台灣研究中心

Chronology of Major Events

The Center for Taiwan Studies at the College of Liberal Arts, National Taiwan University (NTU) is established with approval from the NTU Administrative Committee in July 2011. The main goal of the Center is to serve as an information platform for interdisciplinary cooperation and international exchange concerning Taiwan studies. The primary work of the Center is as follows: (1) the integration of resources from various disciplines and fields, (2) the international promotion of Taiwan studies, (3) the encouragement of students and researchers to participate in the work of Taiwan studies, and (4) the publication of various book series on Taiwan studies. In the future, the Center plans to exert its utmost efforts in promoting academic activities related to Taiwan studies and will enhance interactions among international and domestic academic circles through scholarly research and discussion, the publication of academic works, resource integration, the development of websites, and the circulation of e-journals or e-newsletters. The first Director of the Center is Professor Chia-ling Mei (Department of Chinese Literature and Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature).

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2012.03.11

The “Knowledge/Taiwan” Collective Workshop inaugurated by Professors Chaoyang Liao, Dung-Sheng Chen, Shu-mei Shih, and Chia-ling Meiholds its first introductory and preparatory meeting, inviting scholars from various fields to discuss the future operations of the Workshop. The meeting gathers scholars from diverse fields including foreign languages, literature, sociology, anthropology, musicology, law, history, and the history of science and technology to engage in preliminary discussions on “the definition of ‘theory’,” “appropriations of and reflections on Western theory,” “the possibility of constructing ‘theory based in Taiwan’,” and other topics.

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2012.04.06~2012.04.07

 

The Center holds the “War, Violence, and the Aftermath” Academic Symposium in collaboration with Washington University in St. Louis.

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2012.05.04

The Center collaborates with Hong Kong’s Lingnan University to host the “Hong Kong Literature in Taiwan” Symposium. Participants in the event include renowned authors and scholars from Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China, and other areas, and the Symposium organizers employ thematic lectures, paper presentations, and round-table discussions to facilitate collective examinations of the mutual interactions and influences inherent in the development of Hong Kong and Taiwan literature.

 

 

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2012.09.04

The first issue of the Center for Taiwan Studies E-Journal is published. Columns in the journal include “New Developments at the Center,” “Academic Events and Activities,” “Interviews with Relevant Scholars,” “Project Reports,” “Academic Publications,” “Resources for Research,” and “Curriculum Exchange and Collaboration” (the content for each issue varies). A new issue of the journal is set to be published in the middle of every month.

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2012.09.22

The Center holds the first Symposium for the “Knowledge/Taiwan” Collective Workshop. Collective members, including Professors Shu-mei Shih, Dung-Sheng Chen, Ruey-Lin Chen, Chaoyang Liao, Daiwie Fu, Li-Chun Hsiao, Yen-bin Chiou, Liao Hsien-hao, Chia-ling Mei, Shuo-Bin Su, Yu-lin Lee, Mei Hsia Wang, Tunkan Tansikian, Chih-Chieh Tang, Hung-Chiung Li, and Kuei-fen Chiu, are invited to discuss and contemplate the various dimensions of “knowledge” and “theory” in Taiwan studies, reconstruct the genealogy of local theory, and discover the possible relationships between “theory” and “Taiwan.”

 

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2012.10~2012.12

 

The Center’s lecture series for its collaborative long-distance course “Taiwan Literature and Culture” with Germany’s University of Heidelberg employs the Internet and methods of long-distance education to allow scholars and authors, such as Min Jay Kang, Ka-shiang Liu, Huang Chunming, Chia-ling Mei, Wang Anchih, Austin (Mong Chao) Wang, Ru-shou Chen, and Tung Shen, to lecture on topics in Taiwan literature, art, and culture, including urban landscapes, literature, drama, film, and music, for students at the University of Heidelberg and the University of Tübingen.

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2012.12.14~2013.03.15

 

The Center invites Wang Caiyong, a professor in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Shanghai’s Fudan University, to act as a short-term visiting scholar in Taiwan and conduct two lectures: “The Birth of Visual Modernity” on March 7th (Thursday) and “The Formal Characteristics and Cultural Transmission of Visual Modernity” on March 14th (Thursday).

2013.03.11

The chairman of Apex Health Care Mfg., Inc., Mr. Qi-zong Huang, donates 1 million NTD to support the Center for Taiwan Studies. The donation ceremony is held on March 11, 2013, at 2:00 PM in the Office of the Dean for the College of Liberal Arts, NTU.

 

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2013.03.25~2013.03.26

The Center assists the “East Asia Theories Alliance” in hosting the “Workshop on East Asia Theories and International Collaborations” with the University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRL) at NTU’s College of Liberal Arts. The “East Asia Theories Alliance” Project was suggested by the Taiwan Humanities Society and subsequently received the support of Taiwan’s Research Center for the Humanities and Social Sciences at National Chung Hsing University, the Center for Taiwan Studies at National Taiwan University’s College of Liberal Arts, and Professor Shu-mei Shih from UCLA in the United States. These organizations and professors then collaborated to plan and promote the project.

