Research Axes and Focus
Research Axes
Chinese Historical Memory
On the one hand, this research group uses the digital tools provided by the metaverse to present “Chinese Historical Memory” through digital curation. On the other hand, we use the data collected through this digital curation to analyze collective memory through brand new cross-disciplinary research methods. Compared to text-based or traditional static exhibitions, the biggest difference in terms of form in digital curation are visualization (combining sounds and images), interaction, and virtual scenarios. These allow readers and audiences to become active viewers and, through a participatory experience, to develop a more diverse and profound understanding of history. More importantly, this dynamic process of digital curation can give audiences with different or even opposite positions in the recognition of existing historical memory the opportunity to put themselves in someone else’s place through participatory experience. This allows them to understand, face, and even experience for themselves the historical realities and historical memories of others, while at the same time reflecting upon their own historical memories. In the next step, they will work towards establishing o more collective historical memory and strife towards historical reconciliation. This kind of research combines information technology and history uses virtual reality and role-playing experiences to reconstruct historical situations, allowing the audience to not only experience them, but to also become the agents, participants, and respondents within the virtual reality, instead of simply being passive recipients of text-based or audio-visual lecture-style didactics.
Accordingly, this research group adopts research themes in five areas, which are listed in chronological order: The research themes include “Taiwanese Historical Memory of World War II”, “Anti-Japanese Salvation Groups and the Ethnic Self-Identification of North American Overseas Chinese”, “Spatial History Research on the Battle of Hong Kong 1941”, “Import of Foreign Publications and the Construction of Cultural Landscape in 1950’s Taiwan”, and “White Terror and the Historical Memory of the Taiwanese Mainlanders”. Based on these five research areas, we will conduct digital humanities research based on metaverse digital curation, on topics including Taiwanese civilians in Hong Kong during World War II, White Terror etc. History, religion, and art are all manifestations of cultural memory, and clearly play a significant role in shaping identity. On this basis, we will work closely with members of the “Chinese Religious Practices” and “Chinese Mass Culture” research groups to explore how the cultures of Chinese societies, through generations and historical changes, on the one hand, maintained a certain degree of continuity, and on the other hand, demonstrated a certain degree of change, which in turn, brought about far-reaching impacts on self-image, community identity, and ethical thinking.
Chinese Religious Practices
Through new perspectives on the links between religious families and local communities, this research group hopes to reconstruct a balanced and complete historical memory of Buddhism and Taoism in Taiwan, as well as their modern dynamics. We also hope that through the study of ritual and ritualization, we can shift the focus of religious studies from belief to practice, and on the basis of the traditional Chinese worldviews and cultural views, can focus on how contemporary Chinese religions produce and create a new era of religious meaning. We further explore whether it is possible to thereby strengthen and redefine Chinese identity and to establish the values of a “new Chinese culture” with Taiwan as the main subject.
Our specific methodology is to collect, interpret and compare data in the broader spatial and temporal context of Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and South China, areas with different political, social, and cultural backgrounds; Combined with the innovative digital humanities research conducted by integrating and applying Metaverse’s digital humanities technology and curatorial modes to collect records of visitor interaction experience and behavioral analysis, this is an unprecedented new approach in the field of Chinese religious research. The combination of digital technology and traditional humanities research will open up new horizons for the study of Chinese religions, which will lead to the formulation of new questions and the construction of new research paradigms. In addition, we hope to present the essence of Chinese religious culture in the shape of a “metaverse” and to develop a Chinese religious digital education museum. In this way, we will not only help to enhance art appreciation, moral education, physical and spiritual healing, personal life exploration, and community integration for our fellow Taiwanese, but also provide a full range of religious education and life exploration services for primary and secondary schools, rural education, the general public, and the elderly.
Accordingly, this research group aims to reproduce contemporary religious experiences, contemporary diffusion based on traditional religious literature, the digital preservation and reproduction of religious space, and the audio-visual architecture and interactive communication of a religious metaverse. Research will be conducted on themes including “Virtual Database: An Ideal World of Historical Material Inheritance,” “Chinese Religion’s Universe of Heaven, Earth, and Man: A Study of a New Medium for Popularizing Religious Knowledge,” and “Imagination and Practice of Chinese Religious Rituals, Myths, and Voices.”
