The 4th International Conference on Taiwan Commercial Traditions invites scholars and researchers across the world to share their work encompassing, but not confined to, the main theme of “Institutional and Extra-Institutional Practice.”

• Dates: September 23–24, 2027 (Thursday & Friday)
• Venue: Conference Room 1, 3F, North Building, Humanities and Social Sciences Building, Academia Sinica, Taiwan.
• Hosted by: Institute of Taiwan History, Academia Sinica

Theme

Since the 17th century, the economic development of Taiwan has unfolded within the framework of various “institutions” amid multiple regime changes. Whether it was the trade controls of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), the breakthrough of the five-firms system during the Ming Cheng era, the T’ai-yun rice export and tributary order of the Qing dynasty, the charter system and commercial regulations under Japanese colonial rule, or the foreign exchange controls and planned economy policies of the Republic of China government—successive ruling powers have attempted to regulate economic activities through various institutional arrangements.

Nevertheless, Taiwanese merchants, enterprises, and civil networks were not merely passive recipients of policy. They sought opportunities within institutional boundaries, forged new paths beyond them, and employed various strategies to navigate, cross, and even reshape the boundaries themselves. The within and beyond of institutions are not starkly opposed; rather, they are mutually permeable and interdependent, jointly shaping Taiwan’s commercial traditions over the past four centuries. The theme of this conference, “Institutional and Extra-Institutional Practice,” aims to capture this multi-layered interaction and its inherent tensions.

Scope and Topics

Focusing on the island of Taiwan as it extends outward into East Asian and global trade networks from the 17th century to the present, we seek to explore:

• How formal organizations—such as merchant guilds (jiao), associations (kumiai), and chambers of commerce and industry—constituted the structural conditions for commercial behavior, and how actors developed specific strategies and habits within them.
• How commercial networks, credit mechanisms, and trading practices that hovered between the formal and informal, alongside economic behaviors navigating institutional boundaries, have supplemented, adjusted, and even penetrated existing systems under different historical conditions.

We welcome research approaching these dynamics. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• The establishment and operation of formal commercial systems
• Business actors’ institutional strategies
• Commercial networks and credit systems
• Cross-border trade and circulation of goods
• Interaction between the state and business people
• The roles of rule evasion and informal economics in different historical circumstances

Submission Guidelines

• Submission Deadline: August 31, 2026.
• Working Language: English or Mandarin Chinese
• What to Submit:
  • Paper title and an abstract (about 300-500 words)
  • A short C.V. (max. 2 pages)
  • Both as PDF files
• Where to Submit: twconf@gate.sinica.edu.tw
• Notification of Acceptance: October 31, 2026

Submissions will be reviewed based on the paper title, abstract and C.V. by the organizing committee. Authors will be notified of the review results and further presentation details following the committee’s decision.

Contact

For further information or inquiries, please contact:

• Email: twconf@gate.sinica.edu.tw
• TEL: +886-2-26525374