Bulletin Winter 1976

Interview with Director of CEAS Dr. Chingho A. Chen Dr. Chingho A. Chen is Director of the Centre for East Asian Studies and Reader in History. He was born in Taiwan in 1917, graduated from Keio University in 1942 and received his Litt. D. degree from the same University in 1966. He pursued specialized studies at Ecole Francaise d 'Extrême-Orient (in Hanoi) from 1943 to 45 ， and also at Institut des Hautes Etudes Chinoises of Université de Paris from 1954 to 1955. Dr. Chen has taught at National Taiwan University, University of Hue ， University of Saigon and Catholic University of Dalat in Vietnam, Keio University, Southern Illinois University ， Soka University in Japan ， and served as Chairman of the “Uy-ban Phien-dich Su-lieu Viet-nam” (Committee for the Translation and Research of Vietnamese Historical Sources), University of Hue ， from 1959 to 1965. Dr. Chen has written many articles and books in Chinese, Vietnamese ， English and Japanese. His major publications include: A Collection of Chinese Inscriptions in Singapore, with introduction and illustrations (in Chinese); Muc-luc Chau-ban Trieu Nguyen, Tap thu I ， Trieu Gia-long and Tap thu II ， Tieu Minh-mang (Catalogue of the Imperial Archives of the Nguyen Dynasty, Vol I ， Era of Gia-long ， and Vol .II ， Era of Minh-mang) (both in Vietnamese); Tu-duc Thanh-che Tu-hoc Giai-nghia-ca, with introduction, annotation, original and Romanized text (in Vietnamese and Chinese); The Chinese Community in the Sixteenth Century Philippines, and Historical Notes on Hoi-An (Faifo) (both in English); and A Bibliographic and Linguistic Study on Annan Yi-yu (in Japanese). Q. Dr. Chen, we know that not only are you well- versed in the Chinese, Japanese, French, English and Vietnamese languages, but you also speak various dialects such as Fukienese and Cantonese etc. apart from Mandarin. Is the knowledge of these languages and dialects a pre-requisite for the study of East Asian cultures? A. It is my belief that in the study of East Asian history and culture, it is necessary to know one or more European languages apart from English, depending on the object of study and the period under study. Indo-China (i.e. Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos), the Philippines and Indonesia, previously French, Spanish or Dutch protectorates or colonies, have most of their histories written in those European languages, but publications in their own languages have increased after their independence. Therefore, to study their history, knowledge of both the European languages -- French, Spanish or Dutch -- and their native languages is necessary, e.g. French and Vietnamese for the study of Vietnamese history. If we are to study Far Eastern trade history in the 17th and 18th centuries, we should know Dutch in addition to Chinese, Japanese and English so as to avail ourselves of the valuable data in the records and reports of the United East Indies Company (U.C.C.). If we want to do research on the history of overseas Chinese in Southeast Asian countries, it is better to have some knowledge of the dialects spoken by the economically most