Containing around 700,000 ancient Chinese imperial artefacts and artworks, the National Palace Museum in Taipei is one of the largest of its kind in the world. The collection stretches back around 10,000 years to the Neolithic period, with many of the objects being moved here from the People’s Republic of China during the Chinese Civil War.
Many of the pieces within the National Palace Museum were collected by China’s emperors over centuries and originally presented in Beijing’s Forbidden City until the Republic of China relocated to Taipei and sought to preserve their artefacts here. The museum is spread over four floors and two exhibition halls, with the exhibits rotated every three months in a bid to showcase the museum’s extensive collection. Chinese calligraphy, porcelain, bronze sceptres and paintings dating back to the Tang Dynasty from 618–907 AD are among the museum’s most prized works, together with rare books and historical documents. The National Palace Museum has one of the world’s largest collection of rare Chinese “ru” ceramics, made during the Song Dynasty from 960-1279 AD, and “doucai” porcelains from the Ming Dynasty’s Chenghua reign. The “Jadeite Cabbage” is one of the museum’s most famous pieces, a jade carving in the shape of a cabbage head with grasshoppers camouflaged in its leaves, as well as the “Meat-shaped Stone” made from jasper and resembling a piece of pork cooked in soy sauce. Adjacent to the National Palace Museum lies the beautiful Zhishan Gardens, a classical Chinese Song and Ming-style garden that incorporates traditional architectural elements and fengshui, and tickets to the museum include entry to the Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines that is located nearby.
The National Palace Museum can be reached along the MRT to Shilin station, followed by a bus to the museum itself. When returning from the museum, rather than disembarking at Shilin station, visitors can continue to MRT Jiantan to visit the famed Shilin Night Market.
It was in 1925 that the Palace Museum was initially established in Beijing’s Forbidden City, following the expulsion of China’s last emperor Puyi from the city. During the Chinese Civil War which divided the country into the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan, the museum was also split in two.