Sigur Center for Asian Studies
At the Elliott School of International Affairs
The Sigur Center annually supports GW undergraduate and graduate students in pursuing summer research and language learning opportunities in Asia. Check out the entries below to read about Sigur Center Fellow adventures and experiences!
Hello everyone!
This is my final video blog for my summer study program. I will be finishing my last class on Sunday and will conclude my 8 weeks study program.
In this blog, I am going to discuss some interesting places that have been talked about in my textbook that I think are fun places to visit when getting out of Taipei, and also I will provide some closing thoughts on my study program.
To watch the video please go to this link!
The Covid-19 pandemic has brought enormous difficulties for doing research on Asia. Since in-person visits to archives and field work has become more inconvenient, this blog post explores alternative ways to do research. Based on my experiences of using the “Data Platform of Documents on the Sino-Japanese War and modern China-Japan Relations (Kangri zhanzheng yu jindai Zhongri guanxi wenxian shuju pingtai),” (hereafter “Data Platform on Sino-Japanese War”) this blog post discusses the value of online databases for research on Asia.
Overview of the Database
Established in 2015, The “Data Platform on Sino-Japanese War” (bottom) was a project within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) center’s general initiative to promote research on the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). The database was directed by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the National Library, and the National Archives Bureau. The funding for the database comes from National Social Sciences Foundation.
Most of the materials in the database are contemporary publications from the Republican period (1912-1949), including official documents, books, journals, and newspapers. By September 2020, the database contains more than 50,000 volumes of books, about 1,000 titles of newspapers, and nearly 3,200 titles of journals—more than twenty-five million digital pages in total.
The title of the database indicates that it is strong on Sino-Japanese War and China-Japan relations, but the sources in the database cover every aspect of Republican China. Therefore, the database can be helpful for any research that covers the Republican period.
Some Examples of Sources at the Database
One interesting set of sources I found at the database was the journal Resistance War and Communication (Kangzhan yu jiaotong), which was the internal journal of the Ministry of Communication during the Sino-Japanese War. The journal (bottom, copyright “Data Platform on Sino-Japanese War”) was published biweekly, and the database has all the issues from 1938 to 1942. The journal contains rich information on China’s wartime communications, including plans, conferences, and operations of the Ministry of Communication, as well as informed opinions on communication affairs. The journal is an example of the database’s strong collection of Republican period journals.
Another useful set of materials I discovered was the Military Administration Statistics (Junzheng tongji), a secret series compiled by the Ministry of Military Administration from 1937 to 1945. The series (bottom, copyright “Data Platform on Sino-Japanese War”) contains detailed statistics on every aspect of the Nationalist Army, including its combat and service troops, supplies and logistics, medical services, and armament industries. The series is a useful source to study the military aspect of the Sino-Japanese War.
Tips for Searching the Database
For searching of the database, I recommend use various types of keywords: thematic, personal, institutional etc. I also suggest sparing additional patience when searching for materials. The database covers a wide range and various types of materials, which are not sorted out in record groups as in an archive. Therefore, it might take more time to find useful sources.
Overall, the “Data Platform on Sino-Japanese War” is one of the largest online databases on Republican history open to the public. It offers an additional option for doing research during the pandemic. For other alternatives such as digital archives, please see my blog post “Doing Research on Asia during the Pandemic, Part I: Digital Archives”.
Zhongtian Han, Ph.D. East Asian History 2022
Sigur Center 2021 Field Research Fellow
China
The Covid-19 Pandemic changed everything, including academic research on Asia. The disruption of international travel to Asia limited access to archives, as well as the opportunity to conduct field work. In this situation, it is important to find alternative means to get sources and do research. Based on my experiences of using the Academic Historica Collections Online System, this blog explores the use of digital archives to do research on Asia during the pandemic.
Overview of the Archive
Established in May 1914 at Beijing, the Academia Historica (Guoshi Guan) was the central government institution responsible for compiling official history and collecting official documents. After 1949, the Academia Historica moved with the Nationalist government to Taiwan and reponed at Taipei in 1956.
The Academia Historica is responsible for managing the records of Republic of China Presidents and Vice-Presidents, as well as the records of a number of government institutions and prominent political figures. The records of Academia Historica cover the political, military, economic, social, and cultural aspects of the Republic of China. Therefore, they should be valuable for research on any topics of Republic of China history.
The digitization of Academia Historica records began in 2002. It was part of the Republic of China government’s general plan to digitize government records for public use. In 2016, the Academia Historica opened its digitized records to the public. By January 2019, the Academia Historica has made more than six million pages of digital documents available for public use. Since then, that number kept growing. The digital documents are searchable and open to download through the Academic Historica Collections Online System (bottom).
