The 2015 AAS-in-ASIA Conference began this year June 22 and continued over three days of forums and discussion in the fields of Asian studies and Sinology. Held by the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), the largest organization of its kind in the world, the conference drew over 600 scholars to the Academia Sinica where it was held for 2015. Thirty-three countries were represented, the biggest deposition of which was the 168-person US group. The theme for this year’s event was “Asia in Motion: Ideas, Institutions, Identities.”
The conference was hosted by Academia Sinica Vice President and Planning Committee Chairman Wang Fen-sen and AAS President Timothy Brook. At the opening ceremony, Wang touched on the founding and significance of the Tang Prize, and directed the audience to the Tang Prize Foundation booth on the exposition floor. Brook introduced the AAS and expressed his gratitude for the second AAS conference to be held in Asia. Even when greeted with stormy weather as they flew into Taipei on the 21st, he optimistically saw it as a fortuitous sign. He jested that it was the dragon of fortune greeting them with auspicious rain and lightning.
This year also saw 91-year-old Prof. Chi Pang-yuan receive the lifetime achievement award for her contributions to Taiwanese literature. National Sun Yat-Sen University Institute of China and Asia-Pacific Studies Director Prof. Hamashita Takeshi was invited to give the keynote lecture for the event on “Diverging Asian Studies from Local, Regional, and Global Perspectives"
At its display booth at the event both the medal and diploma in Sinology were on display, and Tang Prize staff were present to introduce the inaugural laureate in Sinology, Yu Ying-Shih. After looking through informational materials at the booth, visitors expressed their high appraisal of the prize. The event is one of the many ways in which the prize is spreading its spirit and values throughout the Asian studies academic community here in Asia and abroad.
