The Taipei 228 Memorial Museum (台北二二八紀念館) reopened in February this year after being closed for almost a year for renovations. The reopening created some controversy over how the new exhibits interpreted the events of 228. On Sunday I went to visit the museum to see for myself how it had changed.

I had visited the museum about five times since my first visit in 2007 so I had a good understanding of the previous layout and content of the exhibits. The first thing I found on arriving was that the audio guide, which was previously available in English and several other languages, was not available. The staff said that it wasn’t ready yet and did not know when it would become available. All the exhibits are described in Chinese characters with only a small amount of English and Japanese.

The first display section of the refurbished museum presents the history of the broadcasting station that the building once housed. The first date given is 15 August 1945, the date of the Japanese surrender that marked the end of World War II. The next set of exhibitions steps back in time to the Japanese era, but they don’t give as much detail about this period of time as they did previously. There is also some negative portrayal of the Japanese period as shown in the “Incomplete Democracy” display above.

The photo above shows the report sent to Chiang Kai-shek on 5 March 1947 reporting on the situation in Taiwan. However, the report is reproduced so the characters are so small as to be barely readable. The problem with the museum is not that it fails to present the facts, but the way it presents the facts.

The museum previously had sections about the White Terror Era and the democracy movement following on from the events of 228. These have been much reduced in the new museum. Photos of politicians such as Frank Hsieh and Annette Lu who went on to play a key role in the Democratic Progressive Party are now totally absent. There is a large bronze bust of Cheng Nan-jung (鄭南榕), but the description of his life is just written on two small pieces of paper.

The museum now has a more modern feel, but the problem is that it fails to provide sufficient context and an overarching narrative for the events of 228. After visiting the museum people may know some facts about 228, but they still may not have a clear idea of the reasons why it happened. While the museum was in need of updating I don’t believe the changes are an improvement.

I then went to visit the National 228 Memorial Museum (二二八國家紀念館) which officially opened on 28 February this year. I actually first visited this museum in 2007 when it hosted a temporary exhibition. The museum is on Nanhai Road in a building that formerly served as the United States Information Service.

Like the Taipei 228 Museum, the National 228 Museum also takes the surrender of the Japanese at the end of World War II as its starting point. Some brief information about the Japanese period is given and like the Taipei 228 Museum it focuses on the negative aspects.

The events of the 228 Massacre are presented without shying away from the facts. A large wall shows photos of those killed in the massacre with the blank spaces representing the people who have no photo. It is really quite sobering.

After displays about the events of the 228 Massacre, the next exhibition hall depicts the history of the building the museum is housed in. The building began its life as the Taiwan Education Hall from 1931 to 1945. During this time it hosted exhibitions of artwork and space is given to introduce some of Taiwan’s famous artists. However, the inclusion of this section creates a major disconnect in the narrative of the museum.

The building was the Taiwan Provincial Senate from 1946 to 1951. The next exhibitions show this and provide some connection to the events of 228. The Provincial Senate was a place were Taiwanese voices were able to criticise the government in the wake of the Republic of China’s (ROC) takeover of Taiwan. However, most of the senators were killed or arrested in the wake of the 228 Massacre.

The problem of the National 228 Museum is similar to that of the Taipei 228 Museum. It presents important information about the 228 Massacre, but fails to put it in sufficient context. Although the museum has only been open for a few months it already has a feeling of being old and outdated. There were very few visitors and staff were only present at the entrance downstairs.

• Museums at NTU
• Visiting some museums in Taiwan
• Folk Arts Museum in Beitou
• End of semester at NCCU
• Photos from the weekend

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 origin for an exhibition.

In the afternoon speeches were given by Eric Yu (游浩乙), Director of the Shung Ye Museum, Lin Chiang-I (林江義), Deputy Minister of the Council of Indigenous Peoples and the Director of the Japanese Museum of Ethnology. Indigenous students from Xizhi Primary School also performed a short play.

Several Japanese anthropologists made the trip to Taiwan for the opening, but the real guests of honor were three aboriginal elders. A 106 year old Amis woman from Hualian made her first trip ever to Taipei to attend the exhibition opening.

There were also two Atayal women in their nineties with facial tattoos in attendance.

The exhibition titled “Gaze through the centuries ” (百年來的凝視) is made up of artifacts collected by Japanese anthropologists in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial era.  It runs until 11 October.

