Founded in 1962 and tentatively named Far East University
by its founder, Dr. Chang Chi-yun, Chinese Culture University (CCU) was originally
christened College of Chinese Culture by the late ROC President Chiang Kai-shek,
henceforth mapping out the direction of its future development and educational
ideals.
To many, the essence of Chinese tradition consists in literature,
history, and philosophy, while the merits at least of modern Western civilization
have been science and democracy. Yet, Chinese culture if it is to continue
to grow and prosper in its present historical and global setting must inherit
the best that the East and the West has to offer. It is for this and other
equally pressing reasons and in light of the challenges faced by our young
in Taiwan that CCU from its inception conceived an undergraduate program comprehensive
enough to include all that is relevant in the humanities, social sciences,
and natural sciences.
Long ago the sage-teacher Confucius created the six arts
of education. Li (propriety) and Yueh (music) aimed at cultivating character
and personality; She (archery) and Yi (charioting) aimed at training physical
prowess; and Shu (academic studies) and Shu (arithmetic) aimed at developing
the intellect. The arts, particularly the tradition Chinese arts, and physical
education were therefore among the earliest departments established. After
over forty years, it can well be say that the original disciplines concentrated
in the arts that have played a leading role in the academic world remain culturally
and professionally relevant and in the forefront among Taiwan universities.
Such pioneering departments as Chinese Opera, Chinese Music, and Dance continue
to enjoy nationwide fame as they are staffed by a faculty of specialists known
to be masters in their fields of expertise. The University Museum, the only
one of its kind in Taiwan, houses a wide array of artistic works of calligraphy
and paintings. Its periodic exhibitions and workshops have helped promote
art education.
The Physical Education and Martial Arts departments integrate
Chinese and Western strengths, placing an equal emphasis upon the theoretical
and the practical. Theories of physiology and physics are applied to assess
student-athletes' potential in order that the highest possible results may
be achieved. The university can claim to have trained the largest number of
national athletes and competitors and coaches as well as the greatest number
of sports participated in for international competitions. Undergraduate physical
education courses aimed at fostering sportsmanship and team spirit result
in inculcating in the young the virtues of fine character and a gentlemanly
disposition.
One underlying factor Chinese culture, which has crossed
countless national borders in the Orient and, in the historian's perspective,
remains one of the world's five greatest existing civilizations has been able
in the most recent centuries to benefit from contact with other great world
cultures is that she has kept the channels of communication open through the
dissemination of foreign languages among her own people. This phenomenon continues
to this very day when the learning of languages can no longer be regarded
a luxury but a tool necessary to master if both individuals and societies
are to penetrate the depths of foreign cultures and thought.
Hence, to maintain an interactive posture vis-a-vis other
cultures, from its beginnings the university took for granted the critical
step to establish foreign language departments in English, German, France,
Russian, Japanese, and Korean, these languages even now comprising the most
complete college of foreign languages in Taiwan. Each year the university
supplies well-trained manpower in Russian and Korean languages for the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs. Ever since the breakdown of the Soviet Union, the demand
for Russian has become ever more urgent, so much so that a Master's program
in Russian Language and Literature was added in 1991 to meet this critical
demand.
In a world increasingly engineered by an irresistible thrust
towards globalization, journalism and mass communication more than ever mould
public opinion and spread culture. Journalistic education in Taiwan has nearly
slavishly followed Western systems of reportage and points of view, hence
militating against the necessity of meeting critical present-day cultural
and social needs. To supplement and overcome such shortcomings, growing emphasis
has been placed on the question of what constitutes Chinese writing and points
of view and the methods necessary to implement if we are to recover our cultural
essence and center. This natural impulse towards a renewal of identity has
in recent years given a new look to both journalistic and mass communication
education.
Architecture and environmental design are two precious Chinese
cultural assets. At its inception, the University established the Architecture
and Urban Design Department, followed by Urban Administration and Landscape
Departments, which belonged to different colleges. Since 1993, these three
departments comprise the College of Environmental Design, the coming together
of which anticipated the reaping of maximum educational benefits.
It is evident that any thriving culture must preserve its
creativeness and usefulness in order to maintain its energy. Since not all
traditional, academic-oriented departments can meet the rising demands of
a native culture such as ours in Taiwan, CCU has established a number of innovative
and special departments that have met just such a need. Among these are included
Chinese Opera, Chinese Music, Martial Arts, Choreography, Urban Administration
and Environmental Planning, Labor and Manpower Resources, Advertising, Information
Communication (formerly Printing), Tourism, Great Atmosphere Science (formerly
Meteorology), Creative Writing, Land Resources, Social Welfare (formerly Child
and Youth Welfare), Studies of Dr. Sun Yat-sen (formerly Three Principles
of the People), Biological Technology, and Chinese Mainland Institute (formerly
Mainland China Studies). A number of these departments have become the main
sources of specialized manpower. For instance, Great Atmosphere Science regularly
supplies over 70% of related professionals to governmental institutes. Additionally,
the departments of Urban Administration, Labor, Information Communication,
Tourism and Mainland China Studies supply a considerable percentage of manpower
to related agencies.