Some Examples of Records at Academia Historica
My experiences of using the Academic Historica digital records focused mainly on the Republican History (1912-1949). I found two collections of documents most valuable: the Chiang Kai-shek Collection and the Chen Cheng Collection. Chiang was the supreme leader of the Nationalist government and the Nationalist Army, while Chen served high civil and military posts under Chiang. The two collections include not only the personal directives and papers of Chiang and Chen, but also the official documents collected by or associated with them. Therefore, the two collections are comparable to U.S. presidential libraries in terms of the broad range of sources they contain.
Some of the most interesting documents I discovered were those on the Wuhan Campaign (June-November 1938) in the Chen Cheng Collection. The campaign involved more than 800,000 Chinese soldiers and about 400,000 Japanese soldiers and was fought in central China. The documents in the Chen Cheng Collection revealed the elaborate communication networks on the Chinese side. These include a highway network that connected Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi (bottom left, copyright Academic Historica), and an inter-province landline telephone and telegraph network in the three provinces (bottom right, copyright Academic Historica).
Tips for Searching the Records
The most convenient way to use Academia Historica digital records was through keyword search. To maximize the chance to find useful materials, I recommend using various types of keywords for any one topic: thematic, personal, institutional etc. It’s also helpful to pay attention to historical context and use keywords in contemporary use.
After searching by keywords, the results can be browsed either by the record group number or the starting year of the documents. When finding some useful documents, it’s also a good idea to browse other documents within the same record group. This often leads to additional useful materials.
Overall, the Academia Historica is probably the largest and best organized digital archive in Chinese language open to the public. It provides scholars with an alternative to in-person archival visits during the pandemic. For other options such as online databases please refer to my blog post “Doing Research on Asia during the Pandemic, Part II: Online Databases” on the Sigur Center for Asian Studies website.
Zhongtian Han, Ph.D. East Asian History 2022
Sigur Center 2021 Field Research Fellow
China
Hello everyone, I hope your summer is closing on a high note. My summer studies have been progressing well and I hope you all enjoyed my video on cooking dumplings.
Currently in my lesson we are talking about a lot of places that you can take a day trip to if you are already in Taipei. This blog I wanted to touch on some really cool areas that my lessons have recommended but also some areas which I have visited in the past while in Taiwan. It’s disappointing that I was unable to take part in language studies in Taiwan this summer, but having this language opportunity has really helped me improve my language ability and I am excited for the next opportunity where I will be able to go to Taiwan.
This area is very famous as a tourist destination where you can walk the winding streets of Jiufen and eat many kinds of street food in addition to eating at many great restaurants. Since Jiufen is in the mountains you are bound to find many hikes in the area that are of interest. My personal favourite hike is at Teapot Mountain. This is a fantastic hike that I think everyone who plans to head to the famous Jiufen area should take the time to make the short trip from Jiufen to Teapot Mountain. The views on a clear day are absolutely spectacular, as your view will be mountain summits against a backdrop of the open ocean. An easy place to start this hike will be from the Gold Mining Museum at the base of the mountain, from there you can take the trail about 35 minutes to the top. Alternately, you can drive up to just below the summit and walk the 5 minutes to the top to enjoy a great view. The best way to travel to this area will be by taking a train to the Ruifang train station and then taking a taxi to your intended destination.
This location from March to May has very beautiful views of the green vegetation that grows on the reef along the shore. The Laomei Green Reef is located north of Taipei along the north coast of Taiwan. It is best to visit Laomei Green Reef during low tide so that you will be able to see the vastness of the green reef and the view it has to offer tourists. The reef is a well known geological site due to the geological forces that have formed the unique landscape. Nearby this area, there is also a lighthouse that you can walk to and further enjoy the scenery and view. The Laomei Green Reef is not the most convenient location to get to. While there are busses that can be used to get there, the most convenient way to visit is by using a car or using a rideshare company; otherwise it might take too much time.
This tea house is not much of a day trip but rather a place to visit while you are busy exploring Taipei. I wanted to add this since I have really enjoyed my time while visiting. Wistaria Tea House is located near National Taiwan Normal University and Shida Night Market and is just a short walk from either. At the tea house, you have the option to have dinner or you can just relax in the tea room and enjoy the variety of tea and small snacks. One very fun part of visiting the Wistaria Tea House is how you will be educated on the proper preparation of the teapots and cups prior to enjoying the tea to ensure you are practicing the proper methods that enhance the flavor of the tea. The tea house is a fun educational experience and you will be able to enjoy the teas that are natively grown in Taiwan.
