A graduate of the horticulture department at National Chung Hsing University, Lin Tzong-shyan still remembers that when he sat for the examination for a government-sponsored overseas scholarship in 1978 the exam question was, in fact, "Causes of mango trees blooming but not bearing fruit." The difficulty of the problem and the government's urgent concern were obvious.
畢業於中興大學園藝系的林宗賢還記得，1978 年他參加公費留學考試時，考題正是「芒果開花不結果的原因」，可見問題的棘手程度與政府心心念念的迫切感。