Chinese Mass Culture
We will analyze the fluid identities of Chinese mass culture in depth via representative works, such as Jin Yong’s wuxia novels, Taiwanese pop music, Taiwanese gezixi operas, the history of Chinese body metaphors, Chinese cinema, Taiwanese sci-fi literature, and Sinophone literature. We will look at Chinese genre films and their cultural politics; Jin Yong’s wuxia and lyricism, “psychogeographic” narratology, and its cultural symptoms and identity; the transnational mobility of Taiwanese gezixi opera and the benefits of the media loop in terms of ethnic consciousness and cultural identity; also, how in the midst of a media technology and visual transformation, Chinese mass culture has started an everyday revolution, deconstructed reality, and demonstrated the revolutionary power of everyday utopia, and so on. In addition to theoretical approaches and cross-media analyses, the identity politics of Chinese mass culture are presented in multilayered and multidirectional perspectives: from “tradition” to “modernity”, “globalization” to “localization”, “body” to “post-body”, “anthropocene” to “post-humanity”, from “Enlightenment” to “anti-Enlightenment”, and from “national allegory” to “anti-national allegory”, and so on.
Accordingly, this research group plans to present the diverse faces and narrative identities of Chinese mass culture in Metaverse digital curation on topics including: “Taiwan Science Fiction Map”, “Jin Yong Digital Museum”, “Polyphony: The Multiple Threads of Popular Music in Taiwan”, “Inaudible Songs: The Impact of Music Censorship in China on Music and the Music Industry in the UK and Taiwan”, “The Transnational Mobility of Taiwanese Gezixi Opera”, “Taiwanese Language Performance Texts” by artist Liao Chiung-chih, a national treasure, “A New Wuxia Wave. Mythological Special Effects. Retrospective Innovation: Yeh Ching’s Gezixi Opera”, “History of a Century of Chinese Body Metaphors”, as well as “Ghostly Voices and Phantom Shadows in Uncanny Metaverse Spaces”. Based on these, data collected through “digital curation”, including visitors’ active feedback and trajectories, are used to conduct a secondary study with a cross-disciplinary, qualitative and quantitative research methodology. In-depth analysis and evaluation will be conducted on the trajectory, effects and impact of interaction between the digital curated content and the audience, as well as the specific feelings, opinions and influences of the narrative identity of Chinese mass culture on people from different generations, educational backgrounds, socio-economic statuses, genders and ethnicities on fluid personal and cultural identities. From this, we can further expand, deepen, and modify the format and design of the digital curation, and thus achieve a more positive multidirectional feedback.
Chinese Cultural Metaverse Ecosystem
The research group is committed to developing the “Chinese Cultural Metaverse Ecosystem” platform into an ecosystem capable of supporting digital curatorial creations in innovative Chinese cultural metaverses which provides blockchain digital asset protection, NFT smart contract licensing, and the operation of a virtual digital economy. Thereby we will support the three Chinese culture research groups in developing innovative digital humanities research models based on the “Chinese Cultural Metaverse Ecosystem” platform. This includes the practical verification of primary and secondary research models, and serves as an innovative field of practice to support the dissemination of Chinese culture and its application in teaching.
The “Chinese Cultural Metaverse Ecosystem” platform provides asset owners with the ability to upload digital content for blockchain protection and NFT smart contract authorization. Curators may set up exhibitions for digital curatorial creation, and visitors can view exhibitions through the use of digital virtual points in a digital economy. Exhibitions are equipped with 3D immersive curation, viewing and virtual interaction functions. In addition, it also provides advanced digital curatorial modules that can stimulate visitors to further explore exhibits in detail, as well as the background of and impetus for the exhibition as a whole. This means that the exhibition is no longer just a passive process of absorbing knowledge, but a process of exploring knowledge through active and self-directed learning, thus achieving its goals of revitalizing historical materials, promoting communication, and creating new knowledge.
