Diauyutai, a group of uninhibited islets off the northeast coast of Taiwan is hardly noticeable on a conventional map. Since the 1970s, however, it has become a hot spot and contended territory among the countries of this region. In terms of land size, it is less than seven square miles. It has no inhabitant except seagulls. Many countries in the region, however, claim sovereignty over these islets. Such claims and counter-claims had sparked a few diplomatic confrontations among nations such as Taiwan, China, Japan as well as the U.S. The Diauyutai issue is yet to be resolved; it might erupt again anytime. Since its first eruption, however, it had significantly changed the courses of life for many Taiwanese youths who were studying in the United Sates in the1970s when the campaign took on the air of a Chinese patriotic movement against the Japanese expansion.

As the campaign gained its momentum and expanded, it was taken as "the second May Forth Movement," because it also epitomized the patriotic sentiment of the Chinese youths who were studying abroad. Due to the fact that the R.O.C. Government in Taiwan at that time considered it as a politically and diplomatically sensitive issue, the campaign never quite received the attention it deserved. Consequently, many published materials were lost and there is also a lack of academic research on this important historical event.

To preserve the history of this movement, NTHU Library has devoted a great deal of efforts to collect and preserve the published materials on the Diauyutai issue; many of them are in the form of mimeographs. An international forum and an exhibition of such rare materials were organized by the Library last May to trace the footsteps of patriotic youths and to introduce such rare materials to the academic circle as well as the general public.

Thanks to Yung-Yun Yeh, Lee Li, Zhi-Li Chen, Shiaw-Shin Lin, Day-Hsi Chin, Yung-Sheng Liu, Yuan Tsun Liu, Joseph Ya-Ming Lee, Chung-Shi Hsu, Kan Hung, Chun Lin, Ming-Zhong Chen, Shih-Chiang Chen, Nai-Chen Ju, Sheng-Tao Mao, Ji-Lan Su, Chao-Wei Chang, China Times and Ming-Chuan Liu who have donated valuable literatures Shu-Hui Su, Kai-Cheong Fok and Chung-Shi Hsu who have generously provided the funding, NTHU Library has amassed the largest collection of materials on the Campaign. This collection comprises of over 260 Chinese and English journals; 1,650MB of conference recordings; 151,385 words of transcript; and approximately 17GB of documentary videos, and 437 pages of digitized documents.

An international forum on the "Compilation, Publication and Interpretation of Literatures from the Diauyutai Sovereignty Campaign in the 1970s" was co-organized by NTHU Library and Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences in early May. NTHU President Wen-Tsuen Chen pointed out at the opening of the forum that Tsing Hua Academy, former Tsing Hua University, had used the Boxer Indemnity to fund and nurture many overseas Chinese students. NTHU now endeavors to preserve literatures documenting ideas of overseas students and provide first-hand research materials for future historical and academic researches. The university also seeks to pass on the passion and spirit of the Diauyutai Sovereignty Campaign to the future generation. Vice President, Academia Sinica, Chao-Han Liu expressed his hope that Tsing Hua University on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to immediately initiate the recording of oral history in addition to collecting literatures in order to facilitate systematic studies of related events.

In appreciation to those who donated these rare materials, President Chen presented a certificate of appreciation to and Professor Shiaw-Shin Lin. Upon receiving the certificate, Professor Lin said that the honor belongs to everyone who has endeavored to preserve the literatures. He recalled his hesitance when NTHU Library Director Hsiao-Chin Hsieh first contacted him for the donation but after touring the exhibit, he believes that the collections have indeed found the right home.