Institute of History

1
Institute of History PhilologyImportant
Research Achievements (2004-2006)

• 2007.9

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Important Research Achievements (2004-2006)

• Project for the Publication of New Perspectives
  on Chinese History and Research on Prehistoric
  Taiwanese History
• Research on Traditional Chinese Legal Culture
• Archaeological Research on 17th Century Taiwan
• 1. The Zeelandia Fort Ruins(??????)
• 2. The Shenei Ruins(????)
• Brief Overview of the Digital Archives of Bronze
  Images and Inscriptions
• The Compilation and Publication of the Popular
  Literature Collection

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Project for the Publication of New Perspectives
on Chinese History and Research on Prehistoric
Taiwanese History

• In 2008, the Institute of History Philology
  will publish New Perspectives on Chinese History
  and Research on Prehistoric Taiwanese History.
  The former work sheds new light on Chinese
  history by providing fresh interpretations, while
  the latter work provides a comprehensive overview
  of the most important research works on the
  cultural history of prehistoric Taiwan and
  provides a complete summary of all research
  developments of the Institute of History
  Philology to date.
• New Perspectives on Chinese History is comprised
  of 10 volumes The Formation of Ancient
  Civilization, Grass-roots Society, Life and
  Culture, The Great Transformations in the History
  of Chinese Thought, Images of Cultural Relics,
  The Formation and Transformation of Chinese
  Traditional Legal Culture, History of Medical
  Treatment, History of Religion, Women and Gender,
  The History of Mathematics and Computation and
  the History of Science and Technology.
• Research on Prehistoric Taiwanese History is
  comprised of two volumes Interaction and
  Transformation, and Theory, Methodology, and
  Interpretation.

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Research on Traditional Chinese Legal Culture

• The Research Facility for Legal History at the
  Institute of History Philology has already
  become an important center for the
  interdisciplinary study of legal history for
  scholars in Taiwan and abroad.
• The Research Series on Legal History will be
  published in the upcoming months. The first work
  is entitled Legal Institutions, Interpretations
  of the Classics, and Ethics in Traditional China.
  The second work is entitled Power and Culture in
  the Legal Proceedings of Ming and Qing China.

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Archaeological Research on 17th Century Taiwan

• 1. The Zeelandia Fort (??????)
• The wealth and variety of pottery and ceramic
  remains from China, the Netherlands (Holland),
  and Japan found at the ruins of the Zeelandia
  Fort (??????) provide concrete evidence for the
  existence of Taiwan as a base for cultural
  exchange and trade in the East Asian region
  during the 17th century. These finds confirm such
  accounts previously only found in historical
  documents.

Kraak Porcelain (????)
White tobacco pipe (???)
Karatsu Ware (?????)
6

• 2. The Shenei Ruins (????)
• The relics excavated at the Shenei Ruins such as
  anping flasks and the blue and white porcelain
  point to the frequent interaction between the
  Dutch and the Taiwanese aborigines. The relics
  found at the Shenei Ruins also confirm that the
  Zeelandia Fort (????) constituted an important
  trade and transfer station along the coastal
  region of southwestern Taiwan.

Porcelain in underglaze blue (???)
Excavation site of the Shenei Ruins
Relics from a burial site at the Shenei ruins

• The excavation of these precious relics at the
  Zeelandia Fort and Shenei Ruins demonstrates the
  position of Taiwan in the international trade
  sphere and the East Asian cultural network in
  general during the 17th century.

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Brief Overview of the Digital Archives of Bronze
Images and Inscriptions

• The information on the collection of ancient
  bronze inscriptions, rubbings and bronze vessels
  and utensils from the latter half of the Shang
  Dynasty and Zhou Dynasty has been transformed
  into an easily searchable database.
• The database contains a word-by-word explanation
  of the bronze inscriptions as well as a revised
  and enlarged database collection containing all
  basic information on the bronze vessels along
  with images of the vessels, sketches of the
  contours of the vessels, and images of
  embellishments found in the bronze rubbings.
• The compilation of the vessel images,
  embellishments found in the rubbings, and bronze
  inscriptions into a single data-base makes this
  database a world-class database for research on
  bronze vessels and ancient bronze inscriptions.
• The establishment of this database has opened new
  arenas for research on the ancient Chinese
  written language and research on ancient Chinese
  history.

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The Compilation and Publication of the Popular
Literature Collection

• The Institute of History and Philology has
  collected a wealth of historical materials on
  popular literature. The popular literature
  materials stored at the Institute amount to over
  20,000 titles.
• The Institute houses a great variety of all kinds
  of popular literature materials. The vast
  collection of traditional popular literature and
  music includes works of traditional opera (xiqu,
  ??), ballad songs (geyao, ??), legends
  (chuanshuo, ??), stories (gushi, ??), popular
  opera (suqu, ??), popular music (suyue, ??),
  proverbs (yanyu, ??), riddles (??) , truncated
  witticisms or enigmatic folk similes (xiehouyu,
  ???), professional jargon (qiekouyu, ???),
  peddlers expressions (jiaomaisheng,???), and
  other forms of popular culture.
• The Institute of History Philology has
  cooperated with the Shin Wen Feng Print Company
  (??????) to publish the Popular Literature
  Collection. The Popular Literature Collection
  consists of 500 volumes and is divided into five
  main themes.
• The six main categories of the Popular Literature
  Collection are drama (xiju,??), prosimetric
  literature (shuochang wenxue, ????),
  miscellaneous songs (zaqu, ??), vaudeville
  (variety show) (zashua, ??), and songs without
  musical accompaniment (tuge, ??), and
  miscellaneous literature.
• This collection contains important historical
  materials for research on Chinese popular folk
  culture throughout the centuries.