Tsao Yung-ho (曹永和), an esteemed researcher who specialized in Taiwanese history at Academia Sinica, passed away on Friday in Taipei from multiple organ failure at the age of 94.
Tsao succeeded in his academic career by teaching himself. Born in 1920 to a wealthy family, Tsao read voraciously as a child, and absorbed large amounts of extra-curricular material with a particular interest in history, literature and philosophy.
After graduating from the Second Middle School of the Taipei State, the predecessor to the Taipei Municipal Chenggong High School, Tsao resisted social pressure to go to medical school and ended up not receiving a college education.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Tsao chose to work in the National Taiwan University library and worked there for 38 years until he retired.
During his time at the library, Tsao worked with texts in a variety of languages and became fluent in Japanese, English and Dutch, and was also familiar with Spanish, German and Latin.
One of the few Taiwanese historians able to understand multiple foreign languages, Tsao made great contributions to research into early Taiwanese history. Some historians have said of Tsao that “If it were not for him, there would be no research into Taiwanese history.”
Tsao proposed in 1990 that Taiwan’s history should be approached via “a marine concept,” which was a departure from the “mainland concept” through which Taiwanese history had been viewed until then.
The approach sought to define the role of Taiwan in terms of marine transportation and trade beginning in the 17th century, when the Dutch first took over the island through the Dutch East India Company.
Tsao further expanded on the theory during the Martial Law era in 1950, bringing Taiwanese history to the attention of international historical researchers.
According to National Taiwan University history professor Chou Wan-yao (周婉窈), Tsao had a broad view of Taiwanese maritime history due to studying Dutch texts, adding that Tsao was a prominent figure in the field of Taiwanese history and had mentored key researchers such as Chung Shu-min (鍾淑敏), Chen Tsui-lien (陳翠蓮) and Lee Wen-liang (李文良).
Tsao became a member of the Academia Sinica, the nation’s top research institute, when he was 65 years old.
“Tsao was a gentleman who was courteous, kind and somewhat laconic,” Academia Sinica vice president Wang Fan-sen (王汎森) said
Although he had kept up with the times and attended the 2012 rally against media monopolization, Tsao never raised his arms or shouted slogans, but instead chose to quietly pay attention to the pulse of history and the culture of Taiwan, to embrace with a warm smile the island that he called home in a turbulent world, Academia Sinica member Wu Jui-jen (吳叡人) said.
Wu added that Tsao was quite enamored with The Blue Bird by Belgian author Maurice Maeterlinck, especially the line “happiness is where we are, in our homes.”
People can take the Taipei MRT free of charge if they access it at Nanjing Sanmin Station or Taipei Arena Station on the Green Line between 12am and 6am on Jan. 1, the Taipei Department of Transportation said on Friday, outlining its plans to ease crowding during New Year’s events in the capital. More than 200,000 people are expected to attend New Year’s Eve events in Taipei, with singer A-mei (張惠妹) performing at the Taipei Dome and the city government’s New Year’s Eve party at Taipei City Hall Plaza, the department said. As people have tended to use the MRT’s Blue or
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
Taipei is participating in Osaka’s Festival of Lights this year, with a 3m-tall bubble tea light installation symbolizing Taiwan’s bubble tea culture. The installation is designed as a bubble tea cup and features illustrations of Taipei’s iconic landmarks, such as Taipei 101, the Red House and North Gate, as well as soup dumplings and the matchmaking deity the Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人), affectionately known as Yue Lao (月老). Taipei and Osaka have collaborated closely on tourism and culture since Taipei first participated in the festival in 2018, the Taipei City Department of Information and Tourism said. In February, Osaka represented
Taiwanese professional baseball should update sports stadiums and boost engagement to enhance fans’ experience, Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview on Friday. The league has urged Farglory Group and the Taipei City Government to improve the Taipei Dome’s outdated equipment, including relatively rudimentary television and sound systems, and poor technology, he said. The Tokyo Dome has markedly better television and sound systems, despite being 30 years old, because its managers continually upgraded its equipment, Tsai said. In contrast, the Taipei Dome lacked even a room for referees
RSS