 

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2013.03.31

 

The Center holds a “Knowledge/Taiwan” Collective Workshop entitled “Shaping Taiwan: Knowledge Production and Relevant Contexts.” Members of the Collective invited to participate in the Workshop include Chaoyang Liao, Liang-Ya Liou, Dung-Sheng Chen, Hsiao-hung Chang, Daiwie Fu, Chia-ling Mei, Shao Li Lu, Chao-Ju Chen, Shuo-Bin Su, Hung-Chiung Li, Yu-lin Lee, Li-Chun Hsiao, Mei Hsia Wang, and Tung Shen, and presenters at the Workshop focus on specific topics to complete in-depth analysis. The Workshop touches on the fields of sociology, literature, history, law, and agricultural studies, but all discussions center on knowledge production, historical contexts, theoretical requirements, and other topics in Taiwan studies. Participants in the Workshop reflect on the strategic position of Taiwan scholars (or the Taiwan academic field) as concerns theory, while also engaging in dialogue and analysis on theory, practice, knowledge, power, and other concepts.

 

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2013.04.16

2013.05.07

 

The Center collaborates with NTU’s Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature to invite Chia-Cian Ko, an assistant professor in NTU’s Department of Chinese Literature, to lecture on “Malaysian Chinese Literature Within the Scope of Taiwan Literature.” Professor Chia-ling Mei, the Director of the Center and a member of the “Aim for the Top University Project” group, moderates the event.

The Center invites the Director of the National Museum of Taiwan History, Professor Li-cheng Lu, to present on “Taiwan’s History and Museums.” Professor Shao Li Lu, a member of the Center’s “Knowledge/Taiwan” Collective Workshop as well as the “Aim for the Top University Project” group, moderates the event.

 

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2013.05.30

The Center cooperates with the Taiwan Humanities Society and the National Science Council project “Thinking East Asia, Overcoming the Global, and Imagining the World” to host the “Asian Frontiers Forum: Questions Concerning Life and Technology after 311.” The Forum is also co-organized by the Cultural Studies Association and the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at NTU. The purpose of the Forum is to discuss the effects of Japan’s 3.11 Earthquake and the subsequent Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster and contemplate the direct influences of these events on not only Japan but the lives and politics of peoples around the globe. The 3.11 Earthquake forced Japanese intellectuals to re-examine the divide and relationship between contemporary theory and practice, and Taiwan has recently experienced vehement contention regarding topics in nuclear power. During the Forum, two outstanding Japanese scholars of the new generation, Professors Koichiro Kokubun and Masaya Chiba, discuss post-3.11 life, technology, and critical theory with Taiwan scholars. The organizers of the “Asian Frontiers Forum” strive to employ critical topics to develop an in-depth dialogue among scholars in Asia and encourage comparison among and reflection on East Asian critical theories.

 

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2013.06.11

 

The Center collaborates with the University of Heidelberg’s Institute of Chinese Studies to host a lecture series entitled “War and Cultural Politics.” Invited lecturers include Professor Hu Siao-chen from Academic Sinica’s Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy, Professor Chen Hsi-yuan from Academia Sinica’s Institute of History and Philology, Professor Tung Shen from NTU’s Graduate Institute of Musicology, and Professor Chia-ling Mei, the Director of the Center and a professor at NTU’s Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature. The lectures presented as a part of the series include discussions of war narratives, war culture, music, religion, and other topics.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture, Taiwan’s Academic Foundation for Free Thought, Japan’s Institute of Modern Chinese Studies at Aichi University, and Japan’s Kobe University host the International Academic Symposium on “Narrative in an Era of Great Schism—Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the Malay Peninsula.” The Center and National Chengchi University’s Graduate Institute of Taiwan History co-organize the event, and monetary support is provided by Japan’s Interchange Association and the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange. The Symposium is held at the Kurumamichi Campus Convention Hall at Japan’s Aichi University and researchers from more than 20 academic organizations in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, the United States, Singapore, and Malaysia are invited to attend. These scholars collectively engage in in-depth dialogue and examination of the turmoil, transience, and contact experienced by East Asian culturati and cultural texts in the 1940s. In addition, the Symposium focuses not only on events before and after 1945, but also analyzes the Cold War period in the 1950s and comprehensively investigates the complexities inherent in reception and translation among varying media and cultures. By linking cultural activities and employing an interdisciplinary and cross-regional method of conducting research and dialogue, the Symposium organizers seek to overcome the disciplinary boundaries that have plagued previous studies of literary history and embark upon an inclusive process of dialogue and contemplation.

The Center hosts the College of Liberal Arts’ “Aim for the Top University Project” group and the “Knowledge/Taiwan” Collective in an academic symposium entitled “Shaping Taiwan: Knowledge Production and Relevant Contexts.” This Symposium continues discussions begun during the March 2013 “Shaping Taiwan” Workshop and gathers members of the “Aim for the Top University Project” team and the “Knowledge/Taiwan” Collective, including Chia-ling Mei, Shu-mei Shih, Hung-Chiung Li, Chaoyang Liao, Dung-Sheng Chen, Ruey-Lin Chen, Li-Chun Hsiao, Chih-Chieh Tang, Shao Li Lu, and other scholars. The Symposium is held on September 21, 2013, and nine papers are presented during the event. The topics examined and points emphasized at the Symposium clearly demonstrate that, when discussing “Shaping Taiwan,” the construction of Taiwan theory must be contemplated within the context of an extremely complex network of relationships. Taiwan is neither merely subordinate to the West nor is it simply a unique footnote to Western modernity and theory. Through an analysis of history and reflection on relevant theories as conducted by individual disciplines, as well as the development of a renewed account of the relationships among Taiwan, the world, and theory, the core, boundaries, and outline of theory in Taiwan have gradually emerged and the circumstances of knowledge and “force fields” of theory in Taiwan can be rewritten.

 

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2013.01~2013.12