Professor Emeritus of Chinese Studies at Princeton University and recipient of the first-ever Tang Prize in Sinology Yu Ying-shih donated his NT$10 million grant accompanying the Tang Prize to the founding of a new fellowship, the "Yu Ying-shih Fellowship for the Humanities." Each year, six scholars are named as fellowship recipients: three recipients for the Academic Publication Scholarship, worth NT$360,000 each; and three recipients for the Dissertation Scholarship, worth NT$240,000 each. The awarding of the first year of fellowships will take place this 12/24 at the Academia Sinica in Taiwan.
In light of Yu Ying-Shih’s own accomplishments, which go far beyond just Chinese history, the focus of the fellowship is on research spanning the many fields of the humanities and Sinology, including history, linguistics, archaeology, philosophy, religion, classical studies, literary studies, and the arts. Young scholars under the age of 45 in any of the recognized fields engaged in the writing of a doctoral thesis or academic publication are eligible to apply for the fellowship.
Active from May 2015 through 2019, the fellowship is intended to support promising researchers and scholars in the humanities fields with the financial assistance needed to complete dissertations and other larger academic works. In addition to support for those already in the field, the fellowship also hopes to tilt the scales for borderline students, bringing more young talent into humanities research.
The six recipients of the first year of the fellowship are listed below along with their research focus.
Academic Publication Scholarship
Meng-chien Wu (Assistant Professor, Department of Chinese Literature, National Sun Yat-Sen University), research plan: Syncretism and Criticism: The Thought and Times of Guan Dongming
Chung-cheng Tu (Assistant Professor, Department of History and Center for General Education, National Cheng Kung University), research plan: Souls, Corpses and Burials: Spectacles of Death in Chang’an and Luoyang during the Tang Dynasty
Hui-wen Lu (Associate Professor, Graduate Institute of Art History, National Taiwan University), research plan: Reproducing and Remaking the Paradigm: Calligraphy Model-books, 900-1300
Dissertation Scholarship
Chijui Hu (6th year doctoral student, Graduate Institute of Religious Studies, National Chengchi University), research plan: Now or ever: the Transformation of the Protestantism of the Hmong people in the Northwestern Guizhou
Kai-hsiang Hsu (7th year doctoral student, Graduate Institute of History, National Tsing Hua University), research plan: The Formation of the Silk Fairs and the Drug Fairs in Shu during the Tang-Song Period
