Institute of Modern History

In February 1955, under the guidance of former President Chu Chia-hua of Academia Sinica, the Planning Committee for the Institute of Modern History was established, with Professor Kuo Ting-yee appointed as its chairman. The Institute was first located in Taipei City, but moved to Nankang in October 1955. Construction of the Institute's first office building was completed in 1957. The emphasis of the Institute's work during this initial period was on collecting archival materials, purchasing Chinese and Western books, and recruiting and training research staff, as well as formulating and initiating a number of research projects. The Institute was formally established in April 1965, with Professor Kuo Ting-yee chosen to serve as its director. In addition, two new research buildings were completed. In August 1969, Professor Kuo went to the United States to teach, and resigned directorship a year later. In July 1971, Professor Liang Ching-chun succeeded as director. Professor Liang resigned in August 1973, and was succeeded by Professor Wang Yu-chun. During this period, the Institute's work continued along previously established lines, while preparatory work commenced on the library and formulation of a five-year development plan. Professor Wang completed his term as director in August 1979, and was succeeded by Professor Lu Shih-chiang. Beginning in 1981, the Institute initiated the first five-year development plan and construction of the library was completed. In addition, preparatory work commenced on the archives building, while efforts continued to recruit talented researchers, to expand scholarly contacts both in Taiwan and abroad, and to hold international academic conferences. In November 1982, Professor Chang Yu-fa was appointed as deputy director, and in August 1985 was promoted to director. The Institute's second five-year development plan commenced in 1986. At the same time, the Institute continued to recruit new staff, while construction of the archives building was completed. In 1989, work began to rebuild the Institute's first office building as the Modern History Building, which was opened for use in May 1993. In January 1990, Professor Chen San-ching was appointed as deputy director, and later promoted to his current post as the Institute's sixth director in August 1991 and seventh director in 1994. In March 1996, Professor Huang Fu-ching was appointed as deputy director.

RESEARCH

The scope of the Institute's research extends from the late Ming/early Ch'ing period to the modern era, covering four centuries of changes affecting all facets of China's political, military, diplomatic, social, economic, cultural, and intellectual history. The Institute's research aims at achieving the following goals: 1) An overall evaluation of the past four hundred years of China's historical develop-ment; 2) Tracing the origins of China's modern-day problems; 3) Analyzing the many problems linked to China's modernization process. Due to the progress attained in a number of research fields, as well as a growing number of staff, beginning in February 1988 the Institute divided its personnel into four research sections. These include the General Modern History Section, the Political and Diplomatic History Section, the Social and Economic History Section, and the Cultural and Intellectual History Section. Each section's research fields are as follows:

GENERAL MODERN HISTORY SECTION

This section's research centers on China's general history since the late Ming/early Ch'ing era. Its overall goal is to utilize a holistic perspective of China's modern historical development, combined with a comprehensive research methodology, to study the interrelations of Chinese political, economic, social and cultural changes since the Ming-Ch'ing. Regional studies are also being undertaken.

The Third Conference on Sino-Japanese Relations in the Last Century

POLITICAL AND DIPLOMATIC HISTORY SECTION

This section's main focus is on modern Chinese political and diplomatic history, as well as the closely related fields of military and legal history.

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY SECTION

This section's research emphasizes the fields of modern Chinese industrial, agricultural, financial, trade, trans-portation, communications, and irrigation history. It also covers the fields of demographic, overseas Chinese, religious, and daily life history.

CULTURAL AND INTELLECTUAL HISTORY SECTION

Members of this section research topics in the fields of modern China's intellectual, academic, educational and scientific history.

PERSONNEL AND FACILITIES

PERSONNEL

The Institute has a staff of 61 members, including 26 research fellows, 7 adjunct research fellows , 3 correspondence research fellows, 12 associate research fellows, 6 assistant research fellows, 5 research assistants, 1 assistant and 11 administrative personnel.

