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Phi Tau Phi

Taiwanese honor society

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 4, 2026
Entity authorityQ21017104
Source-derived summary

The Phi Tau Phi Scholastic Honor Society of the Republic of China (simply Phi Tau Phi or ΦΤΦ; Chinese: 中華民國斐陶斐榮譽學會) is an honor society based in Taiwan. It was founded in 1921 at Peiyang University, China. The Society aims to encourage scholarship, stimulate research, reward scholastic achievement, and form bonds of intellectual and professional fellowship. It has recognized over 70,000 members in the past hundred years.

History

On May 25, 1921, Joseph H. Ehlers, then a professor at Peiyang University, proposed the idea to establish an honor society that encourages integrity and diligence across universities in Mainland China.

On May 4, 1922, the first general meeting was held at the Shanghai Youth Association. Fourteen nationwide university representatives, including those from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, National Southeast University, Yenching University, and others, attended the meeting. The first board of directors was then elected, with Ping-Wen Kuo serving as the president.

After the retreat of the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan, the society once suspended its activities. However, it was resumed in March 1964 at the call of the members.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Phi Tau Phi” as taiwanese honor society. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Taiwanese, honor and society.

Editorial reviewA useful synthesis for locating the documentary relationships between formal authority, participants and affected communities. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1921, 1922, 1964—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1921-05-25. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Taiwanese, honor and society providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Phi Tau Phi”, the useful work is to connect “taiwanese honor society” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q21017104. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1921, 1922 and 1964.

Critical limits

Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Phi Tau Phi”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Phi Tau Phi primary sources, Phi Tau Phi archive and Taiwanese research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Phi Tau Phi”?
  2. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
  3. Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Phi Tau Phi” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.