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CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State University’s Department of History is launching a new lecture series that will focus on Taiwan, greater China and Asia from a comparative perspective. The Chun Chiu Lecture Series begins on Feb. 8.

Douglas Fix, a professor of East Asian history and Chinese humanities at Reed College in Portland, will give a talk titled “The Issue of the ‘Colonial’ in Taiwan’s History.” The speech begins at 4 p.m. and will be held in Memorial Union Room 208 on the OSU campus. It is free and open to the public.

Fix will examine recent issues in the field of Qing and Japanese colonialism as they apply to Taiwan. The lecture promises to shed new light on the multiplicity of colonialism, and the formation of the unique landscape of Taiwan.

In recent years, Taiwan studies have been a rising field in East Asian studies, according to Hung-yok Ip, associate professor in the Department of History at OSU.

“Taiwan is much more than an intellectual interest for those who live or come from there,” said Ip.

Fix has been a student of Taiwan's history since his undergraduate days at Taiwan University in the mid-1970s. His earliest research examined the origins and early development of Taiwanese nationalism under Japanese colonial rule (1920s-1945).

Since completing his Ph.D. (University of California, Berkeley) in 1993, his research has grown to include various areas of Taiwan’s history, from Western travel literature, and post-World War II ethnic conflicts to small-scale Taiwanese manufacturing enterprises and Japanese colonial jurisprudence. He is working on two new books.

The Chun Chiu lecture series is made possible by a gift from OSU alumnus Chun Chiu.