• 2025-02-25

On February 24, 2025, the National Central Library (NCL), in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, hosted the Lunar New Year Tea Reception for Taiwan Fellowship Scholars at the International Conference Hall. The event was co-hosted by Minister of Foreign Affairs Chia-lung Lin and NCL Director-General Han-ching Wang. In attendance were Taiwan Fellowship scholars from 22 countries around the world, along with representatives from the diplomatic missions or offices in Taiwan of Paraguay, Hungary, India, Nigeria, Poland, Thailand, Malaysia, Austria, Sweden, Mexico, Germany, Indonesia, and Vietnam. The gathering also included numerous domestic scholars, bringing the total number of participants to over one hundred. To enrich the cultural experience, NCL arranged traditional Taiwanese Lunar New Year folk art demonstrations—such as dough figurine crafting—offering scholars a chance to enjoy the festive atmosphere of Taiwan's New Year traditions alongside their academic pursuits.

In her remarks, Director-General Han-Ching Wang emphasized that NCL, as a platform for academic exchange connecting Taiwan with the international scholarly community, has thus far hosted more than 2,000 scholars from over 120 countries through programs such as the Research Grant for Foreign Scholars in Chinese Studies and the Taiwan Fellowship sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In addition to providing abundant academic research resources, the NCL is committed to a wide range of academic services, including assisting scholars in understanding Taiwan’s academic resources and scholarly networks, facilitating access to research materials, and promoting academic exchange and collaboration. NCL organizes courses, academic lectures on special topics, inter-institutional symposia, and workshops to foster dialogue and scholarly interaction between international and Taiwanese researchers, and to support the establishment of collaborative relationships between visiting scholars and Taiwan’s academic institutions. Even after scholars return to their home countries, the NCL continues to offer access to a broad array of digital and physical resources. Moreover, it provides services through 53 overseas Taiwan Resource Centers for Chinese Studies and Taiwan Digital Academic Resource Center partner institutions worldwide—including Harvard University. These centers collectively offer access to a wealth of materials, including a collection of 68,518 distinct academic print publications alone.

In addition, this year NCL has completed a series of spatial renovations to provide scholars with a more comfortable research environment. Enhancements include private research carrels, scholar exchange spaces, and reading corners distributed throughout the library. With the planned completion of the NCL’s Southern Branch in Tainan in 2026, NCL's services will be extended to southern Taiwan, with the hope of attracting researchers to undertake residency-based research in the region. Minister of Foreign Affairs Chia-lung Lin, who since taking office has actively supported the Taiwan Fellowship program, extended New Year greetings to the international scholars present. He also encouraged them to make the most of their time in Taiwan by forging friendships, experiencing the warmth of Taiwanese hospitality, sampling local cuisine, gaining a deeper understanding of Taiwan’s landscape and culture, and enjoying the unique way of life this land has to offer.

Cultural experience booths—featuring traditional crafts such as dough figurine modeling, lantern painting, calligraphy writing, and traditional festive snacks—allowed international scholars to personally experience the atmosphere of Taiwan’s Lunar New Year celebrations. The event also offered a variety of festive refreshments, including bubble tea, deep-fried glutinous rice balls, sweet potato balls, fried flour candy, candied peanuts, spiral cookies, crispy rice spirals, peanut confectionery, puffed rice treats, and smiling sesame cookie balls. The event was livestreamed via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Taiwan Academy Facebook page. Following the reception, Minister Lin was invited to visit the National Central Library’s special exhibition “It Begins with Paper,” which left a strong impression on him for its rich and evocative content.