aging process; third, participate positively in social and learning activities; fourth, promote a value of respecting older adults and family ethics.