Taiwan Resource Center for Chinese Studies established at Leiden University
On October 27, 2014 a delegation from Taiwan’s National Central Library visited Leiden University and signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a Taiwan Resource Center for Chinese Studies. Tseng Shu-Hsien, the Director-General of the National Central Library, and Kurt De Belder, the Director of the Leiden University Libraries and of Leiden University Press, were the signatories. James Lee, Representative at the Taipei Representative Office in the Netherlands; Ms. Hsu Huei-Wen, director of the Education Division at the Taipei Representative Office in the EU & Belgium; Professor Wim van den Doel, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at Leiden University, and LERU* Chairman for Humanities and Social Sciences; Professor Hilde de Weerdt from the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies (LIAS); and their European and Taiwanese colleagues were among more than 30 guests who gathered to attend the signing ceremony and warm celebratory reception.
The National Central Library has already signed an agreement with Leiden University to create a shared research database to promote study in the field of Sinology, and the establishment of the Taiwan Resource Center for Chinese Studies will further expand their collaboration. The Leiden Library houses one of the largest Asian studies catalogues in Europe. The National Central Library will assist the Leiden University Library expand and enrich its Sinology collection, and in the setting up of a special online research system. Leiden University will provide a dedicated space for the resource center, hopefully on the new floor of the library, and a dedicated website, and will also organize activities to further promote the study and research of Sinology.
