Taiwan: Day 3 (Thursday): National Central Library of Taiwan

The National Central Library serves the same function in Taiwan as the Library of Congress does in the United States--its self-defined mission is "to acquire, catalog, and preserve national publications for government, research, and general public use." Because of its large collection in English and its prominent status (which means anglophone staff), I knew it was a good place for research. Also, since the library is located just across the street from the Chang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall (a prominent landmark of the city) I knew I would have no trouble finding it. After a quick trip on the MRT (or mass rapid transit, as the Taipei Metro system is commonly called), I was already there.

After I had received my one-day pass, an assistant helped me to find in the database the few books I needed. All of them had as their focus school curricula in either Taiwan or mainland China. Just like the Library of Congress, the NCL does not permit visitors themselves to browse the shelves, but rather provides visitors with the books they request, which they then take to a reading desk. Thus I received my books and found a desk on adjacent to the back wall of the library, which had a nice view of grassy school field, where children were playing. I spent a few hours on these materials, interspersed with a few periods of studying basic Mandarin Chinese (the pinyin system).

One very interesting article is called "Continuity and Change of Values: An Analysis of Literary Textbooks of Taiwanese Junior High Schools," written by Christine Kämmer. The article describes the results of her investigation of the values promoted in Taiwanese textbooks for secondary education. The textbooks she investigated were issued in the years 1999 and 2000, when the central government had a larger degree of control of the textbook requirements than it does today. Thus Kämmer's research not only provides insight into not only the education of Taiwanese children, but also the government's own vision of the ideal values for the youth.

Kämmer's main conclusions are as follows: that individual self-cultivation is at the center of the government's program for education. Role models in the literature read are meant to play a large role in influencing children's behavior. In these textbooks, family values were emphasized, as were simple and honest lifestyles, including farming and teaching. Relationships were also emphasized, and proper interaction within them. Although Confucius is not mentioned in the article, values held by Confucius in high esteem are evident. This article served as a good introduction to the Taiwanese educational system in the very recent past.