Chinese Historian Ge Zhaoguang Wins 2026 Tang Prize in Sinology

Taipei: Chinese historian Ge Zhaoguang, a specialist in Chinese intellectual, cultural, and religious history, has been named the 2026 Tang Prize laureate in Sinology for his wide-ranging scholarship that has influenced academic circles in China and around the world. "Ge was chosen for his mastery of ancient Chinese thought," said David Wang, chairman of the Tang Prize Selection Committee for Sinology, at a press conference in Taipei on Wednesday. According to Focus Taiwan, Ge's work spans from his early studies on Chan Buddhism, Taoism, and the history of philosophical thought to his more recent series of studies on 'What is China?'. His achievements have resonated not only within China but also throughout the global Chinese-speaking academic community, and in Japan, Korea, North America, and Europe. In a prerecorded message, Ge expressed his hope that the Tang Prize would help make Sinology a focus of international academic discussion and foster dialogue with other cultural studies fields. Ge is the first China-based scholar to receive the Tang Prize in Sinology, which recognizes research on China and related fields, including Chinese thought, history, philology, linguistics, religion, philosophy, archaeology, traditional canons, literature, and art. According to the Tang Prize Foundation, Ge has been a professor at Fudan University's National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies and Department of History since 2006 and was selected as a Princeton Global Scholar in 2009. Born in Shanghai in 1950, Ge studied classical philology at Peking University before teaching history at Yangzhou University and later at Tsinghua University. He has received numerous honors, including the Asia-Pacific Awards in Japan and South Korea's Paju Book Award in 2014. Ge has authored dozens of books since the 1980s, demonstrating a deep understanding of Chinese literature and history while balancing academic rigor with contemporary relevance. Ge's influence extends beyond the Chinese-speaking world, with translations of his wor ks in Japanese, Korean, and English. Taiwanese anthropologist Huang Shu-min praised Ge's ability to transcend conventional boundaries, reshaping historical studies of Chinese thought and religions. The Tang Prize, established in 2012 by the late Taiwanese entrepreneur Samuel Yin, honors significant contributions in sustainable development, biopharmaceutical science, sinology, and rule of law, with a cash prize of NT$40 million and an additional NT$10 million in research funding for each category.