In the evening a celebration was held at the Grand Hotel. It featured lots of singing and dancing by aboriginal people and some special aboriginal foods such as “betel nut flower” (檳榔花) and bamboo tube rice (竹筒飯).

*More photos in the Shung Ye Museum 15th anniversary set at flickr.

• Austronesian Taiwan 2.0
• Visiting some museums in Taiwan
• Another 228 museum
• Folk Arts Museum in Beitou
• Lee Ming-tiao’s photos at TFAM

The exhibition begins with Lee’s black and white photos of Taiwan taken during the late 1940s and 1950s. These provide a unique look into life in Taiwan at that time. Many of the shots were taken in Xindian and along the Danshui River revealing a world now physically lost, but still living in the memories of many Taiwanese and Lee’s amazing photography.

The second part of the exhibition features travel photography, shot in color, from Lee’s travels around the world in the 1980s and 1990s. You can see a selection of the photos on the TFAM’s website. The photos are notable for both their technical excellence and fascinating subjects.

The exhibition runs until 5 April 2009. The museum is closed on 25 & 26 January and every Monday. Admission is free during the month of January.

• The art of martial arts
• Betelnut beauty exhibition opening
• Adoration of Shepherds exhibition opening
• Rhythms Monthly photo exhibition
• Two photo exhibitions in Taipei

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 near the Xinsheng South Road gate of NTU. I haven’t visited all the museums yet, but I’ll write about the ones I have.

The Zoology Museum (動物博物館) features the skeletons of four animals. The Asian Elephant and Cassowary are pictured above. There are also Minke Whale and Short-finned Pilot Whale skeletons. There are also nine stuffed birds on display including a Crested Serpent Eagle, Collared Scoops Owl and Brown Wood Owl.

The NTU Heritage Hall of Physics (物理文物館) has a Cockcroft-Walton Linear Accelerator as its centrepiece. This museum also has on display many old experimental apparatus and a working Geiger counter that you can test with a collection of rocks.

The Geo-specimen Cottage (地質標本館) is the place for anyone with an interest in geology. A variety of rock specimens are on display together with information about Taiwan’s geology (all in Chinese).

The Department of Anthropology Museum (人類學系標本陳列室) contains a wonderful collection of artifacts from the Austronesian speaking peoples of Taiwan and Pongso no Tao (蘭嶼; Orchid Island). There are also a few items from Melanesia and Polynesia. An excellent guide to this collection can be found in the book The Material Culture of Formosan Aborigines by Chen Chi-lu (陳奇祿). The museum is on the ground floor of the Anthropology Department building. You may have to ask one of the staff to open it for you.

Other museums at NTU include the Herbarium and Gallery of NTU History. The Insectarium (昆蟲標本室) is set to open in November this year and is something to get excited about. It contains over 330,000 specimens.

More information is available on the NTU Museums website or pickup one of the guide books from NTU. The opening hours of each museum vary so it is best to check the website in advance.

• Visiting some museums in Taiwan
• Folk Arts Museum in Beitou
• End of semester at NCCU
• Photos from the weekend
• Shi-Da class outing to Yingge

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 it into the Jia Shan Guest House after the war before it was later sold to a private owner and converted into a museum.

The two storey wooden building has been lovingly restored. It maintains all the features that would have been present during the Japanese era such as the courtyards and paper screens. The exhibitions include a range of items from the Japanese era as well as Taiwanese aboriginal artifacts. There is also another building which is a tea house, but it wasn't open when I was there. You can still walk around it and appreciate the Japanese aesthetic in the garden. 

The exhibits are all clearly labelled in Chinese and English. I borrowed an English-language audio guide which gives extra information for a self-guided tour. The museum is located at No. 32 Youya Road in Beitou (北投區幽雅路32號). It is open from 10:00 to 21:00 and closed on Mondays. Admission is NT$200. It has a restaurant, but I didn't check the menu. It is quite a walk up the hill to the museum so you might consider taking a bus or taxi. 

This lovely covered bridge has been repaired since I last visited Beitou.

In the afternoon I wandered up to the Sulphur Valley (硫磺谷). It was cold and windy but the volcanic vents were still steaming and letting out sulphur fumes. Note the couple getting their wedding photos taken in the bottom right-hand corner of the photo.

