Aquarius and China

Sir: President Nixon is to be sincerely congratulated on a brilliant stroke of diplomacy in arranging a trip to Communist China [July 26]. After so many years of pre tending that 800 million Chinese do not exist, play no role in world politics and are our bitter enemies, it is very heartening finally to see a courageous and imaginative President take a step toward a more realistic China policy. Perhaps the Age of Aquarius is still alive.

GARY JANKOWSKI

Toledo

Sir: Hurrah for President Nixon! His recent announcement of plans to visit Red China in the interest of peace in South-east Asia has relegated Mr. Ellsberg and the expose of the Pentagon papers to ancient Chinese history.

CHARLES R. VISLOCKY New York City

Sir: If the U.S. is so friendly with Red China, will someone please tell me what Viet Nam is all about?

PHILIPPA MAISTER Cape Town, South Africa

Sir: Congratulations are in order for Mr. Nixon on his latest diplomatic coup--getting himself an invitation to Peking. I hope Mr. Nixon's "Journey for Peace" will also take him to Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia, for that is where the fighting is--not China.

We hope that Mr. Nixon while in Peking will ask for some hints on full employment from Chairman Mao. If the President does not feel that he can be re-elected here in the States, then maybe the Chinese can put him back into the White House.

J. HARRIS WANT Pittsburgh

Sir: Apparently Kissinger missed a spectacular side trip on his recent global circuit --one to Albania.

The day after Nixon's startling announcement, the sweet-voiced lady who nightly gives the Thraco-Illyrian version of the news in the English language on Radio Tirana lauded efforts for the "restoration" of China in the United Nations but ignored completely any announcement of the coming Nixon visit.

She did go on to give some results of the current Albanian Five-Year Plan. Things are going very well, she said.

ARTHUR HOPKINS HUDSON Tel Aviv, Israel

No Cultural Genocide

Sir: TIME has given its readers a ste reotyped look at "knapsack nomads" [July 19]. Some of us choose one country in which to spend our vacation with the hope of learning some of the language and meeting some of the local people. We did not come to Europe to meet Amer icans or to commit cultural genocide, as so many American military personnel and tourists do. JOHN B. WILLIAMS III Copenhagen

Sir: We are indeed disgusted at the greedy, irresponsible airlines that lure American young people abroad with no thought of where they will go or where they will stay when they arrive. Unless these kids can contribute to foreign economies instead of creating vagrancy problems, they should stay home. You won't find any blue-jeaned Dutch youngsters bedding down in Central Park. Hang the new "bargains in the sky."

MR. AND MRS. J.G. TUTHILL Denver

Sir: Let's keep the sleeping-bag and knapsack-carrying youths coming. What better way to dispel the odious myth of "the rich American"?

KAREN E. GRAFF Rome

Sir: The Government is worried about the outflow of gold, unbalanced imports and exports, and curtailment of spending overseas. But we have airlines reducing rates to encourage Americans to go over seas, adding to the above Government headaches. This same Government is subsidizing these same airlines. RALPH F. RASPA Fairmont, W. Va.

Comedian and Champ

Sir: If the U.S. sporting public should have one thing emphasized about Lee Trevino [July 19] before they accept him as their new idol, it is his devotion, his love for the game.

Some Chicanos here look upon Lee as a buffoon, not representing the Mexican American as he should be represented. Who says that the roles of comedian and champion are incompatible? Isn't it time for a little fresh air to be breathed into the game? How many golfers have you seen who seemed to enjoy playing the game? I am sure that the majority re alize that Lee's antics are not typically Chicano, typically Anglo or typically Polish. They are typically Lee.

RAYMOND A. DISE El Paso

Sir: I am appalled by your style of covering Trevino's victory. It is unfortunate that more emphasis is placed on an ethnic stereotype and his personal characteristics than on his sportsmanship.

D.M. AZIMI Riverdale, N.Y.

