On the second day, we went to national Palace Museum. Before this tour, me and Helen had did some research on National Palace Museum, so we had a basic idea of its history.
National Palace Museum possessed nearly 700,000 pieces of ancient China imperial artefacts and artworks. The artworks were being moved out during Second Sino-Japanese War to avoid being took by Japanese. The artworks experienced 3 major shipments from Nanjing to Keelung during the end of Civil war, which are displayed in National Palace Museum now.
There are some exhibitions that had really drew me such as the Magic of kneaded clay; Rituals cast in Brilliance; Friend through Culture. Through looking into the decoradesign of the clays,
Being in the National Palace Museum feels like it brings me back to the ancient China. It was incredible to see thousands of relics that have been preserved in a good conditions, even though there were numerous war and changes in dynasties in the past. And truly impressed by their awareness of protecting history relics and culture in the past. The audio explanation do amplify the exhibition. I used to find visiting museum or gallery boring because I don’t know what the story behind the art work or historical relics. But with the explanation, I envisioned the relics being used vividly and I really dug myself into the story behind.
Beside knowing the history behind, some exhibitions also relates back to the modern society.
The other exhibition that I found interesting is the proposal of life from the 17th century. There is a book called “Treatise on Superfluous Things” 《长物志》written by Wen Zhenheng, which was a guideline for people to buy and use the non-necessity items wisely to not lead an extravagant life. It would be quite useful if there is a modern one. In recent year, China is becoming stronger, and people are getting richer which is a good phenomenon. However, from my observation in daily life, I saw people wearing luxuries from the top to the bottom, and blindly chasing the fashion which I considered as excessing.
It would be beneficial to all of us to have a guide to follow and lead a non-wasting lifestyle.
The friend through Culture painting exhibition is showing the drawings of the elegant gatherings in the past.
It is interesting to find out that the way of meeting people, gathering together to talk about arts, politics and writing poems and drawings is similar to what we doing now. The other day we met Yichen Guo who established the walking library where allows everyone to use, meet new people and create their artworks. The walking library is a great place for reading, catching up with friends or even meeting new people, with good coffee and wine alongside.
2019 Taiwan Study Tour 