In a press conference held to announce the donation of the beetle specimens, donor Mr. Chun-Hsiu Chen, the Deputy General Manager of Yeong An Maritime Co. Ltd., said of his collection: "I have never thought to calculate the monetary value of these specimens because to me they are simply priceless." On March 8th, Mr. Chun-Hsiu Chen officially donated over 5,000 distinctive and rare beetle specimens to NTHU. The university expects to complete the cataloging of this large collection by July 2011 for public display.

NTHU President Lih J. Chen tells how the donation was facilitated by Professor Edward Yi Chang of NCTU, back in April 2010. Professor Chang knew that Mr. Chun-Hsiu Chen was considering donating a collection of beetle specimens that had taken over twenty years to collect to the academic community. Professor Chang suggested that the valuable collection be donated to NTHU, and asked faculty members from the Department of Life Science, Professor Chia-Wei Li and Chairman Chyng-Shyan Tzeng, to visit Mr. Chun-Hsiu Chen in Taipei to discuss the donation.

Mr. Chun-Hsiu Chen's passion and fascination with insects was strongly inspired by his biology teacher in senior high school. For many years he devoted himself to studying and tracking down various beetle species. His objective as a collector is "always strive to find what other collectors are lacking or find the largest known specimen of a given species." After tirelessly collecting beetle specimens from all over the world for more than twenty years, his professional collection is on par with, if not more comprehensive than, those found in most museums, and many of the specimens he has collected are extremely rare and unique, rendering the collection priceless.

"I am good at finding things but I lack the time to manage my collection,"said Mr. Chun-Hsiu Chen. In the past, he had considered giving his collection a better home by donating it to the Montreal Museum in Canada. However, he made the choice to keep his invaluable collection here in his home country so future generations would have the opportunity to appreciate the beauty of these creatures. He believes that no one can keep even his most precious collection forever; he, therefore, decided to pass it onto the professional hands of the NTHU academics. He hopes his donation will make NTHU Museum the museum that has the largest collection of beetles in the region.