This excursion is south of Taipei and is actually in New Taipei City. The best route to take to arrive here is to take the MRT Green Line to Xindian Station and to take the bus or a rideshare company to the trailhead. The walk is not long and the scenery is very worth the time spent getting there. Once there you will see the buildings pressed up against the rock face and the beautiful waterfall overhead. Most places in Taiwan when hiking actually have a lot of stairs due to the frequent rain that often causes erosion. Therefore, the trails are usually nice and well maintained
Early in the program, we all received a package containing some swag as well as materials for our weekly cultural activities. In this video blog, I share the crafts we had the chance to learn and try for ourselves—all while continuing to practice our language skills!
Sylvia Ngo, PhD in Anthropology 2025
Sigur Center 2021 Asian Language Fellow
Beloit College, Wisconsin, USA
Eight weeks in the TISLP was definitely flown by quickly. These eight weeks are not only the journey of learning Mandarin but also the journey of learning about looking at life through different perspectives. Each week the students learn about a different controversial topic; we talked about familiar issues like Freedom of Speech or Plastic Surgery. Still, we also talked about topics that I never thought or even heard about, like Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) or Nuclear Power. With unfamiliar issues like these, the language barrier is not the only challenging thing, but also the knowledge barrier is what the students struggle with. Taking the GMO topic as an example, this is a great topic because it was not much of a topic in the US since most US food is GMO base; however, it is a controversial topic in Asia, especially Taiwan. Thus, my classmate and I have to do much research on what is GMOs and what is controversial about them just to have a basic understanding of GMOs.
Every week’s topic was designed for the students to hear both sides of the argument, and at the end of the week, the students will pick their side and report why they choose their side. Since the class discussions are always controversial topics, the professor always clarifies that her main goal is for the students to practice language skills and not judge the students’ opinions about the topics. This had helped the students become more confident when sharing their ideas because, in this classroom, everyone’s primary goal is to practice Mandarin and not judging each other. Most of the time, the students will start out opposing (or supporting) the idea of the topic, and at the end of the week, their opinion is only more vital rather than changing. However, at the beginning of the GMO topic week, I started with opposing GMO products, thinking it is not natural or healthy for people. Surprisingly, by the end of the week, I had changed my side and choose to support the idea of GMO products. I learned that the problem of GMOs is not the product itself but how many giant corporations had taken advance of the GMO technology and made the product had a bad reputation. Through this chapter, I learned that the change of technology is not scary; what is scary is how people take advantage of technologies for making profits. Furthermore, people need to join together to contribute ideas and speak up about their concerns so the country’s government can change the law to protect people’s safety.
Through the TISLP, my Mandarin has not only improved significantly in all aspects (listening, speaking, reading, and writing), but most importantly, through my classmates, I learned that this world is very big and there are still many different voices, and for everyone to achieve common goals, mutual respect is fundamental.
At the end of the program, the students came together to answer an interview about the program. I hope you enjoy the interview.
Lyn Doan, M.A. Chinese Language and Culture 2021
Sigur Center 2021 Asian Language Fellow
National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan
This blog post is an instructional video on how to make dumplings. I used a recipe that was in my textbook and part of one of the lessons I completed. The process was fun and it was a nice way to get to cook new foods and practice my Chinese language skills by going to the local Asian market to find ingredients. I also used other Chinese language cooking resources to practice my dumpling wrapping skills (I still need some improvement).
The video is so large I was unable to upload it so I have shared the link where you can find it on YouTube.
Enjoy!
Hi everyone!
As the end of my summer language studies approaches, here’s an update on how we celebrated.
Sylvia Ngo, PhD in Anthropology 2025
Sigur Center 2021 Asian Language Fellow
Beloit College, Wisconsin, USA
Hello everyone, welcome to my blog again.
Time had flown so fast, the study abroad journey has already reached its ending soon. Within these six weeks, I have learned so much from the professors and my classmates. Since it is an online program, I think the hardest thing when getting started on the program is time management. It is already hard to not be able to submerge ourselves into the “authentic” experience that we all wish for; on top of that, we are all overwhelmed with our personal life and keeping up with the classpath; thus, time management is the key to success in this program. There is a time that I want to give up sometimes or just simply don’t have that motivation to sit down at my table and start studying. In this blog, I want to show you a few tips that I used to motivate and stay focused on online learning.
1. Must-Have Items
The most critical materials I have with me are my Planner and my Notebook. The Planner helped keep me on track with all the deadlines, and Notebook keeps all of the learning material together for preview and review purposes.
Then, how do I use them?
