If you are a local or foreign scholar focusing on modern Chinese history, what are your chances of finding useful research materials in Taiwan? Here is a selection of the best places to look.
The Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica
Established in 1955, the Institute of Modern History at Academia Sinica, the ROC's premier academic institution, focuses on the Ching dynasty (1644-1911) period to the present. It was the first academic institution the government allowed to collect Chinese Communist materials. At first, its librarians tried to amass the broadest range of materials possible, covering politics, economics, culture, and social sciences. Later, when Taiwan's universities were allowed to include mainland books and materials in their collections, the Institute's library gradually shifted priorities and established a core collection in two major areas: historical materials on the Chinese Communist Party, and literary and historical materials from various mainland provinces, counties, and cities.
Substantial amounts of the library's literary and historical materials are in the form of memoirs or oral records from the period of the Nationa list's rule of China, much of which was a history of struggle between the ruling Kuomintang party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The library has acquired substantial amounts of materials through special channels and book exchanges with mainland academic institutions, such as Nanjing University, Peking University, and the mainland's Institute of Modern History at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). According to librarian Hsieh Kuo-hsing (謝國興) , "Our library has the largest collection of these materials in Taiwan."
The library also has substantial holdings of gazetteers. These records, which cover the mainland since 1949, were compiled under Communist Party supervision in the 1980s. They cover the organization and administration of society, from the central government down to the village level, even including corporations. The records provide an overall view of mainland China and its changes under CCP rule. "Although they may not be very accurate, they are primers for t hose who wish to conduct research on Communist China," Hsieh says. The library has 2,400 volumes of gazetteers. In addition, it has approximately 50,000 volumes of mainland books and 250 different mainland magazine titles (about one-fourth of its total holdings of 180,000 volumes).
Other institutes at Academia Sinica with mainland collections include the Institute of Ethnology (11,000 books and 100 different periodicals); the Sun Yat-sen Institute for Social Sciences and Philosophy (13,000 books and 180 periodicals); and the Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy (40,000 books and 480 periodicals). "Academia Sinica's collections of mainland materials compare very favorably with the holdings of other major China study centers around the world," Hsieh says.
Academia Sinica started computerizing its library catalogue in 1991. Its 1.4 million volumes and more than one million periodicals are already listed on computer. The rest of the titles are expected to be entered by the end of 1998. The library has also scanned selected files and maps into CD-ROM.
The Institute of International Relations
The Institute of International Relations (IIR), founded as a private organization in 1953 and formally affiliated with National Chengchi University in 1975, was originally set up to serve as a think tank for the ROC government. Its researchers briefed the president's office and other government agencies on mainland and global affairs. Although the IIR has broadened its focus to cover regional and global issues, two of its four research divisions still concentrate on analyzing mainland affairs.
"We subscribe to more than 480 mainland periodicals, and about 470 of these actually arrive regularly," says Lee Kuan-hua (李光華), an IIR librarian. Most of them deal with political and economic issues. No matter what the field, however, it is always difficult to receive every issue from mainland publishers. "The circulation of certain magazines is still restricted,&q uot; Lee says. "When news or reports are not supposed to be read overseas, the authorities there will stop the particular magazine at customs."
The escalating costs of building and maintaining library collections experienced by institutions worldwide have also hurt local ones, including IIR. "We don't acquire as many new books now because of budget constraints," Lee says. "But we already have a strong collection of books and newspapers that date back to the 1930s and 1940s. Many people come to use them." The clippings are classified into categories and can be searched on computer.
The IIR library has a useful index of local periodicals and dissertations, the Humanities Index and Social Science Index, published every month. The library also subscribes to the FBIS Daily Report, published by the US Government, and it has purchased major mainland newspaper microfilms from the 1980s on. The IIR publishes its own monthly journals on mainland China, Issues and Studies, in both English and Chinese, and Mainland China Studies, in Chinese.
Milton D. Yeh (葉明德), research fellow and director of IIR's Third Division (which conducts research on mainland ideology, politics, law, foreign relations, and military affairs) says his division has a special collection of Chinese communist documents uncovered by the Nationalist's Bureau of Investigation during raids of Chinese communist hideouts prior to 1949. The division also has about 500 volumes of materials specifically assessing the mainland's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).
In 1995, the IIR began cooperating with the Taiwan department of the mainland's Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). "This is similar to an exchange program," Yeh says. When IIR researchers go to the mainland, CASS will help arrange the visit and other administrative work. Moreover, they will not interfere with whom the researchers see or what they study. All expenditures, however, are p aid by the researchers themselves. Likewise, when mainland researchers come to Taiwan, we reciprocate the services and also provide lodging. In 1996, ten mainland researchers came to Taiwan on this program.
Most of the IIR's research projects on mainland Chinese affairs are funded by government agencies such as the Mainland Affairs Council, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Education. A current project that is a major scholarly resource is the institute's comprehensive "Who's Who on the Mainland." This three-year project is in its second year. "In the past, our research primarily centered on individual political figures and Communist Party developments," Yeh says. "Nowadays, we are concentrating more on research undertaken from the perspective of different social sciences--such as economics and political science--and we take more objective analytical viewpoints. In other words, we don't politicize the whole spectrum of our work, and this is the right approach.''
The Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research
The Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER), is divided into a Mainland China Division, an International Division, and a Taiwan Division. "The Mainland China Division conducts research on contemporary mainland economic affairs," says Research Fellow Lee Hua-hsia (李華夏), who specializes in mainland China's economy, economic development, and econometrics. CIER research holdings deal primarily with the mainland's economy and industries. The Institute subscribes to 477 periodicals (a portion are donated by institutions), 95 percent of which are on the mainland economy. Mainland newspapers such as Takungpao and the People's Daily come in two days after publication, while other specialized newspapers such as China Machinery and Electronics Daily and China Textile News come in batches weekly. Except for Tibet, the division has all the yearbooks of mainland provinces as well as a selection of major cities. Some 250 major periodicals can be searched by computer.
As with most research institutions in Taiwan, local and foreign researchers who wish to use CIER resources need only bring a recommendation letter from a recognized academic or research institution. This allows one to read and photocopy materials, but books and mainland publications cannot be borrowed. In addition, CIER publishes Economic Outlook, a bimonthly for general readers interested in domestic, mainland, and global economic affairs.
The institute maintains links with a variety of overseas institutions, primarily to conduct research on practical, policy-oriented issues. "Many mainland researchers have used our resources," Lee says. "They find that we have more mainland materials in one place than they can easily find on the mainland." During the past three years, visits by mainland scholars have averaged at least one or two per month. Present government policies do not allow CIER to cooperate directly with mainland academic institutions, but this may change in the near future.
Taiwan Institute of Economic Research
The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) was established in 1976 as a private independent institute to conduct research on Taiwan's economy in relation with the mainland and with the global economy.
An example of the sort of work done at TIER is explained by Ray B. Dawn (黃瑞斌), director of TIER's sixth research division. Dawn says that he and his colleagues had a project commissioned by a Taiwan construction company to explore the economic potential of ten major cities on the mainland. In cooperation with the mainland's CASS Economic Evaluation Center, they assessed these places on the criteria of population, GDP growth, and industrial development. TIER's library holdings of roughly 50,000 volumes focus on economics and various industries. About half of the materials are in Japanese.
The Center for Chinese Studies
The Center for Chinese Studies (CSS) is a government-funded institution housed in the National Central Library in Taipei. The CSS, set up in 1980, has holdings in Chinese culture, literature, history, philosophy, and the social sciences. At present it has 60,000 books and subscribes to 1,110 different periodicals, 25 newspapers, and has about 500 types of microfilm and microfiche materials. Only graduate students in Sinological studies are allowed to use the Center's resources, a restriction imposed to preserve its research atmosphere. Because some of the library materials are old and fragile, the Center's personnel do all photocopying for researchers.
The Bureau of Investigation, Ministry of Justice
The government's Bureau of Investigation (BOI) has extensive source materials on the Communist Party before 1949. Its collection, totaling 74,000 volumes, covers Chinese communist theory, party, politics, the military, economics and trade, and culture and education. The BOI subscribes to 56 mainland periodicals. The strongest feature of its holdings is a collection of original CCP documents, some of which are the only extant copies. These materials, consisting of about 20,000 volumes, are of great importance to the study of early CCP history.
The BOI's chief functions are to provide administrative and logistical support for government reference. As an organ under the Ministry of Justice, a major part of its research is on mainland laws and regulations, a field not many institutes focus on.
Since August 1986 the BOI has also videotaped TV programs broadcast via satellite by the Central People's Broadcasting Station. These videotapes are classified into special reports and news under various topic headings. The BOI holdings are open to local and foreign scholars, as long as they have a letter of recommendation from a university or research institution. BOI personnel will access the materials, which can be read on the premises and photocopied; books cannot be borrowed.
The BOI publishes A Study of Chinese Communists, a monthly, and a wide range of special books and studies. Some recent titles: Highlights of Cross-strait Relations; A Compilation of Major Mainland Administrative Laws and Regulations; and Opportunities and Risks of Taiwan Investment on the Mainland.
The Mainland Affairs Council
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) is a Cabinet agency set up in 1990 to monitor the thawing of relations between Taiwan and mainland China. The Council's Mainland Affairs Information and Research Center opened to the public in January 1994 to serve the public and provide free information on cross-strait relations (Its Internet address is: www.mac.gov.tw).
The MAC's resource collection has extensive materials on Hong Kong and Macau, Taiwan, and the mainland. Subjects include law and regulation changes, statistics, and yearbooks. The Center has 25,000 books and subscribes to more than 600 periodicals, of which over 300 are mainland periodicals and 100 are mainland newspaper s. A catalog of all books can be found on computer and the Internet.
Except for the overseas edition of the People's Daily which arrives the same day as publication, the rest of the papers take at least two days. Because the mainland has approximately 2,000 newspapers and 1,000 periodicals, it is quite impossible for one agency to collect all mainland publications. As a result, the MAC is trying to coordinate and integrate a list of all mainland resources in Taiwan. As an aid to researchers, the Center has compiled comprehensive information on library and institutional holdings on mainland books islandwide.
Other places to look
Other major institutions with holdings of mainland materials include Academia Historica (12,000 books, 99 periodicals); the National Palace Museum Library (12,500 books, 130 periodicals); the National Research Institute of Chinese Medicine (2,000 books, 670 periodicals); the library of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (350 books, 15 periodicals); the Straits Exchange Foundation (12,500 books, 155 periodicals, 60 newspapers); and universities with China studies programs and departments, including National Taiwan University, National Chengchi University, National Tung-hua University, National Sun Yat-sen University, Chinese Culture University, Tamkang University, and Fu Hsing Kang College.