Our Century-Old Story: Masterpieces from the National Museum of History Go on Display

Text by Li Xinyi, compiled and reported

 

This year marks the centennial of the founding of the Republic of China. From the beginning to the end of the year, a rich array of centennial celebration events have taken place — from grand and lively commemorative ceremonies to historical retrospectives featuring precious archival materials. The National Museum of History recounts the century that belongs to “us” through the life memories of the people, turning the entire exhibition space into a theater and offering visitors a narrative experience unlike any other through spatial storytelling.

The exhibition entrance unfolds with a prelude presented by four crates of cultural relics transported from Henan to Taiwan. Their weathered imprints and tattered seals reflect the movement of artifacts and mirror the migration of the nation and its people. This is the origin of the National Museum of History, as well as a microcosm of our own displacement, migration, and eventual settlement. These four crates carried millennia-old national treasures unearthed from archaeological excavations, such as oracle bones and bronzeware, originally housed in the Henan Museum in the early years of the Republic of China. In 1937, as the flames of the Second Sino-Japanese War spread across the land, these treasures — wrapped in oilcloth and sealed within wooden crates — were evacuated amid the turmoil. They remained in exile until late November 1949, when, just before the relocation of the Nationalist government to Taiwan, two military planes urgently transported 38 crates of Henan relics to the island.

Additionally, visitors to the special exhibition will have the opportunity to admire masterpieces from the National Museum of History’s collection, including works by Liao Chi-chun such as “Temple,” “Still Life,” and “San Ye Village”; Lan Yin-ding’s “Dragon Dance”; Hong Rui-lin’s “Unsung Heroes Underground”; Yang San-lang’s “Old House,” “Late Autumn,” and “Snow on Jade Mountain”; Lee Tze-fan’s “Longshan Temple in Taipei” and “High Mountains and Deep Clouds”; Li Mei-shu’s “Autumn Colors in Zhuolan”; Lin Keh-kung’s “Tales from the Streets”; Tsai Yin-tang’s “Twilight over the Tamsui River”; Ma Pai-shui’s “Keelung Harbor,” “Kenting,” and “Homes in Meinong,” among others. Also featured are photographic works by Chang Ching-yen, Tsai Hui-feng, Yang Chi-?, Chen Ken-pin, Chang Tsuan-chuan, and Chang Chao-tang, each presenting a landscape of coexistence between people and the land.