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Wee Kek Koon

I’ve visited the National Palace Museum in Taipei almost as many times as I’ve been to the city, but last month’s trip wasn’t the most pleasant experience.
Crowded and noisy, the museum was packed with tourists led by strident guides whose raised pennants resembled war flags on a battlefield. After 10 minutes, I was ready to leave.
China to build second Palace Museum in Beijing’s suburbs to show more treasures
My previous visits, when there were fewer people there, were so much more enjoyable and edifying. I could read the captions of the exhibits in peace. Still, this time I did manage to see a few priceless artefacts, such as the calligraphy of artist, scholar-official and poet Huang Tingjian (1045-1105) and the Northern Song dynasty’s Emperor Huizong (1082-1135).

We should be grateful to the Nationalist forces for transporting countless treasures from mainland China to Taiwan towards the end of the civil war, and to the subsequent governments in Taiwan for protecting them. One shudders to think what the Red Guards would have done to them.
Abuse of power? Row raised over Taiwan Palace Museum director’s move to Beijing shortly after rule change
The deliberate destruction of cultural artefacts during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) has few parallels in history. Perhaps warlord Xiang Yu’s burning of the imperial palace when he entered the Qin dynasty capital of Xianyang in 206BC came close. The conflagration supposedly lasted three months, destroying forever a massive library of ancient texts that had been confiscated by the Qin government.


Thank goodness for Taipei’s National Palace Museum

Nationalists ensured a cultural legacy when they saved treasures from the Red Guards

Cultural Revolution Red guards destroying a figure of Buddha in Buddhist temple, HARBIN, HEILONGJIANG PROVINCE, 1966. [FROM MPHOTO by LI Zhensheng]

The National Palace Museum, in Taipei. Picture: AFP

Amazing journey: how China hid palace artefacts from Japanese invaders 

The Palace Museum, in Beijing. Photos: Zhuang Ling; Lin Wei-yan

The National Palace Museum, in Taipei. 

Crates containing ancient Chinese art and artefacts are prepared for shipping in Beijing’s Forbidden City, in 1933.

Palace Museum staff who helped move the artefacts to safety.

Fung Ming-chu, director of the National Palace Museum, in Taipei.

A naval vessel transports part of the collection to Taiwan.

Nanjing Museum.

Armed guards escort the exhibits.

China to build second Palace Museum in Beijing’s suburbs to show more treasures

An artist’s impression of the new Palace Museum, which will be built in a park area 25km north of Beijing’s existing Palace Museum. Photo: SCMP Pictures

(161024) -- BEIJING, Oct. 24, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Tourists visit the Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 23, 2016. (Xinhua/Li Mingfang) (ry)

Shan Jixiang (R), president of the Palace Museum.

Abuse of power? Row raised over Taiwan Palace Museum director’s move to Beijing shortly after rule change

Museum-goers examine a painting at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan. Photo: Reuters

**ADVANCE FOR SUNDAY, MAY 10** In this photo taken on April 23, 2009, the internationally famed National Palace Museum is seen from a hilltop view, in Taipei, Taiwan. Authorities at the National Palace Museum in Taiwan have begun a dialogue with their counterparts in Beijing on ways of sharing China's precious artistic heritage, 60 years after it was split up in the climatic stages of the country's civil war. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)

A group of tourists admire a jade cabbage, the most popular treasured collection of Taipei's National Palace Museum, 28 March 2007. The museum admitted that the piece had been slightly damaged but said its value had not been accordingly reduced. AFP PHOTO/Sam YEH

(160210) -- BEIJING, Feb. 10, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Tourists visit the Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, during the Spring Festival holidays in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 10, 2016. (Xinhua/Shen Bohan) (ry)

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The museum may be noisy and packed with tourists and their guides, but Chinese owe Nationalists a debt for saving so many treasures from the Red Guards


It may be noisy and packed with hordes of tourists and their guides, but Chinese owe Nationalists a debt for saving so many treasures and sparing them subsequent destruction at hands of Red Guards.


Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


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.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The museum may be noisy and packed with tourists and their guides, but Chinese owe Nationalists a debt for saving so many treasures from the Red Guards

The museum may be noisy and packed with tourists and their guides, but Chinese owe Nationalists a debt for saving so many treasures from the Red Guards