【Reported by Jin-yu Cai, Tamkang Times】The Department of History held the Tamsui Studies and Regional Society History Forum on November 27th and 28th in the Chueh-sheng International Conference Hall. Director of the Department of History, Chen-jung Lin, expressed, “This forum is themed around oceanic regions and we’ve invited educators and researchers from Japan, France, Sweden, Brussels, and Malaysia to share their experience and various publications. The forum detailed the many challenging issues historians are faced with in addition to their goals, materials and overall purpose.

Associate Professor of the Department of History, Yao-tsung Tang, presented his publication, “Soulful History,” which left the traditional framework of historical analysis in order to make a comparison of modern societal issues, in hopes of making a more effective connection with the common man. His argument stated that in the past, there has been a divide between society and historians that prevents effective progress and thus allows for more confusion in terms of future development.

Another dissertation reviewed at the forum was written by Researcher of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wang-qian jin. He wrote “The Three Types of New Discoveries of Xiamen’s Coastal Documents,” which utilized new historical study materials that everyone uses in their day to day lives, in order to easily explain complex research involving the fishing industry, shipping routes of Xiamen and important shipping events related to mainland China. Researcher from France’s Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Claudine Salmon, shared the contributions of researcher Wei-jing Li (1614-1688).