The 4th World Congress of Taiwan Studies (WCTS) was held June 27-29 (Pacific Daylight Time, PDT), 2022 at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA. The theme this year is “Taiwan in the Making,” looking at Taiwan from a global perspective and connecting with the world through Taiwan Studies. As the event was livestreamed on both YouTube and Facebook, the 4th WCTS committee invited audiences from across the world to attend this international and interdisciplinary academic feast online.

The first WCTS was launched by Academia Sinica in 2012. The second WCTS was co-hosted by the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK, in 2015. The third WCTS was held at and organized by Academia Sinica in 2018. This year was the first time WCTS was organized in the United States and was co-hosted by the University of Washington, Seattle. Experts in various fields of Taiwan studies presented at the Congress, from Australia, Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Singapore, the UK, the US, etc. There were 88 presenters, 55 participating in person and 33 participating virtually.

The three-day Congress consisted of one keynote speech, two plenary sessions, three roundtables, and 18 parallel sessions with 74 papers. Session topics included history and memory, religion and rituals, literature, visual arts, gender issues, economics, Taiwanese society, democracy and politics, environmental change, indigenous studies, etc. Some sessions further explored current issues and trending topics such as disinformation and Taiwan under COVID-19.

The opening ceremony was scheduled for June 27 at 9 a.m. (PDT). Professor Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao gave the opening speech on behalf of President James C. Liao and VP Chin-Shing Huang of Academia Sinica. Notable participants who also gave opening remarks include: President Ana Mari Cauce of the University of Washington; Director-General Daniel K.C. Chen of the Taipei Economic Cultural Office in Seattle; Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Taiwan, Director Sophie Chou of the Education Division, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in San Francisco; and Ministry of Education, Taiwan, and Program Director Paul R. Katz of the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange. The keynote speech delivered by Professor Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao, “From Theorizing Taiwan to Taiwan-Theories Making,” followed the opening ceremony.

That afternoon, Dr. Uri Tadmor, Publishing Director of Brill Academic Publishers, joined the roundtable on “Launching the Encyclopedia of Taiwan Studies” with deputy editors and editor-in-chief Professor Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao. They discussed the formation and progress of the Encyclopedia so far.

This year the WCTS was co-organized by Academician Chin-Shing Huang, Vice President of Academia Sinica; Professor Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao, Adjunct Research Fellow of the Institute of Sociology; Professor Chih-Jou Jay Chen, Director of the Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica; and Professor Bill Lavely and Assistant Professor James Lin of the Taiwan Studies Program of the University of Washington, Seattle, USA. The following regional associations of Taiwan Studies were invited: North American Taiwan Studies Association (NATSA, established in 1999), Centre of Taiwan Studies, SOAS, University of London, UK (established in 1999), European Association of Taiwan Studies (EATS, established in 2004), and Japan Association for Taiwan Studies (established in 1997).

Through providing a platform for scholars to share research on Taiwan studies, the WCTS aims to further develop international and interdisciplinary collaboration, expand worldwide networks, and enhance the visibility of Taiwan studies.

For the past few decades, there has been increasing domestic and international attention directed towards Taiwan studies in academia. Since the late 1990s, university institutes related to Taiwan studies have been established in Taiwan. Today there are 25 research institutes, centers, and graduate schools on Taiwan studies. Overseas, there are 16 Taiwan studies centers and programs in more than 10 countries. Moreover, the Ministry of Education has spared no effort to promote the “Taiwan Studies Project” in the past twenty years. So far, more than 40 “Taiwan Studies Projects” have been conducted in more than 15 countries by over 20 renowned universities across the world.