Father Benoit Vermander, Director of the Taipei Ricci Institute, was knighted and conferred the honor of “Academic Palms” ( Palmes Academiques) in recognition of his humanitarian and academic accomplishments in Taiwan and China, at a ceremony in Taipei on Thursday, April 2.

Several French and Taiwanese leaders in the fields of culture and science, such as former minister of the National Science Council Mr. Chen Jian-ren participated in the ceremony.

Mr. Vermander holds a Master’s in political science from Yale University and a PhD in the same discipline from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris. He arrived in Taiwan in 1992, and after a year and a half he went to Sichuan, China, where he took courses in painting with a Chinese painter, with whom he has since held six joint exhibitions.

In 1996, he succeeded Taipei Ricci Institute founder Father Yves Raguin as head of the institute, whose objective is to contribute to in-depth understanding of Chinese culture, through research, forums and publication. In particular, the Institute published in 2002 the Grand Dictionnaire Ricci de la langue chinoise, the largest Chinese-Western language dictionary ever published.

Under Vermander’s leadership, the Institute has expanded its scope to include a “culture of peace” in the Chinese world, research on identity, cultural diversity and sustainable development, and has organized several symposiums in Taiwan.

Benoit is the author of eight books, including “China in search of its borders” (2005), “Chinese Wisdom and Christian Meditation” (2007) and dozens of articles.

in scientific journals and numerous newspaper articles.

Further, Vermander et al launched the magazine RENLAI (“Te Human Flute”), a cultural monthly for opinion leaders in Taiwan and in the Chinese diaspora, as well as a companion website, www.erenlai.com.