• 2024-07-01

Professor Chun-hsing Chang (1927-2014) was a giant in the field of psychology in Taiwan, who worked tirelessly in academic scholarship for many decades, dedicating his life to education and creating fertile ground for the growth of new talents. He authored numerous works including Educational Psychology and Chang’s Dictionary of Psychology. Recently, his family has donated manuscripts, notes, and letters related to his publications to National Central Library, today holding the “Writing a River—Donation Ceremony for Professor Chun-hsing Chang’s Manuscripts” with NCL Director-General Han-ching Wang accepting the donation on behalf of NCL.

Director-General Han-ching Wang expressed that Professor Chun-hsing Chang was one of the most representative figures in the field of psychology in Taiwan and was significantly influential in the field of educational psychology. He taught at National Taiwan Normal University’s Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling for over forty years and nurtured countless talents during his career. His most renowned work, Educational Psychology, advocates for the cultivation of teachers through a localized and culturally relevant approach, earning a reputation as a must-read classic for education practitioners. After his retirement, he continued his dedication to the field for nearly 20 years, independently editing Chang’s Dictionary of Psychology, which covered a wide range of psychological knowledge. NCL’s mission is to preserve culture and promote and enrich academic research and has therefore worked to collect and preserve manuscripts for over a decade. NCL is deeply grateful to Professor Chang’s family for their selfless donation of 18 boxes of manuscripts including drafts, lecture outlines, notes, and letters. This donation significantly enriches the library’s Distinguished Individuals Manuscript Collection. Many vast streams of knowledge converge in the ocean that is NCL and the piece of history of which Professor Chang’s manuscripts form a valuable part now joins NCL’s special collection archive to ensure their permanent preservation.

Ms. Hsiu-jan Chang who represented Professor Chang’s family, expressed her heartfelt emotions at the event as she reflected on her father’s devotion to study, contemplation, and research throughout his life as well as his noble mission to contribute to society, all demands he made of himself as an intellectual. Four years ago, the family began to organize manuscripts, publishing essays and a documentary in Professor Chun-hsing Chang’s memory, with Ms. Hsiu-jan Chang’s husband Yung-jen Liu and daughter Lan-chen Liu assisting in the efforts. Ms. Chang expressed that manuscripts and letters are a record of a person’s true emotions. Manuscripts bring us into the inner workings of a person’s mind, where we can see the purity of their thoughts and examine the value of their theories. While the family is reluctant to part with these materials, they have generously donated the entirety of their collection to the NCL archive for the sake of contributing to history. The process of organizing the manuscripts was filmed into a documentary which has been made available online to be viewed by more people.

The Minister of Education and Dr. Ching-ji Wu, current System President for the Taiwan University of Education System, who served as the conveners of the preparation committee for the Professor Chun-hsing Chang Memorial Album “Spring Breeze Eternally Brings Rain” were unable to attend the event in person, but through recorded videos they conveyed their admiration of Professor Chang’s passion toward education, deep focus on the subjects of his research, and his outstanding achievements in both. In this age of computers and digital writing, it is all the more valuable to collect the handwritten manuscripts of great scholars in the NCL Distinguished Individuals Manuscript Collection. Vice Convener Yao-ting Sung, Executive Vice President of National Taiwan Normal University, was once a student of Professor Chang’s. He has a deep appreciation for Professor Chang’s dedication to academic research and his passion for teaching. Dr. Sung noted that Professor Chang pioneered the wide application of counseling and guidance, psychological testing, and applied psychology, which also catalyzed the vigorous development of psychology in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Professor Chang’s manuscripts highlight his profound efforts in the dissemination of psychological knowledge. Vice President Sung eloquently described Professor Chang’s research and writing style with a line from a poem by Song Dynasty poet Wen Tianxiang: “Beneath the eaves, readings books amidst the breeze, the integrity of the ancients shines brightly.”

Many distinguished guests from various fields gathered to attend the donation ceremony, including scholars, experts, and students from the field of psychology. NCL General-Director Han-ching Wang expressed that NCL will work to continue Professor Chun-hsing Chang’s research and teaching legacy, organizing and preserving the donated manuscripts and quickly working to digitize them to be shared online for both reading enjoyment and research purposes, thereby promoting the contribution of this material toward society and education.