News

The cultural talk held by the Dept. of Chinese as a second language and Higher Education Sprout Project Office was held at NTNU on Decmeber 6th. A Chuan Lyu Endowed Chair in Taiwan Studies, Prof. Liao Ping Hui was invited to talk about Travel Theories & Sinophone Cultural Studies.

 

The talk is hosted by Prof. Chien Ying Ying. Director Chen Jenn Yeug gave a welcome remark. At the beginning, Prof. Liao shared with us a great news. A Scholarship donor in South California is about to fund Taiwanese students to study or intern in the states for 3 to 6 months. The president of UCSD will provide matching fund as well. They would also suggest the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Department of International and Corss-strait Education to provide fund to more students and applicants.

 

Prof. Liao said that the most important thing in traveling is the people you meet, the places you visit and the communication between local people. He advise students to go to places less common among tourists so that you can know more about local culture. When he visited Italy, he went to Macerata, where Matteo Ricci, the first missionary came to China, was born. When he went to Germany, a local people told him that he should go to Bamberg, a town where churches and architectures were not destroyed in WWII.

 

Travel is also closely related to colonialism, industrial management, business management, study abroad, study tour, politics, war, environmental protection, and ecology. Professor Liao cited several literary works. There are lots of travel literature in Chinese, such as Root-seeking and travel routes, travel and cultural identity, travel and globalization and capitalism. The Stolen Bicycle by Wu Ming Yi, China Dream by Ma Jian, and Good bye, Eagle by Dadelavan Ibau. In The Stolen Bicycle, the narrator tells us about the landscape, the development of modernization and technology in the society and history of Taiwan.