Yale University Press has received a $1 million grant from The Starr Foundation for its project "The Culture and Civilization of China Series," a landmark venture in collaboration with Chinese publishers. The grant, by far the largest to the project to date, will form the cornerstone of Yale Press' $5 million fundraising effort in support of the venture. The gift is reported to be the largest single grant ever received by a university press.
The grant will be used to support the activities of more than 150 scholars, curators, translators and editors from China, the West and all over the world, who have come together to plan, research, write, edit, design and publish the books in "The Culture and Civilization of China Series," which is being published jointly by Yale University Press and the China International Publishing Group of Beijing.
Specifically, the grant will enable leading Western authorities on Chinese culture to engage in detailed and long-term cooperation with their colleagues in the People's Republic of China; to study rare Chinese art works and archaeological treasures that have long been inaccessible to foreigners; and to introduce these riches to readers who are only superficially acquainted with Chinese civilization.
"We're doing this for our grandchildren," remarked John Ryden, director of Yale University Press, about the venture. "This is an immense project. For a long time, China has been a closed book to us in the West. Now there is a new willingness from China to open that book."
The first book in the projected 75-volume series, "Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting," came out in November of 1997, and was a commercial and critical success. Chinese President Jiang Zemin brought the book to President Bill Clinton when he visited the United States last fall. Other books in the series will feature China's visual arts, classical writings and Chinese language, as well as reference volumes, a history of Chinese philosophy and a volume on Buddhism.
Thus far, Yale Press has raised $1.5 million from a variety of sources in support of the project. In addition to the Starr Foundation, contributors include the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Henry Luce Foundation, Inc., Robert H. Ellsworth and individuals in Asia and the United States.
The Starr Foundation was established in 1955 by Cornelius Vander Starr, founder of the international insurance conglomerate now known as the American International Group (AIG). Starr started the company in Shanghai in 1919 under the name American Asiatic Underwriters and moved his company's headquarters to New York in 1939. AIG is currently the leading U.S.-based international insurance organization and is among the nation's largest underwriters of commercial and industrial coverages. In 1992, AIG became the first insurance company to be allowed back into the People's Republic of China. AIG's current chief executive officer is Maurice Greenberg, who is also chair of The Starr Foundation.
The Starr Foundation supports a broad range of health, educational
and cultural organizations, including colleges and universities,
scholarship programs, public and civic organizations, museums and
hospitals. In 1995, it had assets of $1.5 billion and gave out 448 grants
totaling $44.6 million. The foundation's president and director is Ta Chun
Hsu, who also is a director of Chinese American Bank and Smith-Kettlewell
Eye Research Institute.
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