It was curiosity that prompted student Dominic Sachsenmaier to apply for a scholarship in the early 1990s: a year of learning Chinese in Taipei. Up to this point, his studies had been strongly focused on Europe. Ee studied European history, philosophy and classical philology in Freiburg. After he returned from Taiwan a year later, Sachsenmaier not only had a solid grasp of the language but his interest in Chinese culture had also been awakened.