• 2019-02-11

In an effort to promote a dialog between the world and Taiwan research on Daoism, National Central Library (NCL) and Leipzig University (LU) Library in Germany co-hosted a series of events at LU’s Bibliotheca Albertina from November 29 to December 1, 2018.

The eighth Taiwan Lecture on Chinese Studies of 2018 was held On November 29, Professor Fong-mao Lee of National Chengchi University, a world-renowned authority on Daoist studies, was invited to speak on “Expelling Plagues and ‘Patrolling on Behalf of Heaven’: Two Different Explanations of Plagues between Daoism and Confucianism.” From November 30 to December 1, an international conference on “Daoism and Local Cults: Rethinking the Paradigms” was held. Invited to the conference were experts in history and ethnology from Germany, France, Taiwan, Japan, the U.S., UK, and Hong Kong, and thirteen papers were presented. During the conference, NCL also planned an exhibition entitled The Way of Heaven: Daoism and Local Cults. On display were more than one hundred publications from Taiwan on related themes and replicas of ancient Daoist texts.

To express support for scholarly exchange, Ambassador Jhy-Wey Shieh from the Taipei Representative Office in the Federal Republic of Germany attended the opening ceremony and represented Taiwan in donating books to LU, which donation was received by University President Beate A. Schücking and Head Librarian Ulrich Schneider.

LU Library is an important partner for Taiwan Center for Chinese Studies (TRCCS). NCL Deputy Director-General Ying-mei Wu stated in her remarks that LU has been engaged in East Asian studies for a long time. This recent collaboration is a continuation of a friendship that now extends into a new century.