The Gugong Bowuyuan (National Palace Museum) - the reason one should come to Taiwan. A professor at Yale once told me that this museum holds the "creme de la creme" of all Chinese artworks and artifacts in the world. After visiting, I can only agree. I have never seen such a wide array of famous and historically important artworks, all displayed in one place before. The works presented there were part of the collection of ancient Chinese emperors. One may wonder why the works are in Taipei rather than Beijing, China. In fact, Beijing actually has a museum of the similar name "Palace Museum" located in the Forbidden city. However, in the 1920s this museum was split into two, one remaining in Beijing and one leaving China being moved to its permanent location in Taipei, Taiwan. The general Chiang Kai-Shek (who's name you will here a lot if you decide to come to Taiwan) was the key figure in the initiation of this split. During the Chinese Civil War, he ordered that all essential collections of the Chinese collection be removed to Taipei, later claiming that they would have been destroyed during the cultural revolution in the 1960s. The legitimacy of the removal of these artworks is still in question, but the fact that these were truly the most essential is definitely not. You can find everything from Bronze, Painting, Jades, Ceramics, Calligraphy, Rare books, Documents, and Curios. Luckily, I had just taken a class on Chinese art history and were able to identify the value and importance of all of these artworks and artifacts.
The museum itself is located in Shilin (a stop on the red subway line), which is a suburb of Taipei. Going into this part of town, one does not feel like being part of the city anymore. Shilin is wealthy and remains a naturally preserved part of town. Many villas, parks, mountains, trees, and traditional Buddhist temples surround the museum, which on the contrary has an exterior and interior that is quite modern. Entering, you may also be surprised by the very large number of visitors (especially Japanese) who seem to view the artworks at all hours. I was certainly glad to be visiting this place after following my routine of studying Chinese and going to Taida for so many days. So for any future light fellows out there. Visit this museum! It's a must!
