Professor Emeritus Hsi-Deh Wu of Tamkang University’s Department of French was honored on November 18 with the 29th Taiwan–France Cultural Award, in recognition of his exceptional contributions to promoting cultural and artistic exchange among Taiwan, France, and Europe. This marks another major international accolade for Prof. Wu, following his receipt of the French Education Knights of Honor from the France in Taiwan Association in 2016.
The award was jointly established by Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture and the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques of the Institut de France. Two recipients were selected this year, the other being Victor Louzon, Associate Professor at Sorbonne University in Paris. The official award ceremony is scheduled to take place in autumn 2026 at the Institut de France in Paris. The Taiwan–France Cultural Award aims to honor institutions or individuals in France, Europe, and Taiwan who have made outstanding contributions to promoting cultural and artistic exchange between Taiwan and France, as well as between Taiwan and Europe. Through this award, the organizers seek to continue encouraging sustained and impactful cultural collaboration, fostering broader and deeper bilateral and multilateral cultural engagement.
Prof. Wu expressed that receiving the award is both a great honor and a stroke of good fortune. He shared that his first thoughts were of gratitude toward Tamkang University for its long-standing support and cultivation, as well as toward President Huan-Chao Keh for generously providing a letter of recommendation. An alumnus of Tamkang University’s Department of French (now the French Division of the Department of European Languages), Prof. Wu earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from Université Paris Diderot (Paris VII) before returning to Tamkang University, where he taught for nearly four decades. During his tenure, he served as Chair of the Department of French and Dean of the College of Foreign Languages and Literatures, among other leadership roles. In 1989, Prof. Wu spearheaded the introduction of the Que sais-je? (“What Do I Know?”) translation series in Taiwan, systematically presenting contemporary European intellectual thought. He went on to initiate the Association des Professeurs de Français de Taïwan in 1996, founded the Taiwan Association of French Translators in 2014, organized Taiwan’s first World Francophonie Day celebration, and established the French Translation Award. In recognition of these significant contributions, the French Ministry of Education conferred upon him the Order of Academic Palms in 2016. He has also authored numerous influential teaching materials that have laid a strong foundation for French language education in Taiwan.
Prof. Wu’s research expertise encompasses French–Chinese translation, contemporary French literature, French culture and intellectual history, and French history. A prolific scholar, he has continued writing actively since retirement, publishing works such as I Rebel, Therefore We Exist: Modernity in the Works of Albert Camus (《我反抗，故我們存在 ― 卡繆作品中的現代性》), Voyageur du temps retrouvé, Encountering French Literature (《遇見法國文學》), Made in France: 100 Keywords of French Culture (《法國製造 ― 法國文化關鍵詞100》), and Space and Culture: Fifteen Lectures on Space (《空間與文化―空間十五講》), as well as translations including The Rains of New York: Albert Camus’s Travel Journals (《紐約的雨 － 卡繆的旅行札記》).