• Beitou: Buddhism, museums and hot springs
• Visiting some museums in Taiwan
• The art of martial arts
• Understanding Taiwanese religion
• Lee Ming-tiao’s photos at TFAM

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 labelled Pingpu (平埔族) or Plains peoples. The display relates to the Siraya, the people who lived on the plains around Tainan and were the first indigenous people in Taiwan to come into extensive contact with foreigners. Namely the Dutch who arrived in Taiwan in 1624. The red paper on the left is a land contract. It is written in Chinese, although other land contracts from that time can be found written in Sinkang, the romanised language of the Siraya developed by Dutch missionaries. 

As well as the displays about Taiwan's indigenous people there is a section of the museum about the indigenous people of Southwest China. Academia Sinica was originally founded in China in 1928 and later reestablished in Taiwan after 1949. The museum also has a special exhibition area with displays about folk religion and Mazu in Taiwan. 

The museum is open to the public, but check the opening hours before you go. There is also a library which is open to the public, but we didn't have the chance to see it last night.  

*more photos at flickr.  

• End of semester at NCCU
• Shung Ye Museum marks 15th anniversary
• End of the last semester at NCCU
• Austronesian Taiwan 2.0
• Lee Ming-tiao’s photos at TFAM

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 to a museum at the suggestion of Vice President Annette Lu. The park is managed by the Peng Ming-min Cultural Foundation.

I visited the park today. It seems they are still working on the main entrance area, but all the other exhibition areas were open. If you plan to visit I suggest waiting a few weeks until the works are finished and it is a bit more organised.

There are four halls of exhibitions in the park in what I guess were formerly administration buildings. They detail the history of resistance to KMT rule from 1947 to 1987. The photo above shows photos of members of the Taiwanese elite who disappeared during the 228 incident. Other points of interest included a screening of propoganda movies from the 1950s or 1960s. There are also many photos and materials related to the Kaohsiung Incident. There are lots of familiar faces among them as most of the current senior members of the DPP were involved in the incident. They all looked a lot younger then!

The block that served for holding political prisoners is now open to the public and includes some information about the prisoners that were held there. The gray concrete and reams of barbed-wire maintain a lifeless, oppressive feel to the place.

Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) were held in room 59 following the Kaohsiung Incident in 1979. Shi Ming-teh (施明德) was held there in 1985. The cells are open and you can see what kind of conditions the prisoners were kept under. There was no furniture in the rooms, although I assume they would have at least had a bed in them.

There is another building that served as a court for trying the prisoners on the site. Its display including some newspaper clippings of reports around the time of the trial of those involved in the Kaohsiung Incident.

It was interesting to visit and experience first hand the place where political prisoners were held. It made some of history feel more immediate and real.

*more photos in the Taiwan Human Rights Memorial set at flickr.

• How the KMT constructs history
• Lee Ming-tiao’s photos at TFAM
• Another 228 museum
• Ethnology Museum at Academia Sinica
• Folk Arts Museum in Beitou

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 the museum grounds naturally attracts the attention of children. The museum currently has an exhibition the history of Taiwanese art from 1763 to 1969. The various artworks show the development of artistic styles in Taiwan from the Qing period up to the early KMT era. 

On Sunday I went to visit the Shihsanhang Museum of Archaeology (十三行博物館) in Bali as a class outing for the Culture and Ethnic Structure of Taiwan class in the Taiwan Studies program at NCCU. I visited the museum last year, but it was good to go back again. The architectural design of the museum really is very special. It is worth taking some time to walk around just to appreciate it. 

At the museum we were given a sneak preview of the new Paiwan exhibition which opens today. The Paiwan (排灣) live in the mountains of Southern Taiwan. The photo above shows a model of a slate house. You can still see buildings like this in Taiwan today in the Maolin Scenic Area in Kaohsiung County. 

Taiwan has so many museums and their standards are often very high. I thought I would mention a few of the museums I have visited. I haven't written about all of them on this blog. You can find the ones I have written about by checking the museums & galleries category. 

There are a number of museums devoted to the culture and history of Taiwan's indigenous people. These include the Wulai Atayal Museum, the Museum of Saisiat Folklore in Nanzhuang, the Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines in Taipei, the National Museum of Prehistory in Taidong as well as the Shihsanhang Museum. I am sure there are probably a few more.

There are also museums that are focused on local history or special topics such as the Ceramics Museum in Yingge, the Tea Museum in Pinglin, the Hot Spring Museum in Beitou, the Lin Liu-Hsin Puppet Theatre Museum in Dadaocheng and the Hakka Museum in Sanxia.

