The College of Humanities at National Chung Cheng University (CCU) hosted the East Asian Mountain–Sea Cultural Island-Chain International Academic Forum from December 15 to 16, 2025, at the College’s International Conference Hall. The forum brought together scholars from 11 countries and regions to Chiayi, Taiwan, to examine cultural interactions, knowledge circulation, and historical connections across East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific island chains from the intersecting perspectives of mountains, seas, and island chains. An international Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing ceremony was also held in conjunction with the forum, marking an important milestone in the College’s efforts to expand global academic collaboration.

During the preparatory phase, the College of Humanities conducted two rounds of nationwide outreach to Taiwan’s humanities and historical studies communities through professionally designed promotional posters, comprehensive program announcements, and a dedicated forum website. These efforts successfully generated wide academic attention and demonstrated the forum’s strong scholarly visibility. The program combined both depth and breadth, featuring five keynote lectures by academicians and internationally renowned scholars, alongside 38 research paper presentations by experts from Taiwan and abroad, as well as one concluding observation report. Spanning disciplines such as linguistics, history, textual studies, anthropology, and religious studies, the forum was structured around the central theme of the East Asian Mountain–Sea Cultural Island Chain, fostering a wide-ranging dialogue across continental, maritime, and insular worlds.

At the opening ceremony, Vice President Shin-Yuan Hung delivered welcoming remarks on behalf of the university. He noted that in the 2025 QS World University Rankings, CCU ranked 31st globally and 2nd in Taiwan in the field of Classics and Ancient History, reflecting the international scholarly strength built through the College of Humanities’ long-term commitment to humanistic research. He also commended the College for its exceptional capacity to organize a high-intensity international forum and establish strategic global partnerships within a very short timeframe.

Dean Wen-Fang Mao emphasized that the forum not only facilitated intensive and refined academic exchange but also laid a solid foundation for future inter-university and transnational research collaboration. During the forum, CCU completed MOU signings with the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Malaya, and the Faculty of Humanities, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Together with agreements signed since September with Universitas Negeri Jakarta (Indonesia), Yamaguchi Prefectural University (Japan), and Sungkyunkwan University (Korea), the College of Humanities successfully connected five major Asian universities within just over three months, demonstrating a highly integrated and strategic international academic network.

Throughout the forum, domestic and international guests staying at Zhiyuan Hall expressed high praise for the forum’s thematic design, academic content, and attentive conference services. Following the forum, participants also visited the National Palace Museum Southern Branch to attend the special exhibition "Anchoring Shores: Cultural Encounters in Maritime Southeast Asia," where guided tours extended scholarly discussion into the cultural and curatorial sphere, receiving enthusiastic acclaim from attendees.

Prepared within a remarkably short three-month timeframe, the forum was organized under the leadership of Dean Wen-Fang Mao as Convener, Vice Dean Wei-Chen Yang as Co-Convener, and Dr. Wan-Lin Chang, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, as Executive Secretary. By integrating the administrative staff and graduate student teams of the College of Humanities and the Department of Chinese Literature, the organizing team worked in close coordination to successfully deliver a forum of both international stature and scholarly depth. Building on this achievement, the College of Humanities aimed to further strengthen transnational collaboration in the humanities and to position CCU as a key international platform for dialogue on East Asian mountain–sea cultural studies.