A 36-year-old Swedish scholar has won an early-career research achievement award Friday from the Academia Sinica, Taiwan's top research institute, for his study of the Manchu language.
Mårten Söderblom Saarela is among nine recipients of the Academia Sinica Early-Career Investigator Research Achievement Award this year. He has spent nearly eight years in researching the critically endangered language, which he used to connect Chinese and Western cultures, according to the Academia Sinica.
Söderblom Saarela, who is the award's youngest awardee this year, also looked into how people in the Qing Dynasty -- the last imperial dynasty in China -- interacted with people in East Asia and Europe from the perspective of the Manchu language, it said.
The Manchu language was one of the official languages of the Qing Dynasty (1636-1912).
Speaking to local media, Söderblom Saarela said he grew up with an interest in linguistics as his mother is a French teacher.
Söderblom Saarela said he had traveled to many places to learn the Manchu language and ended up in Taiwan, which he felt provides a lot of access to documents and historical sources like Japan does.
For instance, the National Palace Museum Library was one of the places he often visited for first-hand materials, Söderblom Saarela said, adding that the fact there are many scholars devoted to Chinese culture study in Taiwan has provided him with good opportunities for having exchanges.
The annual award -- which is given in the categories of mathematics and physical sciences, life sciences, and humanities and social sciences -- is aimed at encouraging young scholars in Taiwan to conduct in-depth research that makes significant contributions to their fields, according to the Academia Sinica.
Each of the nine awardees, chosen from 103 candidates this year, received a medal, a NT$300,000 (US$10,700) prize, and a research grant of NT$300,000, the institution said.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel