Initiated and organized by Vice President Fan-Sen Wang and Dr. Hsin-huang Hsiao, Director of Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica, along with 11 institutes and research centers from Academia Sinica’s Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, the conference is being attended by specialists from around 170 of the world’s top and international and domestic Taiwan studies’ centers. Scholars from the Taiwan Studies-related Associations of Japan, Europe, and North America, and two well-known Taiwan Studies Research Centers — Center for Taiwan Studies School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), UK, and the European Research Center on Contemporary Taiwan at the University of Tübingen, Germany — as well as scholars from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and China are among those who will present their papers.

Sessions include topics in art, literature, history, religion, economics, sociology, political science, law, archaeology, linguistics, environmental changes, and indigenous Austronesian studies. It is hoped that the conference will provide a platform to share academic achievements in Taiwan studies, help develop interdisciplinary collaborations, facilitate worldwide networks and enhance visibility for Taiwan Studies.

Among the lecturers, the first keynote speech entitled “Perspective of Taiwan Studies in Mainland China” delivered by Academician Ts’ui-jung Liu on April 26, discussed Taiwan studies in China from three perspectives: an overview of the Taiwan studies using catalogues published in recent years; articles which reviewed certain subjects covering a long period in Taiwan; and taking the agriculture of Taiwan as an example to discuss issues that most concern scholars in China. Another lecture to be given on April 27 by Dr. Masahiro Wakabayashi, Professor of Political Science and Economics at Waseda University, Japan, will discuss the articles written by a Taiwanese activist Yeh Jung-chung of anti-Japanese movement in Taiwan before the end of World War II. Dr. Wakabayashi will discuss Yeh’s motivation to write in an environment that was not amicable towards Taiwanese intellectuals wishing to write the modern history of Taiwan from their own view point.                                     

Over the last two decades, interest in Taiwan studies has grown both in Taiwan and overseas. The first overseas academic association to focus on Taiwan Studies was the North American Taiwan Studies Association (NATSA) established in 1995. It was followed by the creation of similar organizations in Japan in 1997 (Japan Association for Taiwan Studies, JATS) and Europe in 2004 (European Association of Taiwan Studies, EATS). Moreover, besides the two Taiwan Studies Research Centers in SOAS and Tübingen, the Center for Taiwan Studies was established in the University of California at Santa Barbara in 2003, and The Taiwan Documentation Center at Lyon Institute of East Asia in France in 2008.

The Congress lasts three days and consists of two keynote speeches, 26 parallel sessions, one concluding roundtable, and the presentation of 102 papers in total.

For more information, and the detailed conference schedule please visit:
http://wcts.sinica.edu.tw/02_01_ch.php

Appendix:

Event:  The 1st World Congress of Taiwan Studies
Date:  April 26, 2012 – April 28, 2012
Venue:  3rd Floor Conference Rooms, & IOS Conference Room 802: 8th floor,
                        South Building, Building of Humanities and Social Sciences,
                        Academia Sinica,
                        No. 128, Sec. 2, Academia Road, Nankang 115, Taipei
Sponsored by: Academia Sinica
Organized by: Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica
Co-organized by:  (In alphabetical order)
                           Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy, Academia Sinica
                           Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica
                           Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica
                           Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica
                           Institutum Iurisprudentiae, Academia Sinica
                           Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica
                           Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica
                           Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica
                           Institute of Taiwan History, Academia Sinica 
                           The Preparation Office of the Institute of Political Science, Academia Sinica
                           Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences, Academia Sinica
        
Media contacts：
Ms. Susan Yang, Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica twstudy@gate.sinica.edu.tw 
(Tel) +886-2-2652-5094 
Ms. Pearl Huang, Office of Public Affairs, Central Office of Administration, Academia Sinica pearlhuang@gate.sinica.edu.tw
(Tel) +886-2-2789-8820  (Fax) +886-2-2782-1551  (M) 0912-831-188
Ms. Mei-Hui Lin, Office of Public Affairs, Central Office of Administration, Academia Sinica mhlin313@gate.sinica.edu.tw
(Tel) +886-2-2789-8821, (Fax) +886-2-2782-1551, (M) 0921-845-234