National Palace Museum

Exams are coming up next week, so even though my feet have been feeling a little restless, I decided I would not go anywhere far this weekend and focus on studying. My resolve weakened as soon as I woke up on Saturday morning, for the sun was shining and it looked like we were going to have a nice day. I ploughed through my work anyway, telling myself that if I finished early, I would go out and see a temple or a monument in the afternoon. The weather, however, was not on my side, and by midday, the wind had picked up and a light drizzle came over the city. By that time, I was already so excited to get out that the weather was not going to stand in my way. I remembered that I had been putting off a trip to the National Palace Museum for an ugly day, so I packed my camera bag and set off.

Reaching the National Palace Museum is not as easy as reaching other sights in Taipei, because it is not very close to any metro station. I took the metro to Shilin station on the red line, where I was pleasantly surprised to find very clear directions on how to continue to the museum by other public transport. I boarded a tiny shuttle at the corner of the block, which brought me straight to the museum entrance. My guidebook said that Saturday evening was the best time to visit, but once I arrived, I found that opening times had been significantly restricted because of the coronavirus scare. I had plenty time regardless.

The National Palace Museum, despite its enormous repository, is remarkably ‘visitable’. It would be easy, with the number of items in storage, for the curators to completely overwhelm guests, but the items on display seemed to have been very carefully selected and appeared representative of the collection as a whole. My favourite part of the museum was its “Special Exhibition of Envoys Presenting Tribute.” The exhibition featured paintings, even mini-ethnographies, of nations that paid or were perceived to be paying tribute to the Chinese Emperor. There were even several paintings of indigenous Taiwanese people. What fascinated me most about the whole exhibition was the commitment to cataloguing these different cultures by Chinese historians.

Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva holding a child

 Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva seated on what seems to be a dog

 Large gilt Buddha statue

 Vajrapani Bodhisattva

 The famous 17 concentric ivory balls, called "the work of celestial beings"

 A set of botanical illustrations

 A man leading a giraffe in the "Special Exhibition of Envoys Presenting Tribute"

A couple from the Southwest

 The Miaozu of Guangxi

 The indigenous people of the Changhua coast in Taiwan. Note the deerskin clothing for which Taiwan was traditionally known, and which was exported to China from what is now Changhua County.

The Indigenous people of Alishan. Note that despite wearing a deerskin coat on top of another set of clothing, the woman's torso has been left bare. My guess is that this is to reinforce the perceived "savageness" of the depicted 生番  or "uncooked barbarian"

 A couple from the mountains of Changhua. The only Taiwanese depicted here not wearing dearskin clothing. I wonder whether the woman's necklace is pearl and red coral, another set of exports for which Taiwan is known.

 The indigenous people of Tamsui. Note the light, Sinified complexion of these figures. It is unclear to me whether the painter did not know better, or whether there is a politicised undercurrent to their physical features. 

 A porcelain vase with a dragon

 A porcelain stupa

 A porcelain chrysanthemum kettle

 Another kettle with floral patterns

 The entrance to the National Palace Museum, as viewed from the front of the main building

The main exhibition hall of the National Palace Museum