TRI is shifting its focus

       The Taipei Ricci Institute has signed an agreement with Taiwan National Library creating a "Matteo Ricci - Pacific Studies Reading Room" within the premises of the library. At the same time, with the support of the library. of the Council for Aboriginal Affairs and of individual scholars, the TRI is working towards the creation of a "Taiwan Society for Pacific Studies" that will become its main research outlet and focus.

New research into language evolution suggests most Pacific populations originated in Taiwan around 5,200 years ago. The Austronesians arose in Taiwan around 5,200 years ago. Before entering the Philippines, they paused for around a thousand years, and then spread rapidly across the 7,000km from the Philippines to Polynesia in less than one thousand years. After settling Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, the Austronesians paused again for another thousand years, before finally spreading further into Polynesia eventually reaching as far as New Zealand, Hawaii and Easter Island. This cultural and linguistic history opens up compelling perspectives on the globalization process and on the challenges that humankind confronts nowadays.

承繼過往的基礎，台北利氏學社正在開拓新的研究與發展方向。學社已與國家圖書館簽訂合作協議，共同成立「利瑪竇太平洋研究室」。同時，在原住民族委員會以及台灣大學人類學系、語言學研究所、中研院史語所、民族所等機構多位教授的支持下，利氏學社亦正籌備成立「台灣太平洋研究學會」（Taiwan Society for Pacific Studies），致力於推動跨領域的太平洋研究。

根據語言學及考古學的研究結果，台灣應是南島民族的起源地。約在五千年前，南島民族開始向外遷移，從菲律賓到玻里尼西亞、斐濟、薩摩亞和東加，最後移居到紐西蘭、夏威夷、馬達加斯加和復活島。目前，南島民族的分布範圍已廣達兩萬六千公里，南島語的使用人口約有兩億七千萬，語言種類有一千兩百以上，可分為十個語支，其中九支就是目前台灣原住民使用的語言。

過去，南島民族漫長的遷徙旅程造就了現今型塑太平洋文化的龐大家族；今日，太平洋地區除了受到歷史事件、文化遇合的型塑，也受到氣候變遷與環境災害的衝擊。台灣不僅在全球化的歷史進程中扮演重要角色，且對於當今世界未來如何面對環境變遷與諸多重大挑戰的因應行動，台灣亦有著舉足輕重的地位，以及不可怠忽的責任。因此，在台灣所推動、進行的跨領域太平洋及南島文化研究，其意義與價值可謂十分重大。