Sir: The Chicano community thanks you with a strepitous bravo! for finally referring to Lee Trevino as a Chicano. Maybe if the press insists on his true identity, he will eventually realize that he is Super Chicano and not Super Mexican.

JUAN RODRIGUEZ Adviser: Chicano-Indian American Union The University of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa

Art Kitty

Sir: Bravo for your Essay "Who Needs Masterpieces at Those Prices?" [July 19]. As long as there are rich idiots to pay such prices, high prices will prevail. You said it! Tax 'em and tax 'em plenty. The idea of a central "kitty" for restoration of deteriorating past relics is a noble one. We should leave something for posterity after wreaking havoc on almost everything.

(MRS.) MARY M. TELICZAN Mascoutah, Ill.

Sir: Robert Hughes claims that an ad dition such as the new Velasquez could only infuriate a ghetto viewer who recalls its price. Isn't it more likely that Mr. Hughes' "intelligent 18-year-old from Span ish Harlem" would receive a thrilling experience from a portrait that is self-evidently one of the monuments of human feeling in art?

Musing on the price, isn't one intelligent viewer more likely to respect the pri ority of spending that provoked wealthy private citizens to prefer buying this paint ing instead of other conspicuous items that $5,000,000 might buy (a private jet, a horse, a basketball team, a senatorial campaign)?

The miracle of this last year is that two such moving survivals of civilization as the Titian and the Velasquez became available, without war and plunder, and were given to the public.

EUGENE V. THAW New York City

Sir: The Medici and papal princes of the Italian Renaissance were interested in stimulating a new spirit of creative artistic activity; it would appear, however, that the Metropolitan, the National Gallery and particularly Henri Sabet are striving to develop a neo-stratospheric consciousness in the art world of price for price's sake.

DONALD M. MCINTYRE Santa Barbara, Calif.

Congenital Handicap

Sir: Poor Sharon Poole [June 19]! In try ing to play baseball she has had a tough les son on the subject of what it means to be a woman in today's society. It means that no matter how much ability you have, how much hard work you devote, how well you perform, you are still not al lowed to do certain things that are considered male prerogatives, simply because you were born with the wrong set of sexual organs.

DOROTHY SOROUSH Cleveland

Sir: One would think that a town such as Haverhill, Mass., wherein looms the larger-than-life statue of one Hannah Dustin, colonial heroine, might be more conscious of the contributions to be made by a female batting cleanup. The town forefathers were justifiably grateful that Hannah was such an effective "swinger"!

WILLIAM S. FISKE Auburn, Ala.

>Captured in a 1697 Indian raid on Haverhill, Hannah Dustin, with a ten-year-old boy, killed and scalped ten of their captors and returned to Haverhill.

Sir: Organized, Competitive Parents-2. Happy, Fun-Loving Kids-0.

ROBERT J. NEWTON Alpine, Calif.

Shopping List

Sir: After reading your article on "The Superfluous Boycott" [July 19], I was sick at heart because just two days prior to being enlightened by your magazine as to Japan's attitude toward Israel, I had purchased a Toyota--a product the Japanese will not export to Israel. To the Jews of America who care, I say: "On your next shopping trip, put aside that product labeled 'Made in Japan.''

(MRS.) ARLENE STROWMAN Brookline, Mass.

Another Expose

Sir: On the heels of the Pentagon pa- pers, can we really take the expose of "The Decline of Nudism" [July 19]? The story was no doubt leaked by a high nudist-camp management "expert" to cover up for managerial ineptness.

Funny, I missed out on "alltime great" Mel Hocker in my 30 years of social nudism in the Southern California area.

KAREN SUE DANIELS San Diego

Sir: Nudism is primarily a family affair, and it's the kids who benefit most from the healthy attitudes and recreation of the typical nudist resort. Oakdale's ex-members will never be lured back by go-go dancers and erotic showmanship.

RAY CONNETT Glen Eden Sun Club Corona, Calif.

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