In Taipei I like to visit Taipei MOCA and the Taipei Fine Arts Museum regularly to check out some of Taiwan's contemporary art. There are also some art galleries devoted to Buddhist art: the Huafan Cultural Gallery at Huafan University and Fo Guang Yuan, near Songshan Station. The Museum of World Religions is a chance to learn more about religion and also experience excellent modern museum design. 

There are frequent displays at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall and Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall. The National Museum of History, 228 National Memorial Museum, the Taipei 228 Memorial Museum and National Taiwan Museum are all located not far from each other in Taipei City. And of course this post wouldn't be complete without mentioning the National Palace Museum containing the world's largest collection of Chinese art and artifacts in the world.

What is your favorite museum in Taiwan? Are there any more you would like to add to this list? Please add your comments.

• Museums at NTU
• End of semester at NCCU
• Folk Arts Museum in Beitou
• Photos from the weekend
• Shi-Da class outing to Yingge

This afternoon I attended the opening of a new special exhibition at the Museum of World Religions (世界宗教博物館) in Yonghe. The exhibition is titled “A painting, A Story: Adoration of Shepherds” (聖誕圖 ～一幅畫的故事).

The centrepiece of the exhibition is the original painting Adoration of the Shepherds by Luca Giordano. It also features prints of many paintings related to the birth of Jesus. It is laid out in an interesting manner. It also includes a cartoon which explains many of the details of the Giordano painting (but it’s only in Chinese). There is also a lightbox/digital display which allows visitors to contrast various works of the “Adoration of shepherds”. The exhibition runs until 27 April 2008.

The photo above shows three musicians performing during the opening. The guests included the representative of the Holy See in Taipei and several other Catholic priests.

• Betelnut beauty exhibition opening
• X-cup, Poagao and foreign creators in Taiwan
• 2009 Taipei Book Exhibition
• Books and e-readers at the Taipei Book Exhibition
• Shung Ye Museum marks 15th anniversary

On the morning of 5 September the INEB tour set off on the bus to return to Taipei. As the bus left Fo Guang Shan, Ajarn Sulak gave a talk about the importance of Buddhism adapting to the local culture. This promoted quite a lot of discussion. When the bus reached Taizhong we stopped at the Li-ren Organic Food Store (里仁有機商店). They kindly provided us with lunch boxes and we also had a little time to learn about their business. Again Buddhism was a strong influence on their business ideas. They believed there were three key points to promoting organic food: health, environmental protection and education.

When the bus reached Taipei the first stop was The Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation (佛陀教育基金會). I was familiar with this organisation as I have some of their publications, but I had never visited their office in Taipei before. I really admire the work this group does as all the books they publish are for free distribution. They have published books in twenty different languages. 

Next we went to visit the Tzu Chi Hospital in Xindian where we were met by Ven. Chao Hwei. We had a short tour of the hospital followed by dinner. Everyone was very impressed by the high standard of the facilities. Ajarn Sulak had injured his finger shortly before he came to Taiwan and the staff at the hospital gave him some treatment for it. 

The next day we visited BLTV or Buddha's Light Television (人間電視). This is a non-commercial television station run by Fo Guang Shan. BLTV broadcasts three kinds of programmes: news, Dharma talks and documentaries about NPOs. The latter was of most interest to INEB members. Some members have already produced documentaries about their work and others are working on making documentaries. BLTV could provide them with a chance to get their work screened. 

The last place we visited on the tour was the Museum of World Religions (世界宗教博物館) in Yonghe. Master Hsin Tao (心道法師) came out of a retreat specially to meet with Ajarn Sulak. Master Hsin Tao gave a short talk and he mentioned the importance of tackling the problem of global warming. This issue is so important and I am glad that at least one religious leader in Taiwan is speaking out about it. 

I walked around the museum with Ajarn Sulak. He then made the suggestion to Master Hsin Tao that a model of Angkor Wat could be added to the museum. Ajarn said there was already a model of Angkor Wat in the Grand Palace in Bangkok which could be copied. 

On the final night in Taipei Ven. Chao Hwei and Ven. Shing Guang hosted a farewell dinner. It was a time for everyone to say thank you and good bye. I was grateful for the new friendships made and the old friendships renewed. The next INEB conference will be held in Siam in November 2009. 

• INEB article in Hongshi magazine
• INEB study tour: from north to south
• INEB Conference in Taiwan
• Farewell to Formosa
• International students in Taiwan