Accordingly, the “Chinese Cultural Metaverse Ecosystem” platform uses blockchain to protect the profits of digital asset owners and curators’ creativity. Through blockchain’s NFT smart contract, digital asset owners, curators and exhibition visitors can conduct reliable transactions and interactions. This will achieve a positive cycle effect of virtual community economy in the “Chinese Cultural Metaverse Ecosystem” platform. In this way, the transaction ecology of the Chinese Cultural Metaverse will become a complete and sustainable virtual curatorial metaverse environment. Based on the platform developed above, this research group will conduct research on “Metaverse Digital Curatorial Models”, “Metaverse Digital Curatorial Tools”, “Blockchain and NFT”, “Metaverse Digital Humanities Research Models”, and “Metaverse Information Behavior”.
Chinese Cultural Metaverse Digital Governance
The research of this research group aims to support the research of the three Chinese cultural research groups of Chinese Historical Memory, Chinese Religious Practices, and Chinese Mass Culture regarding the numerous and complex legal issues related to intellectual property rights and licensing of digital assets arising from digital curatorship, which are very different from those encountered in traditional curatorships in the physical world. These include: (1) Collaboration between curators and viewers may result in secondary creations. This may lead to difficulties in determining the authorship of viewers and the attribution of intellectual property rights. (2) Exhibitions spanning the virtual and real worlds will increase the complexity of intellectual property licensing and seriously challenge the current legal system of intellectual property licensing. (3) If the transaction of digital creation adopts the licensing model, without applying the principle of the exhaustion of intellectual property rights, this is extremely disadvantageous to the licensee’s subsequent value-added use; if a trade model is adopted, this involves the issue of how to deliver and transfer ownership of digital content. If no solution for this dilemma is found, this will seriously affect the development of metaverse content curation.
Accordingly, the main theme of this research group is to develop a digital governance framework based on the technological architecture of the metaverse. This digital governance framework is divided into the physical infrastructure layer, the virtual infrastructure layer, the metaverse virtual space layer, the metaverse design tool layer, the user’s physical device layer, and the user’s virtual experience layer. The research axis for the first layer of digital governance for physical infrastructure is based on the licensing of standard essential patents. The second layer of digital governance for virtual infrastructure includes the legal characterization and regulation of digital currency and NFT, the regulation of digital currency and NFT transactions, the detection and prevention of money laundering, the detection and prevention of economic fraud, the penalties and compensations for infringement on personal information and privacy, as well as the guidance and regulation of inter-platform anticompetitive behaviors. As for the research on the third layer of virtual space metaverse, one part of the digital governance of the metaverse needs to rely on the government to formulate policies and then to exercise public authority; another part of the digital governance of the metaverse involves the private economic behavior of the players, and the resulting disputes are more suited to be resolved by the digital autonomy model. Our research will take into account both government policies and legal issues related to civil autonomy. The fourth layer of digital governance, metaverse design tools, includes the identification of virtual clones/avatars, impersonation, and identity theft. The fifth layer of digital governance, metaverse user’s physical devices, will focus on personal data and privacy protection issues. The sixth layer of the digital governance, user’s virtual experience, involves a number of intellectual property issues, and will examine the acquisition, maintenance, and enforcement of rights related to patents, trademarks, and copyright.
Research Focus
Specific objectives of our Center are to develop the “Chinese Cultural Metaverse Ecosystem”, and – based on it – to innovate and develop Chinese culture digital curation creation, Chinese cultural digital humanities research, and Chinese cultural dissemination models. Our overall research consists of three research components: “Chinese Culture”, “Technology”, and “Crowd”. Among these, the Chinese Culture research component consists of three main research axes: “Historical Memory”, “Religious Practices”, and “Mass Culture”. The Technology research component focuses on the development of the “Chinese Cultural Metaverse Ecosystem” as its main research axis, and includes the three research directions of “Metaverse Curation Tools”, “Blockchain & NFT”, and “Digital Humanities Research Mode” in particular. The Crowd research component takes the development of “Chinese Cultural Metaverse Digital Governance” as its main research axis, and includes the three research directions of “Digital Curation Creation”, “Digital Economy”, and “Digital Governance” in particular. Between these components, the intersection of Chinese Culture and Technology aims to transform Chinese culture into digital curation, and, through the use of the metaverse, to implement the “Metaverse Curation Mode”. The intersection of Chinese Culture and Crowd explores the different aspects of “Chinese Identity Recognition” expressed through “Historical Memory,” “Religious practice,” and “Mass Culture.” The intersection of Technology and Crowd aims at the “Information Behavior” displayed by public crowds while viewing Chinese cultural digital curation in the metaverse.
