Really? I heard them clamouring to get stuff from foreign museums returned, but I don’t remember them asking for the NPM stuff back.
Actually, China should not be concerned. From their point of view, the treasures are still in China right? No problem. How can they ask for them back, if they’re already here?
So what Taiwan should do is makeit clear that these Chinese treasures will be returned to China, once China recognises that they are currently outside of China.
Although, personally I think we should hang on to them unless there’s a nationwide plate shortage.
Almost all the works in the museum have duplicates and triplicates and googlecates, as Chinese artists have always copied past masters as a way of developing skills (there is nothing wrong with this practise by the way). If you want to promote a yard sale pf antiquities lets start with these.
First item on the block, a replica of the most famous Song Dynasty landscape, entitled:
KMT did in fact sell a lot of pieces when they arrived in Taiwan to private collectors. Apparently they needed some quick cash and didn’t want to dip into the bullion.
I suppose you mean "Travellers Amid Mountains and Streams?
Yes, but there is a difference between an original painting by Fan Kuan and a copy of “Travellers Amid Mountains and Streams” after Fan Kuan. Duplicates where not made to be fakes and should not be treated as such, but as a piece of art on their own.
Well, some European museums are now doing the unthinkable. They are selling lesser artworks, in order to finance the procurement of newer art. Art can be sold, you know. Moreover, if the “copies” are lesser than the original and there are more than a few on stock, then it should be a minor problem to select a few of the less known ones and hive them off for a good price.
Also, when it comes to the National Palace Museum, then don’t forget that the biggest masterpieces in the original collection in Beijing have been sold off already.
Destroyed?
By that I assume you mean divided up and no longer in one place. Well, I did a story on the National Palace Museum years ago and discovered that only about one-third of what is on display to the public is rotated about once every three months – the rest is on permanent display. Given the tremendous amount of stuff in the underground bunkers/storehouses, I estimated that if the entire collection were rotated to be displayed (not the case, much is in permanent storage), it would take about 70 years for the museum to show everything they have.
So if they wanted to sell off some of their permanent collection in storage, that would be a good thing since perhaps it might one day be available for viewing by the public. As it stands now, the lion’s share of what the National Palace Museum has might as well be at the bottom of the ocean for all the good it does anyone.
I heard it takes 12 years, but who knows what treasures they burried under these mountains.
My idea would be instead of buying weapons, why not build a bigger, much bigger Museum in which all the objects could be on permanent display. But of course this would cost a lot of money… Nothing compared to the money disappearing in government official’s pockets every year though…
Biggest mistake in the history of Taiwan? That is over reacting don’t you think? They could still keep the best stuff, but sell off most of it. Like Wolf states most of it is never displayed anyway.
Finally, it is specifically this Chinese heritage that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has used to culturally exploit their takeover of this place. Before that, Taiwan was for 50 years a Japanese colony and many if not most of the families here have lived in Taiwan for more than 400 years, which is long enough to develop culturally separate identities, just look at Australia, Canada and the United States. It is time to de-Sinicize this place to rid it of the ambiguities that have caused its current diplomatic quagmire. One place to start would be the China Palace Museum, they could make a lot of money and de-Sinicize the place at the same time.
Yeah, that is what one would expect, but have you ever really encountered a bendiren, who denies his Chinese ancestry and is not proud of the 5000 and some years of glorious Chinese history?? I haven’t… :loco:
Why neglect the Chinese heritage? Taiwan could as well be an independent country without denying it’s Chinese heritage. Ever thought of grey instead of white and black only?
Think the best thing to do indeed would be to sell all the stuff and use the funds to compensate the families that suffered at the hands of the blue chaps that brought it over to the Republic of Taiwan.Also like the idea to sell it and use the funds to buy defensive weapons. Cheers!
Two shiploads (I believe) of spoils from museums and private collections sank on the voyage from Communist China to Free China. Nothing there was salvaged.
I also recall that some, percentage unknown, of the stuff in the underground bunkers is so fragile that they would disintegrate if handled (scrolls come to mind).
Personally, I’d like some more openness at the National Palace Museum. Does anyone actually know what is there? Is there a list somewhere?
By the way, I bid NT$47 for that jade cabbage carving with the grasshopper on it.
It is not an opportune time to embrace Taiwan’s Chinese heritage. China is seminating lies that Taiwan is part of China and may one day use Taiwan’s Chineseness to justify a brutal invasion of this country. After Communist China has renounced the use of force to takeover this country and the UN has recognized Taiwan as indeed the sovereign nation that it is, then maybe it is acceptable to openly embrace Taiwan’s Chineseness. The time is now to end the ambiguity of Taiwan’s national identity and stop embracing the KMT/CCP crap about Taiwan being a part of China. It is definitely time to look at this as black and white with no shades of grey.
