As the organizer, Academia Sinica will hold the “1st World Congress of Taiwan Studies” (WCTS) on April 26-28, 2012, Taipei, Taiwan. Purpose of the Congress is to provide a platform for academic resources sharing and interdisciplinary collaboration. The Congress is also expected to facilitate worldwide networks and enhanced visibility for Taiwan studies.

　　Eleven institutes and research centers of Academia Sinica worked jointly to organize the conference. The program consists of 2 keynote speeches and 26 Sessions which has 102 papers in total. Panel themes cover various scopes ranging from literature, art, history, religion, economics, sociology, politics, law, to archaeology, environmental change, linguistics and aboriginal studies. We anticipate about 170 world renown scholars who are leading experts on studying Taiwan will attend. They include scholars from the Taiwan Studies Associations in Japan and Europe, and two Taiwan Studies Research Centers — Center for Taiwan Studies in SOAS, UK, and European Research Center on Contemporary Taiwan in University of Tübingen, Germany. The official languages of the Congress are English and Chinese. All papers will be written and presented in English or Chinese.

　　This will be the first-time a thematic conference on Taiwan studies of this scale and so many diverse inter-disciplinary interests ever held in the world. The Academia Sinica is honored to have the opportunity to take the initiative, and wishes to welcome your participation.