Academician and IHP Adjunct Research Fellow Kwang-chih Chang (1931–2001) was an internationally renowned archaeologist who held professorships at Yale and Harvard as well as served as vice president of Academia Sinica from 1994 to 1996, where he actively cultivated talent and promoted international cooperation.
The mentor-student relationship between Dr. Chang and Academician Chi Li (1896–1979) is a celebrated chapter in the history of academia. In 1950, Chang was accepted to the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at National Taiwan University (NTU), where he studied under Li. He later graduated at the top of his class and, with Li’s recommendation, received a scholarship from the Harvard-Yenching Institute to pursue further studies at Harvard University, thus launching his academic career in the United States.
The Archives recently received a new collection of Chang’s materials, donated by Prof. Robert Murowchick and Chang’s son, Julian Chang. Among these invaluable items are Chang’s notebooks from taking Academician Chi Li’s (1896–1979) class on prehistory during 1951–1952 when studying at the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, National Taiwan University.
The original notebooks had consisted of four volumes, each with its own list of contents. Chang later bound them into a single volume, adding a general table of contents and continuous pagination. On the contents page, Chang has recorded a quote from Li: “I wish that my lectures will prove useful to you in connection with your researches, otherwise I will confess that I have got a failure.” Here we can see Li’s strict self-demanding nature, deep sense of responsibility as a mentor, and high expectations for Chang’s academic advancement, as well as Chang’s respect for his mentor.
The mentor-student relationship between Dr. Chang and Academician Chi Li (1896–1979) is a celebrated chapter in the history of academia. In 1950, Chang was accepted to the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at National Taiwan University (NTU), where he studied under Li. He later graduated at the top of his class and, with Li’s recommendation, received a scholarship from the Harvard-Yenching Institute to pursue further studies at Harvard University, thus launching his academic career in the United States.
The Archives recently received a new collection of Chang’s materials, donated by Prof. Robert Murowchick and Chang’s son, Julian Chang. Among these invaluable items are Chang’s notebooks from taking Academician Chi Li’s (1896–1979) class on prehistory during 1951–1952 when studying at the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, National Taiwan University.
The original notebooks had consisted of four volumes, each with its own list of contents. Chang later bound them into a single volume, adding a general table of contents and continuous pagination. On the contents page, Chang has recorded a quote from Li: “I wish that my lectures will prove useful to you in connection with your researches, otherwise I will confess that I have got a failure.” Here we can see Li’s strict self-demanding nature, deep sense of responsibility as a mentor, and high expectations for Chang’s academic advancement, as well as Chang’s respect for his mentor.