Taiwan’s university publishers are broadening the reach of academic works released in traditional Chinese characters.
The annual Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE), staged with the support of the Ministry of Culture, is a bellwether of Taiwan’s publishing sector. Wrapping up Feb. 17, the six-day event served up a smorgasbord of sumptuous literary delights to visitors from home and abroad.
Themed Time for Reading, TIBE comprised pavilions focusing on areas such as children’s stories, digital publishing and Taiwan literature. As in the past six years, the country’s No. 1 industry expo featured an eclectic selection of works from homegrown university publishers in a special section with an eye-catching slogan: Read. Read. Read. Otherwise We’re Lost.
National Taiwan University of Arts in New Taipei City, a bow participant, was one of 11 national universities strutting its stuff at a joint TIBE exhibition organized by the Publication Center at Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA). Ku Yu-ling (顧玉玲), center director, said each one of the institutions taking part is an MVP in a particular field. “Our individual strengths combine to create a powerful team representing the unlimited potential of our sector.”
In 2013, TNUA and the publishing departments of six other universities kicked off the collaboration at TIBE. National Taiwan University (NTU) Press in Taipei helmed the exhibition for six years, with TNUA taking over for the 2019 edition.
A newly published historical document series containing 17th-century manuscripts of a Spanish-Hokkien dictionary and grammar book are a source of great pride for pavilion co-exhibitor National Tsing Hua University Press in northern Taiwan’s Hsinchu City. (Photo by Central News Agency)
Reaching Out
Buoyed by the positive response to the initiative, the group elected in 2017 to establish a year-round base in the famous underground bookstore area between Taipei metro’s Shuanglian and Zhongshan stations. Members, including National Chengchi University Press in Taipei and National Chung Hsing University Press in central Taiwan’s Taichung City, take turns every three months hosting literary events like new book releases and salons.
The retail site collaboration is paying handsome dividends in terms of heightened exposure and greater organizational capabilities. The former involves scheduling trips to international events such as the Hong Kong Book Fair and the sideline show of the annual conference hosted by U.S.-based Association for Asian Studies. “In addition to our TIBE foray, we’re considering how to develop the group into a globally recognized brand,” Ku said.
Two more schools are planning to get behind the venture, according to Ku: National Taiwan Ocean University in northern Taiwan’s Keelung City and Fu Jen Catholic University in New Taipei. The latter’s membership will be the first from a privately owned school.
Hsiang Jieh (項潔), a professor of computer science at NTU who headed NTU Press from 2008 to 2016, welcomes the move. “Our initial plan was never exclusionary,” he said. “Back in 2012 when we approached the Ministry of Education for TIBE funding, the concept was for a platform in which Taiwan’s nearly 160 tertiary institutions could pursue common goals and ideals.”
Although private schools like Fu Jen, Chinese Culture University in Taipei and Tamkang University in New Taipei boast strong publishing units, Hsiang said the group’s initial membership was made up of seven state-run institutions. “There was no rhyme nor reason, it’s just the way things panned out.”
National Taiwan University Press’s campus bookstore in Taipei City sells books and souvenirs. (Photo by Huang Chung-hsin)
Safeguarding Tradition
Wang Tay-sheng (王泰升), director of NTU Press and a professor in the school’s law college, said the publishing arm enjoys an enviable reputation among its peers for outperformance. “After upgrading to publishing house status in 1996, NTU Press started playing a bigger role in promoting academic development,” he added, citing the move as reflecting the greater liberalization in society of the 1980s.
The need to protect academic works published in traditional Chinese characters for future generations is another of Hsiang’s personal motivations for strengthening the group’s presence outside TIBE. “Simplified Chinese is proving all too pervasive in this important field,” he said. “Its influence must be checked by academic institutions and their publishing units as opposed to the private sector.”
Both Hsiang and Wang, consecutive directors of NTU Press, said the books published by universities play an important role in enabling liberal arts and social sciences scholars to strengthen academic credibility. “In the past, this need was difficult to meet due to the absence of a reliable examination mechanism for such specialized materials,” Wang said. “So, we built a signature system similar to that for articles submitted to an academic periodical.”
A book draft submitted to NTU Press undergoes an average four-month review period by two to three examiners ranked associate professor or associate researcher and above. Once completed and accepted, the draft enters a six-month process of editing.
“Usually, eight out of 10 offers would be rejected,” Wang said. “Most occur during the preliminary review overseen by the editor-in-chief responsible for academic series.”
NTU Press also teams up with Academia Sinica, Taiwan’s foremost research institution, especially its Institutes of Chinese Literature and Philosophy, Sociology and Taiwan History. “The works of quite a large number of Taiwan’s best authors in the field of cultural, historical and social studies see the light of day via this avenue,” Wang said.
University publishers run a popular retail space in the underground bookstore area between Taipei metro’s Shuanglian and Zhongshan stations. (Photo by Huang Chung-hsin)
International cooperation is another priority for NTU Press. Since January 2017, six Mandarin-language books have been published for the NTU Harvard-Yenching Institute Academic Series, with another two pending this year courtesy of funding provided by the U.S. organization encouraging East and Southeast Asia studies.
These titles comprise one of six academic series by NTU Press in humanities studies, which include the Hsiang-edited series on digital humanities research. In addition, the project to publish an English series together with the University of South Carolina in the U.S. is under negotiation.
Academic Heft
Producing high-quality publications is an ideal way for a university to demonstrate its academic capabilities, according to Lee Jui-teng (李瑞騰), editor-in-chief of National Central University (NCU) Press in northern Taiwan’s Taoyuan City. The dean of the school’s College of Liberal Arts cited NCU Press’s two series of studies on Hakka people, the second largest ethnic group in Taiwan. Focusing on Hakka people living in Taiwan and overseas, respectively, the books came about as a result of the school’s academic strength in the field.
NCU’s College of Hakka Studies, established in 2003 as the first institute of its kind in the country, has many related titles to its name. Among the latest works published by NCU Press are two textbooks, one on the Python programming language by a NCU professor of mathematics and the other on learning of Vietnamese language by a lecturer from the school’s language center.
A university publisher can seek to benefit the academic circle and the public by releasing works on popular science topics, Lee said, adding that NCU Press has such plans in the pipeline. Wang also backs this broader approach. “NTU Press works for the university while shouldering the weighty responsibility of its obligations to Taiwan society,” he added.
With dozens of brick-and-mortar and online sales channels at home and abroad, Wang said NTU Press is perfectly equipped to take the influence and presence of academic works published using traditional Chinese characters to new heights. “This is a mission cherished and roundly embraced by all of the group’s members.”
Write to Pat Gao at cjkao@mofa.gov.tw