LIBRARY

Reading and Reference Room, Library

In addition to its book purchases, the library has also benefited from donations, gifts and exchanges from a number of national and oversea organizations, including the Asia Foundation, the National Science Council (Executive Yuan, R.O.C.), the Ford Foundation, and the late Professor Fang Chao-ying. The library's holdings include books, periodicals, microfilms, and microfiches in Chinese, Japanese, and Western languages (refer to table). Some features of the holdings can be briefly stated here. Firstly, there are photocopies of old papers such as the Central Daily News (1928-1949); the Shen-pao (1872. 4 -1949. 5); the Ta-Kung-pao (1902. 6 -1949. 1) etc.; literary and historical materials on various provinces, counties, cities and towns on mainland China; new editions of local gazettes totalling 1,500 volumes. Secondly, there are microfilms and microfiches which include Ch'ing Imperial Edicts (shang-yu-tang) and the Imperial Diaries (ch'i-chu-chutse), as well as Ch'ing genealogies, household data, and lists of successful civil exam candidates. Thirdly, there are Republican-era newspapers and periodicals, government bulletins, Japanese Foreign Ministry archives, U.S. Congressional papers, archives from the British Public Record Office, the Herbert Morrison papers, etc. Particularly noteworthy are the F.O. archives from the British Foreign Office, which are the most complete set of archives in the library's holdings. Originally known as the General Correspondence of China, these archives include reports and other documents written by successive British customs officers before the Opium War, reports written by successive British ambassadors stationed in China following the Treaty of Nanking, reports written by British consuls stationed at China's treaty ports, etc. These documents are of immense value for the study of modern China's diplomatic history, as well as changes occurring inside China. The above-mentioned sources are all included in a card catalogue organized in sets of author, title and subject cards. In order to facilitate the use of these sources, a computerized card catalog is now being compiled. The library also has a microfilm reading room, which contains 5 viewing machines, 3 reader-printers, and 5 photocopiers. Computerization for the library started in July 1989. At present, facilities include Innopac software, 12 terminal units and 5 printers. Cataloging, purchasing, searching, circulation, and periodical management systems are all now open for use.

Clipping and chronicling work has been undertaken from February 1955 to December 1993. Clippings have been sorted and cataloged, with 4,672 volumes being compiled. In addition, approximately 18,640 bound volumes of newspapers and periodicals have been prepared, stored, sorted and shelved. The library also has a Reference Room, Reading Room and Periodical Room.

In May 1976, the Butler Library of Columbia University donated the entire record of interviews with Wellington Koo. In March 1979, Mrs. Koo donated five cases of her husband's memoirs. In addition, in April 1988 Professor C. Martin Wilbur donated nine different oral history records produced by Columbia University. These include inter-views with Chang Fa-k'uei, Wu Kuo-chen, Li Shu-hua, Tso Shun-sheng, K'ung Hsiang-hsi, Ho Lien, Shen Yi-yun (including records of Huang Fu), Hu Shih, and Li Huang. These materials have greatly enhanced the quality and uniqueness of the library's collection.

THE ARCHIVES

Historical Documents

The Institute has been collecting various archival materials and establishing specialized management of these sources for many years. Comprehensive management of official Economic Archives and Diplomatic Archives is currently being conducted by the archives staff. The Archives Building was formally established by Academia Sinica in February 1988, with the chief archivist being responsible for all archival and relevant administrative matters. The responsibility of archives staff is divided into three sections: the Reading Section, the Cataloging Section, and the Photographic Reproductions Section. The Reading Section is responsible for assisting Institute and outside scholars in using the archives currently open for use, while also storing and managing fully cataloged archives. The Cataloging Section's duties involve the or-ganizing and subsequent cataloging of archival materials. The Photographic Reproduction Section produces micro-films of archival materials. Cataloging efforts are divided into two types: cataloging the Diplomatic Archives, and cataloging the Economic Archives.