Links Between the Three Main Axes of Chinese Cultural Studies
The three main axes of Chinese cultural studies proposed by the Center are closely interconnected. Both historical memory and religious practices are very important elements of mass culture, while mass culture deeply influences the transmission and evolution of historical memory and religious practices. Moreover, the contents of historical memory are among the most important sources for the creation of mass culture, while mass culture is one of the most important carriers of historical memory. The cultural memory that emerges from the interaction between these two is the most important condition for the popularization and continuation of historical memory. Moreover, for specific communities, the objects and modes of commemoration chosen for historical memory are deeply influenced by the religious practices of those communities. In this process, the transmission and evolution of religious practices have also led to the continuation and transformation of historical memory. As for the main axis of the study of religious practices, religious practice is also an important content of mass culture. Due to the closer interaction and integration between religious practices and mass culture in modern times, mass culture has had an even broader impact on the transmission and evolution of religious practices.
Unlike traditional studies that focus on the upper echelons of official and elite cultures and are limited by the influence of contemporary political identity, these three research axes focus on the common people as the main subject of study. Therefore, at a more abstract level, these three main axes of research will primarily examine modes of Chinese thinking and ethical discourses from the bottom-up behavioral experiences and perspective of the common people, in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the modes of Chinese thinking that existed long before the emergence of modern concepts of nationhood, and continues to do so alongside, or even in competition with them. Further, based on the common people mentality and the behaviors derived thereof, we will explore the ethical values of the common people that exist outside the framework of the modern nation, and that are in accord with, appropriated by, or even in opposition to official and elitist mentalities.
Further, the three research axes will focus on analyzing the abstract concepts that form “identity”, and then explore the correlation between moral choices and self-identification in the context of actual behaviors. The historical experiences and memories of Chinese people explored by the “Historical Memory” group will help us to understand the process of Chinese identity formation and its diversity. The Chinese religious rituals, activities, and customs that are the focus of the “Religious Practices” group also reflect the ways in which identity is reinforced, and at the same time constantly redefined, in belief practices. The research of the “Mass Culture” group aims to reveal identities through the media of language, image, video, and virtualization. More importantly, unlike traditional research that focuses on the upper echelons of official and elite cultures, these three research axes focus on the behavioral experiences and perspectives of the common people in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of Chinese thinking from the bottom-up. Based on the common people’s mentalities and the behaviors derived from them, it is possible to further explore the moral choices and ethical concerns arising from the coordination, compromise, and even confrontation with official and elite mentalities.
Links Between the Research on Metaverse Digital Governance and the Other Four Research Axes
The three main axes of Chinese cultural research, namely historical memory, religious practice, and mass culture, emphasize metaverse curation. This new form of curation, which provides interaction between the virtual and real worlds, will diversify and complicate the subject of copyright in ways that are very different from those faced by traditional curation in the physical world. These include: (1) Collaboration between curators and viewers may result in secondary creations. This may lead to difficulties in determining the authorship of viewers and the attribution of intellectual property rights. (2) Exhibitions spanning the virtual and real worlds will increase the complexity of intellectual property licensing and seriously challenge the current legal system of intellectual property licensing. (3) If the transaction of digital creation adopts the licensing model, without applying the principle of the exhaustion of intellectual property rights, this is extremely disadvantageous to the licensee’s subsequent value-added use; if a trade model is adopted, this involves the issue of how to deliver and transfer ownership of digital content. If no solution for this dilemma is found, this will seriously affect the development of metaverse content curation. Regarding the aforementioned issues, the Metaverse Digital Governance group’s research will work in tandem with the three main axes of Chinese cultural research, namely, Historical Memory, Religious Practice, and Mass Culture, and will collaboratively deliberate the best solutions to these issues. Moreover, the development of academic theories and practical operations of metaverse digital governance cannot be based on imagination alone, but must be based on the development of and future vision for a metaverse curation platform. Therefore, the research results of the Metaverse Ecosystem Platform research axis will be an important resource for generating problem awareness for the Metaverse Digital Governance research axis. This is also the competitive advantage in our center’s development of metaverse digital governance.
