• 2024-10-06

Beginning in 2022, National Central Library established the CCS Workshop for International Youth with the goal of increasing awareness among international students of the diverse topics within the field of Taiwan’s Chinese Studies research and deepening international academic exchange. Since the start of the program, over 50 international youths from 18 countries have participated in the Seminar. The 2024 Seminar was held from July 4^th to 5^th under the theme of “Cultural Arts,” arranging a rich curriculum of classes held both within and outside of the NCL facilities. The program attracted 70 international student applicants from around the world and accepted 18 participants from 13 countries including Mexico, Ukraine, Hungary, Germany, India, the Philippines, Vietnam, and more.

For this year’s workshop, Associate Professor Mark McConaghy of Sun Yat-Sen University’s Department of Chinese Literature was invited to give a keynote speech on the topic: “Taiwanese Sinology in Times of Crisis: From the Interwoven Way to Co-Becoming.” Professor McConaghy shared his experiences from many years of conducting cross-cultural research in Taiwan in an easy to understand manner, further discussing the past and present of Chinese Studies and Sinology and how the field has kept pace with changes in the modern world and demonstrates diversity to reflect our times.

Professor Chia-chiu Tsai, director of National Taiwan Normal University’s Graduate Institute of Art History conducted a lecture on the topic “The History of Modern Taiwanese Art.” Through a series of wonderful images of paintings and other works of art, Professor Tsai led participating students on a journey exploring Taiwan’s rich, colorful, and diverse art history along a timeline of Taiwan’s modern art history. Dr. Ling-fang Wei, Head of the Materials Division at NCL’s Center for Chinese Studies conducted a lecture on “Academic Research & Research Support in Taiwan,” introducing participating students to important academic resources for Chinese Studies research in Taiwan. In addition, a tour was organized for students to visit NCL’s Rare Books Room, where they were led by Director Chia-Bin Chang of the Special Collections Division. Afterward, they were introduced to different Chinese ancient text binding and layout methods in the Conservation Room by NCL Assistant Editor Li-ling Lin and witnessed conservator Chuan-chen Chiu demonstrating ancient text restoration techniques.

In addition, the students were brought on visits to two special museums. The first was renowned calligraphy museum, the HCS Calligraphy Foundation Art Museum, where Foundation Chairman Kuo-ching Ho gave a personal tour and introduction to East-Asian calligraphy and painting. Foundation Director Kuo-Hao Wu guided students in learning to appreciate authentic Ming and Qing Dynasty calligraphy and paintings and picked up a calligraphy brush himself for a demonstration of different calligraphy styles and fonts. He then guided students to try their hands at the art of calligraphy for themselves. An additional visit was made to the SuHo Memorial Paper Museum where students witnessed demonstrations of two different paper making techniques in the museum’s paper making workshop.