• Work on the Diplomatic Archives has been completed. The total holdings are as follows:

  Title	Number of Boxes
  Tsungli Yamen	1,049
  Foreign Affairs Ministry (late Ch'ing)	455
  Foreign Affairs Ministry (Peking government)	2,564
  Foreign Affairs Ministry (National government)	27
  Duplicate Files	49
  Total	4,144

  In order to facilitate the use of the Diplomatic Archives by local and overseas scholars, the Institute has compiled a two-volume catalog, which was completed in June 1991.

• Work on the Economic Archives has been divided into two areas:
  1. Approximately 15,000 maps preserved by various irrigation agencies have now been mounted. In addition, a two-volume work entitled Catalogue for Map Collection in the Institute of Modern History has been published.
  2. Archival materials belonging to various economic agencies have been organized and catalogued. Due to the massive volume of these materials, the Institute has invested a great deal of money and countless hours of manpower in their cataloging. After many years of work, the cataloging process was finally completed in January 1996. The complete holdings of the Economics Archives are as follows:

     Title	Number of Boxes
     Commerce Ministry	6
     Ministry of Agriculture, Industry & Commerce	23
     Ministry of Industry & Commerce	7
     Ministry of Agriculture & Commerce	569
     National Irrigation Bureau	33
     Internal Affairs Ministry	14
     Construction Commission	484
     Ministry of Business & Industry	1,467
     National Economic Commission	653
     Resources Commission	1,418
     Huai River Project Commission	607
     Ministry of Irrigation	1,062
     Ministry of Agriculture & Forestry	3.967
     Ministry of Economic Affairs	3,198
     Irrigation Commission of the Executive Yuan	2,237
     Chinese Reparations & Restitution Delegation	392
     Wang Regime	612
     Economic Stabilization Board	261
     Council for United States Aid	83
     Salt Administration	419
     Total	17,521

  In addition, in order to make it easier for local and overseas scholars to read and make reference to the archives, the Institute has successively published materials, entitled Collection of the Catalogues for Documents on Modern China's Economic Affairs, from archives for which the cataloging process has been completed.

  Work has also been completed on cataloging 419 boxes of the Finance Ministry Salt Archives, which were transferred from the Ministry of Economic Affairs to the Institute in 1990. In December 1991, the Executive Yuan turned over its files on the February 28 Incident to the Institute. These have now been cataloged into 34 boxes, and made available for use since March 1992.

  The Institute places great emphasis on the management and preservation of archival materials. In order to aid in the perpetual preservation of these sources, the Institute specially purchased a set of photographic equipment for producing microfilms. Work started on reproducing ma-terials in the Diplomatic Archives and Economic Archives and maps on microfilm in October 1991. Furthermore, in the interest of preserving archival materials while also facilitating scholarly access to them, the Institute has continued to publish photographic reprints of source materials in the archives, which are now available both in Taiwan and abroad. In addition to preserving the archives of governmental organizations, the Archives Building also has an Individual Files Room. The latter contains famous individuals' manuscripts, diaries, landholding title-deeds, etc. Among the most valuable are Kang Yu-wei's letters, Tso Tsung-t'ang's family letters, Tseng Kuo-ch'uan's letters to Yi Shih-fu, Yuan Shih-k'ai's family letters and the manuscript of Yuan Shih-k'ai's autobiography, etc. Other important collections include diaries and letters by Liu Chih (donated to the library by his family), private papers given to the library by C. Martin Wilbur, the diary of Ch'en K'o-wen (donated by his family), and the diaries, letters and manuscripts of Lei Chen and Fu Cheng (donated by their families).

