The Institute of History and Philology

This group meets to discuss issues related to intellectual history and the history of mentalities from various periods through the use of various methodologies.

This group examines the history of law as it relates to family, society, state and culture.

This group examines the historical development of customs and religion as they relate to everyday life. It is particuarly open to research that employs contemporary fieldwork as a tool for understanding the past.

This group focuses on the history of medecine and healing together with more general conceptions of health, sickness and the body. In addition to regularly held lectures, the group has organized a number of larger symposiums. It also compiles relevant bibliographies and collections of primary research materials for specialists in medical history.

Topics discussed by this group include: the spatial and temporal frameworks for prehistoric cultures in Taiwan and surrounding areas in Southeast Asia, reconstruction of daily life through archaeological remains, uses of oral history for understanding archaeology, and the preservation of cultural heritage.

"World history"¨ is in essence comparative history. In the Chinese-speaking world the emphasis of comparative history is inevitable comparison between Chinese history and the histories of other cultures. We hope in this group to focus not so much on what other cultures have that China and/or Taiwan does not (frequently the focus of comparative history in the past), but to turn instead to themes or problems common to different cultures, and to develop fresh methodologies for approaching the analysis of these themes.

This groups focuses on the history of objects and images and the role of objects and images in history. In addition to regular lectures on art and material culture, the group has also organized projects to collect and edit materials in the Institute¡¦s collection, including the Institute¡¦s holdings of Han documents on wooden and bamboo slips, rubbings of Han steles and rubbings of Buddhist steles from a wide range of periods. Different subgroups meet regularly to discuss these materials.

This group was formed to promote the study of ancient history by proposing new areas for research, encouraging the efforts of young scholars and engaging in comparative research.

The Institute owns over three hundred thousand documents from the archives of the Grand Secretariat of the Ch'ing government. These documents, including edicts, memorials, inter-ministry memorandums, legal case files, household registers and many other types of documents from both the Ming and the Ch'ing administrations are valuable for the study of the political, social, economic, military and legal aspects of late imperial China.

The cataloging and editing of these documents began in 1930 soon after they were acquired by the Institute. Work on the documents has continued steadily to the present day as the documents have gradually been edited and published in a series consisting of 370 volumes. Current work involves preservation of the original documents, digitalization and management of a database accessible over the internet.

Since its appearance in the 1970s, geographical information systems have been used by the applied sciences, the government, and industrial and commercial sectors for the investigation and anaylsis of national land resources, survey and management of land registration, and locational anaylsis for industrial and commercial purposes. More recently, the value of GIS has been recognized by scholars in the humanities and social sciences.

The GIS lab at the Institute is equipped with basic software like ARCVIEW, WINGIS, and hardware. The lab focuses on two types of projects. The first is the making of digitized maps of different scales based on map sheets, satellite images and field surveys. The second function is the integration of digitized maps with other technologies for research in the humanities and social sciences.

The Institute¡¦s collection of oracle bones contains the oracle bones excavated from the Shang capital at An-yang. Most of the finds from the first nine excavations at this site have been published, but much work remains to be done to reconstruct fragments and analyze their contents. Members of this group are also digitalizing photographs of the oracle bones and rubbings of their inscriptions, all of which will be linked by a searchable database.

Bronze Inscriptions

This group has three basic objectives: 1. To establish and maintain a database for primary and secondary materials related to the study of bronze inscriptions; 2. To promote the use of bronze inscriptions in the study of ancient Chinese history and culture; and 3. To encourage exchange between specialists in bronze inscriptions at the Institute with scholars of other institions in other parts of the world.

Archaeology and Specimens Laboratory

The archaeology lab provides equipment (x-ray diffractometer, various types of microscopes etc.) for analysis of artifacts. The lab conducts various types of analysis including substance and texture analysis, use and wear analysis, and site soil analysis. Such tests provide important information for determining the context in which various objects were manufactured and used.

The specimens lab is also a zooarchaeology lab. Zooarchaeology specifies and analyzes animal remains for clues to the environment in which animals lived as well as their interaction with humans. The lab is equipped with microscopic instruments, a system of micrograph analysis and a collection for the specifying of animal species.

This lab contains a collection of four hundred skulls from human sacrifices buried in sacrificial pits near the large tombs of the Shang capital excavated in 1935 by members of the Institute. These skulls are an important source for understanding the physical characteristics of ancient Chinese people and are also an important comparative reference for studying the spread of the Mongoloid type in East Asia during the Neolithic.

Li Chi was the first to point out the ¡§racial¡¨ complexity of these skulls. Subsequently, Yang Hsi-mei further suggested five different ¡§racial types¡¨ among the skulls, including North Asian Mongoloid, Austronesian and Caucasian, but this theory has been contested ever since. The lab hopes to shed new light on the problem and is engaged in a joint project with Japanese scholars to study the spread of the Mongoloid type in East Asia.