A visitor's first impression on stepping into the home of Professor Piet van der Loon is, "Wow! So many books!" The three-meter-by-three-meter walls of his computer room are lined high with traditional stitch-bound Chinese books; besides neatly ordered Chinese books, the well-lit living room contains works in Japanese, English, German, and French... many of them discussing folk festivals, religious beliefs, and traditional drama, dance, and music in various parts of China, as well as a host of reference works related to bibliographical studies and textual criticism... and if you add in the books stored in the book room upstairs, the home of Piet van der Loon, "honorary president of the Cambridge University library," is truly a rich and choice library in itself.

Born in Holland in 1920 and graduated from the University of Leyden, one of the strongholds of European sinology, Piet van der Loon transferred to teach at Cambridge University shortly thereafter. In 1972 he took up a lectureship at Oxford University, where he taught until his retirement two years ago, in 1987. His contributions to the development of sinology at Oxford and Cambridge over these many years are ineffaceable.

How did he become interested in China? Professor van der Loon seems hard put for an answer. He squints his eyes, puffs on his cigarette and after a pause nonchalantly replies, "Actually I was interested in everything. I chose Chinese just for the fun of it."

Having taught Chinese history at Cambridge, van der Loon has a comprehensive knowledge of China's evolution from ancient times to the present. And "if you want to understand such a complex and interesting people as the Chinese, then choosing local drama and folk beliefs, which are part of an unbroken living tradition, is an excellent way to go," he says, explaining that his decision to specialize in Fukienese and Cantonese drama was well considered.

Advocating tradition and prizing local color and folk customs are among van der Loon's most dearly held beliefs, and performing field research to obtain firsthand information is a point that he prides himself on.

"Van der Loon is not like some sinologists who bury themselves in a stack of books. He moves about in Chinese society every chance he gets and mingles with the common people," says Wang Chiu-kui, a professor of foreign languages at National Taiwan University, who admires him greatly for this.

Thanks to the depth of his field work, van der Loon not only counts many friends among the people but also possesses a host of audio tapes, Taoist texts, folk opera booklets, rare editions, records of oral narratives, and other precious materials that domestic scholars may never even have heard of.

"Professor van der Loon has accumulated his broad learning in just this way over a course of many years," remarks Wu Shou-li, a professor of Chinese literature at National Taiwan University who has known him for nearly thirty years.

A rich background in anthropology and sociology have helped him to better understand different cultures and to avoid the distortions that arise from ignoring context.

Tradition is his constant watchword. As a result, Nankuan music sung in mandarin Chinese, televised versions of traditional Chinese puppet plays with all kinds of special effects and Japanese or Western popular music added in, and performances of Taiwanese opera in the solemn grandeur of the National Theater Hall instead of on outdoor stages at religious festivals--all in his eyes appear "painful."

Early in his teaching days at Cambridge, Professor van der Loon became interested in collation, textual research, and bibliographical studies. Taoist Books in the Libraries of the Sung Period, A Critical Study and Index (published in 1984) is highly esteemed by Li Feng-chiu, a professor at National Chengchi University and a leading expert in the culture of Taoism, who observes that the book compiles materials from a vast range of sources, including fragments and inscribed steles recently unearthed on the mainland, and provides comprehensive analysis that is of great assistance in understanding the origins of the Tao-tsang ching (the voluminous collection of Taoist texts sometimes translated as the Taoist Canon).

Despite his broad erudition, Professor van der Loon has published only one book to date, and his inclination toward "overly rigorous scholarship" and "knowing too much and writing too little" distresses all who know him.

His own explanation is: "The tendency now is that the Chinese do the critical work, and we just translate it to the public. That's something I personally don't want to do. I want to do critical work, scholarly work; point out questions that Chinese scholars may not have thought of; and search for answers with rather scientific methods." This scholar with an authoritative standing in the world of traditional sinology also modestly adds, "Of course, the Chinese can do much better than I because it's their language."

Hearing the words of this Western sinologist, a scholar here points out that a Chinese person who made a similar effort, collected the same information, and used the same scholarly methods might produce more research results than Piet van der Loon, but, "First, we don't make the effort. Second, even if we wanted to, we often don't know how to go about it. And finally, many folk activities don't even get an elementary amount of respect and value from some people!"

Looking back at this venerable scholar from a distant land who has devoted a lifetime to the study of Chinese culture and contributed so much toward the acceptance of Taiwan's folk culture in the halls of academia, we should indeed express our special compliments and thanks.

[Picture Caption]

Professor van der Loon's numerous books are the fruits of twenty or thirty years of assiduous collecting.

The Chinese artifacts in front of the window are all prized possessions of Professor van der Loon. Each has a different history.

Popular religion on Taiwan is rich in color. Shown is a Taoist priest performing a ceremony in Yu-ti Temple, Tainan.

Mrs. van der Loon comes from an old Dutch family. She is fluent in Japanese and a good helper for her husband in his work as well as at home. The couple were photographed in front of their home.

The vitality of traditional drama is rooted in the participation of the people. The grand and solemn National Theater Hall can't compare with an outdoor stage for intimacy.

"Chinese culture is so vast and profound--why don't you place more importance on it?" Professor van der Loon often sighs with regret.

Wang Chia-chu, illustrator for the story "Ma-tsu Returns to Her Home," has a special way of handling light and shadow. The little ones can see the wisps of incense and the joss sticks shaking.

Wang Chia-chu, illustrator for the story "Ma-tsu Returns to Her Home," has a special way of handling light and shadow. The little ones can see the wisps of incense and the joss sticks shaking.

Painter Liu Tsung-hui, to express the vitality of the Taiya aboriginal people, used a dry brush to create the strength and feeling in "Bird Spirit Hsileiko." On the edges of the paintings are rare birds of Taiwan.

Lee Han-wen used cut paper to bring out the Ami aboriginal tale "Island of Women." He backed the cut paper with color soaked" cotton paper" （a kind of paper used for calligraphy） to make the main themes stand out.

When Hsu Yuan-chi painted "Tiger Cat," she used colors low in luminescence to express the sense of vastness and remoteness provoked by the winds and clouds crossing the endless expanse.