COMPUTER FACILITIES

Computer Room

The Institute possesses computer facilities featuring the equipment listed below. Hardware includes 3 rooms for computer machinery and 1 computer room, which are located in the office building, archives building and library. There are also 7 computer cabinets, 11 HUBS, 5 fiber optic transcievers, 8 AUI transformers, one 10 BASE-T Ethernet Network covering a 27-kilometer long LAN, 1 file server, a CD server, etc. The Institute also has dozens of IBM compatible personal computers, as well as 2 Apple Macintosh computers. Software includes a large amount of various Chinese and English word processing programs, databases, spreadsheets, Windows, imaging, etc.

The computer room currently holds computer classes on a regular basis. Since their inauguration in August 1993, over 350 people have participated. A total of 20 courses on the uses of various network programs have been offered, and these have been of great benefit towards research and administrative efforts at the Institute.

Moreover, there are two programs of computerization being currently undertaken. One is to key-in Prof. Kuo Ting-yee's A Chronology of Modern China, 1829-1911 and A Chronology of the Republic of China, 1912-1949. The two works taken together consist of about 6-million characters and will be placed on Internet for reference by the academic world. The project has now reached the final stage of proof reading, and is expected to be completed soon. The other program will establish graphic files of the Institute's 600,000 files. The program has been making satisfactory progress and will be finished within the next 8 years.

MAJOR RESULTS OF RESEARCH

Oral History Series

Research work conducted at the Institute is divided into individual research projects and funded research projects for special topics. In addition, the Institute holds regular seminars as well as large-scale conferences. The Institute has also been actively engaged in its own Oral History Program, which involves interviewing current major figures with the goal of preserving a faithful record of contemporary history. In recent years, the Program has been linked to the Institute's main research projects, with interviews undertaken on specially chosen topics. Since the founding of the Oral History Section in January 1984, over 645 people have been interviewed, with transcripts compiled which exceed 7,850,000 characters. A total of 59 collections of oral historical materials have been published, and seven issues of the periodical Oral History have been published at irregular intervals.

During the past two years, members of the Institute have published five books, entitled Corporation Development and the Taiwan Experience: A Case Study of Tainan Group; Taiwan's Aboriginal Proprietary Rights in the Ch'ing Period: Bureaucracy, Han Tenants and the Transformation of Property Rights of the Anli Tribe, 1700-1890; Yoshino Sakuzo's Understanding and Critique of Modern China: 1906-1932, Rebellion to Militarism: First Stage Modernization in Kwangsi, 1860-1937; Disputes and Negotiations over Outer Mongolia's National Identity: Unification or Independence, and Sovereignty,1911-1916. One issue of the Bulletin of the Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica(#24) has also been published. Five collections of historical materials published include The Memoirs of Adm. Liu Kwang-kai; Marshall's Mission to China: A Commentary on the Report; Collection of Historical Materials on Szechwan Railway Protection Movement, The Manuscripts of Essays, Poems and Letters of K'ang Yu-wei; Documents on the Northern Expedition of General Pai Chung-hsi; Anti-Chinese Movement in Achmed Sukarno's Indonesia. The Institute has also published two collection of source materials entitled The Macao Special Files (volumes 3) and Documents on Recruiting Chinese Workers in Late Ch'ing, 1863-1910. In addition, the Insti-tute's semi-yearly Newsletter for Modern Chinese History, the second and third issues of Research on Women in Modern Chinese History have also been published.

Monograph Series

The past two years we have also witnessed the completion of a number of research projects funded by the National Science Council, the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, etc. These include: "The Health and Medical Care of Children in Traditional China -- A Comparative Study," "A Collection and Study of Chu Cheng's Complete Works and Materials Related to Him ," "Industrial Policy and Private Enterprise: A Case Study of Teng-Eng 1940-1962," "A Study of Japan's Investment in Coal Mining in China 1900-1945," "The Folk Cultural Life for the Popular Society in Modern China," "A Study on the Designation of the Outer Mongolian Living Buddha and the Sino-Russian Mongolian Negotiations (1915-1916)," and "The Qing Imperial Lineage: Household Structure and Economic Well-being."

RESEARCH STAFF

MEMBER OF THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE