Full Chinese translation of 350-year-old Taiwan account published

Taipei, May 12 (CNA) The National Taiwan Library (NTL) on Monday announced the publication of the first complete Chinese translation of a 350-year-old work documenting Taiwan during the 17th century.

The 1669 publication, called "A Short Description of a Nine Year East Indian Journey" (Eine kurtze Beschreibung eines neunjährigen Ost-Indianischen Dienstes), was written by Albrecht Herport, a Swiss painter and soldier employed by the Dutch East India Company (VOC).

The book chronicles his travels from Amsterdam to the Cape of Good Hope, Jakarta and Taiwan, including 69 pages describing Taiwan's abundant produce and diverse communities, NTL Director Tsao Tsau-ying (曹翠英) said at the book launch event.

The work also contains first-hand accounts of the siege of Fort Zeelandia (now known as Anping Old Fort) by Zheng Chenggong (鄭成功) against the VOC along with nine copperplate illustrations that provide valuable historical and visual records of the era.

Tsao said the book showed that Taiwan was appearing on the global stage as far back as the Age of Discovery.

The original High German text was translated into traditional Chinese characters by a team led by Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages professor Chang Shoou-huey (張守慧), together with associate professor André Maertens and assistant professors Chou Hsin (周欣) and Ingo Tamm.

Only a small number of scholars worldwide are capable of reading High German from that period, the library said, and with three such specialists on the team working to interpret and cross-reference the original text, the project took more than a year to complete.

The original manuscript was also displayed at the event.

The NTL said the manuscript had previously been fully translated into Dutch in 1670, making the newly published Chinese edition the first complete translation in over 350 years.