David on Formosa

The Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines (順益台灣原住民博物館) celebrated its 15th anniversary yesterday. The day was marked by the opening of a special exhibition from Japan.  The exhibition contains artifacts from the National Museum of Ethnology in Japan. This marks the first time artifacts from the museum have ever been returned to their country of [...]

The Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM; 臺北市立美術館) currently has an exhibition of photography by Lee Ming-tiao (李鳴鵰). Lee is one of Taiwan‘s most influential photographers and the exhibition provides a comprehensive look at his life’s work. The exhibition begins with Lee’s black and white photos of Taiwan taken during the late 1940s and 1950s. These [...]

The NTU Museums were inaugurated in November 2007 as part of a project to preserve and promote the university’s collections. The various small museums contain some wonderful exhibitions. It’s best to start your tour at the Agricultural Exhibition Hall (農業陳列館) where you can pick up a guide to all the museums. The Hall is located [...]

I have written about Beitou's museums before and now there is a new one to add to the list. The Taiwan Folk Arts Museum (北投文物館) recently reopened after being closed for five years for renovations. The wooden building that houses the museum was originally a club for Japanese officers. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs converted [...]

Last night our Culture and Ethnic Structure of Taiwan class at NCCU went on a field trip to the Institute of Ethnology (民族學研究所) at Academia Sinica (中央研究院). The museum is small but well organised and contains many interesting artifacts and models. Most of the displays are about Taiwan's indigenous people. The display pictured above is [...]

Taiwan Human Rights Memorial (台灣人權景美園區) was officially opened by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) on Monday, which was Human Rights Day. The park, located in Xindian, Taipei County,  was formerly known as the Jingmei Military Detention Centre (景美軍事看守所). The centre was used to try and hold political prisoners during the martial law era and was converted [...]

While visiting Taizhong on Friday I had some spare time in the afternoon to visit the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (國立臺灣美術館). It was a brilliant sunny day in Taizhong and the museum looked fantastic surrounded by a nice park. The space of the museum is very open and well designed. The sculpture in [...]