• 2022-12-09

On November 1^st and 2^nd Taiwan time, National Central Library held an International Symposium Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the “Taiwan Resource Center for Chinese Studies (TRCCS),” inviting 44 TRCCS partners from around the world as well as colleagues in Chinese Studies and library professionals to participate in the event. The symposium was held in the International Conference Hall at third floor of the NCL Arts and Culture Center and also provided online participation channels including Facebook Livestreaming, and utilizing Web-conferencing software for invited speakers from TRCCS partner institution to give lecture and for online discussion. For NCL, this event was the first large-scale international academic conference integrating both on-site and online modes at post-pandemic times.

In order to make aware of the achievements of Chinese Studies and Taiwan research of Taiwan scholars, and to promote quality publications of Taiwan scholars to the world, the NCL, under the funding support from the Ministry of Education, initiated the Resource Center for Chinese Studies (TRCCS) program in 2012, and has been endeavoring in increasing TRCCS in the past 10 years. The purpose of this TRCCS program is to enhance the academic collaboration and scholarly exchanges by establishing formal cooperation relationships with overseas universities or institutions with strength in Sinology research or Taiwan Studies. Up to November 2022, there are 44 TRCCS been established in 28 countries in the world. It is hoped that through strengthening collaborations by jointly holding lectures, exhibitions, and forums with overseas TRCCS partner institutions, it is possible to promote academic exchanges of sinology research outcomes as well as cultures of the East and the West.

This international symposium was organized as one of the events celebrating the 10-year important milestone of the TRCCS program. Faculty and students as well as library professionals from TRCCS and universities in Taiwan were invited to join the symposium. The Deputy Minister of Taiwan Ministry of Education, Terng-Chiao Lin, delivered his remarks at the opening ceremony. He stated that reaching this 10-years development milestone is indeed an achievement worth celebrating and it is also an optimal opportunity to look forward to the prospective of next milestone. He expressed that successful cooperation depends on the commitment and joint efforts of both parties and that the Ministry of Education (MOE) affirms the importance of the promotion of sinology research resources and the services provided in this program, and has provided continual funding and support for this program over the years. On behalf of the MOE, he also wants to thank NCL Director-General Tseng and her team for their long-term hard work, and the overseas collaborating TRCCS partners for their proactive collaborations in exercising TRCCS program to carry out good services for TRCCS users. He stated in further that it is because of all of their efforts that this program has carried out such fruitful achievements. He ended his remarks by expressing his best wishes for the success of the symposium.

The NCL Director-General Tseng pointed out in her remarks that the TRCCS’s precedent was the Taiwan Academy, which was initiated from 2011, operated under the supervision of the Executive Yuan. She expressed her thanks to Academician Dr. Ovid J.-L. Tzeng that during his tenure as Minister of the Ministry of Education, he gave full support for NCL for taking over the sinology research and resources sharing tasks after the termination of Taiwan Academy. She stated that thanks to the continual funding support from the Ministry of Education that the TRCCS program could be well facilitated by NCL, and could be nourished to such a successful sustainable international cooperation program.

The scholars invited to present at the symposium included the following prominent scholars/ experts: Academician Dr. Ovid J.-L. Tzeng of Academia Sinica; Professor and Chair Yuan-tse Lin of the Department of Philosophy, National Chengchi University; Professor Michael Szonyi of the Department of Asian Language and Civilizations, Harvard University; Professor Philip Clart of the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Leipzig; Curator Marc Gilbert of the Chinese Special Collections, Leiden University Library; Professor Bart Dessein of the Department of Languages and Cultures, Ghent University; Professor Dafydd Fell of the School of Orient and African Studies, University of London; and Dean Professor His-san Lai of the College of Liberal Arts, National Sun Yat-sen University. This impressive lineup of speakers for the 2-day symposium has attracted many participants, with approximately 250 attendees including the online and in-person attendees. The 2-days symposium provided a very effective platform for scholars and attendees to share their research results and information about research resources, and for them to discuss and exchange opinions. It was acknowledged as a very rewarding symposium for all.

During the closing ceremony, the NCL Deputy Director-General Chih-Tsung Weng delivered a closing remarks on behalf of Director-General Tseng in which he expressed his sincere gratitude to all of the foreign and Taiwan scholars who shared at the symposium. He also expressed his hopes that NCL’s TRCCS program could receive continuing collaborations from partner institutions and that he believes that all the encouraging feedbacks will motivate the NCL team to go further. Thereupon, the future collaboration activities with all TRCCS partner institutions would be even more frequent and hopefully, a more fruitful future and sustainable development could be expected.