It is scientific proof that color-coding helped us work more proficiently. Therefore, I applied this method when using my Planner and Notebook to see things more manageable and remember the materials faster. For the most part, when using my Planner, I will first write down the due date for the work that needs to be done, and whenever I finish with that task, I will highlight green so I know that it is done. In addition to that, I always write down the due date earlier than it is actually due to avoid my procrastination self. With important tasks like project due dates, or testing dates, I will use a red pen to not miss them.
Since this is an online learning environment, it is limited to what I can do to enjoy my language learning experience; thus, I try to find joy when taking notes and viewing my notes as art. By doing that, I pushed myself to take beautiful notes and have more motivation to read and study.
(I tried to draw the lesion theme at the beginning of each note, this helped me have a deeper connection with the lesion and the material.)
Next, through my past study experience, I realized that I have always been stuck with one way of taking notes on vocabulary, which is simply writing them down in the order of [character – pinyin – translation], by copying the vocab down into my notebook and does not give the page any extra space, this had also limited my ability to connect the vocab to a bigger picture. With the pace of the TISLP, I learned that previewing is also the primary key to success in class. One of the most efficient routines that I learn work with me is before the class start, I will preview the content, copying down all the vocabs and grammar point, and make sure I give my note plenty of space so I can go back and fill them in later. During lecture time, I will try not to use my notebook but take notes on blank paper. Then after class, I can go back to my note and filling the empty space with the material on the paper. Doing this keeps me more focused during class time and helped me review the materials so much better. Again, I always tried my best to applied color coding when taking my note and keep the notes as neat as possible.
Traditionally, we always lean toward finding a quiet, familiar place to maximize our focus and study there. However, when learning a language, the emotional connection to the content is really important because we want to apply what we learn in real life, not just in tests and homework. Thus, changing the learning environment, study methods, and ways of practice is also necessary for learning a foreign language. Some strategies I applied to “learn and play” are daily text with my language partner, watching documentary films, listening to podcast, read Chinese comic books, etc.
In conclusion, even though this whole “study abroad” experience so far does not feel like a traditional study abroad experience, I did not let that get into my head. I had taken this learning opportunity seriously and try to get the most out of it. These intensive learning classes had provided me a chance to learn about the Chinese language and Taiwan culture and learn about many aspects that I didn’t know about myself.
Lyn Doan, M.A. Chinese Language and Culture 2021
Sigur Center 2021 Asian Language Fellow
National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan
(Featured image was taken during the last time I was in Taiwan. The picture is of Mt. Jilong and the photo was taken at Teapot Mountain).
Hi everyone, I am Matt Geason and I am a graduate student in the MA Asian Studies program at George Washington University. Currently, I am taking part in the Sigur Center Asian Language Study Grant. I sought out this opportunity to further improve my Mandarin Chinese ability to help prepare me for a potential career path at the Department of State. Because of COVID-19, I decided to take part in a language study program online through National Taiwan Normal University’s Mandarin Training Center (MTC). I have previously studied at MTC when I was studying Chinese in 2016 and had a positive experience in class and with the teaching staff.
For my current course of study, I am working 1-on-1 with a Chinese language instructor where I am focusing on speaking, listening, and I have a significant focus on reading. Additionally, this type of program has a customized syllabus where before the start of classes my teacher and I discussed the learning objectives, and proper material was allocated for the course of study. These customized learning objectives have greatly helped improve on areas of Chinese where I may have struggled more in the past but see significant improvement now. This is my first experience working intensively in a 1-on-1 environment and I think that there are considerable benefits to this, for example, my teacher and I have established a repour with one another and I think that this type of working relationship goes far to support my language studies. I believe that this is true because my teacher has been able to easily identify certain grammatical structures or vocabulary usage that is inconsistent and can target them and relate them with others I am stronger with to help me improve further.
Since classes started just a few weeks ago I feel my Chinese ability has steadily increased. The homework assignments involving news articles and short stories have challenged me to learn more characters and phrases at a much faster rate. Plus, at the start of each class, I give a short presentation regarding a recent news article. This is a new type of regular assignment that I am not used to from other Chinese courses that I have taken. This type of assignment requires researching an article, time spent understanding the article, and preparation for the in-class presentation and has helped me master new vocabulary and helped build my confidence in discussing new material. Additionally, outside of class, my teacher has assigned me Chinese Language TV shows to watch that I access through Netflix to also practice my listening ability and also learn more about how the language is used outside of the classroom.
In all the first few weeks of my course of study have been a lot of work but it has been very enjoyable being able to dedicate so much time to further my Chinese language ability. I am looking forward to the weeks ahead in my course of study and the further language advancement that I will be able to make.