In its four decades as an institution of higher learning,
the University has experienced vigorous growth. As of 2003, it boasts 12 Colleges
with 57 undergraduate programs, 39 Masters and 10 doctorate programs. The
School of Continuing Education numbers 10 departments and 11 graduate programs.
These totals outnumber those in all the universities in Taiwan. As an academic
policy, inter-departmental curricular cooperation is emphasized. As an example,
students in the Advertising Department can take courses in both the Fine Arts
Department and the Information Communication Department. The Advertising Department
in other universities cannot enjoy similar curricular flexibility. The future
increase of new departments and programs will take into account world trends
and social demands.
The university values international cultural exchanges. This
is reflected in its emphasis on the following three academic activities: the
hosting of international conferences, contracting sister universities, and
conferring of honorary doctorate degrees.
In 1968 the First International Sinology Conference was held
at the then College of Chinese Culture with 175 papers and 212 people in attendance
from 21 countries. The Conference, unmatched in scale up to then, was the
first large international conference of its kind in Taiwan. Since then there
have been numerous international conferences from such wide-ranging topics
and themes as Song History, Caves Studies, Multi-national Enterprises, Moral
Values and Moral Development, Preliminary Prevention of Psychological Blocks,
Instruction of Modern Chinese Literature, and Sinology to Comparative Studies
of Eastern and Western Philosophies, ROC's Status in the International Community,
Psychology, and Higher Education. These conferences and proceedings have produced
papers of high academic quality which have been collected in many volumes.
Up to 2008, CCU had to its name 82 sister-university relationships
worldwide broken down into the following: 26 Korean, 16 Japanese, 16 U.
S., three U.K., three Russian, two Ukrainian, six French, two German universities,
and one each with Outer Mongolia, Thailand, Liberia, Belgium, Holland, Austria
and Dominican Republic. One of the sister universities in Russia is Moscow
University recognized by many as a top ten institution of higher learning
in the world. The exchange programs include faculty, students, publications,
the hosting of international conferences and exhibitions, cooperative research
projects, and mutual visitations of sports teams.
The University has conferred honorary doctorate degrees on
over 300 persons from 30 countries, numbering among them statesmen, scholars,
artists, religionists, entrepreneurs, and journalists. Among the notables
have been former Japanese Prime Minister, Mr. Kishi Nobusuke, Speaker of the
National Congress, Mr. Nadao Hirokichi, founder of the Japanese Sannkei Shinnbunn,
Mr. Shikanai Nobutaka, Korean Kyung Hee University President, Dr. Choue Young
Seek, American General Albert C. Wedemeyer and the Filipino President's wife,
Mrs. Ramos.
At its founding, the University established a press, which
now has to its credit over 1,100 varieties of publications, the large bulk
of which are the research results of its faculty. Its best seller is The Chinese
Language Dictionary, a reference book that can be found in almost all major
libraries worldwide. Other prominent publications of high academic worth include
atlases of the Republic of China and the World, the new versions of The History
of the Ch'ing Dynasty, The History of the Ming Dynasty, The History of the
Yuan Dynasty, The History of the King Dynasty, The History of the Song Dynasty,
The China Encyclopedia, and Five-Thousand-Year Chinese History. The university
press has always encouraged its faculty to publish textbooks. In its history,
the University has also published two English quarterlies, Chinese Culture
Quarterly and Sino-American Relations, both of which have received favorable
critical comments at home and abroad.
The lyrics to our school song go: "The overwhelming
beauty of Mt. Yangming reflect the essence of reform." The author was
not ironic in writing these lyrics for the simple words are meant to intimate
the significance of political and social awareness in the life of the university
student. Chang Er-chi, a scholar of the Ch'ing Dynasty, once said, "The
will of the scholar is the source upon which the whole world is governed and
the people find their happiness." Chang's cogent words set the goal for
our entire academic community. The future of ROC hinges on the relationship
between two political entities-Taiwan and Mainland China-on the two sides
of the Taiwan Straits. In 1973 the university established the Institute of
Mainland China Studies (now the Chinese Mainland Institute), the first of
its kind in Taiwan. Recent research has focused on issues ranging from political
systems and international relationship to demography, resources, environment,
catastrophe, and economy. In 1989, the University invited Mr. Chiao Sung-chia
as its first visiting professor from Mainland China to teach in Taiwan. Subsequent
visiting professors have followed and numerous academic conferences between
the two sides of the straits have also been held here. Another ideal the University
attempts to implement is its effort to improve the relationship between the
two sides through the medium of cultural exchanges rather than the harsh confrontation
that result from differing political ideologies. ▲top
Organization
According to the University Laws and the Private School Laws
of the Republic of China, CCU consists of a Board of Trustees and administrative
units such as Academic Affairs Department, Student Affairs Department, General
Affairs Department, School of Continuing Education, Secretariat, Personnel
Office, Accounting Office, Library, Information Center, Military Training
Office, and Physical Education Office.
The Academic section consists of 12 colleges: College
of Liberal Arts, College of Foreign Languages, College of Science, College
of Law, College of Social Science, College of Agriculture, College of Engineer,
College of Business, College of Journalism and Communication, College of Arts,
and College of Education. The School of Continuing Education aims at promoting
education that cannot be obtained through normal academic channels. ▲top
