The Analysis of the Taipei National Palace Museum - Essay Example

?Founding of the Taipei national palace museum Taipei is Taiwan’s capital and largest in the country’s northern part. It was founded in the 18thcentury under the rule of the Japanese. However, it was later converted to become Chinese nationalists and Chiang Kai-shek headquarters in 1949. This was the time when the nationalists were fleeing from the mainland china. After its foundation in the early 18th century, Taipei became significant center mainly for overseas trading in the 19th century. Taipei was transformed into Taiwan’s provincial capital by the Chinese Qing dynasty. Earlier Taipei had been retained as the island’s capital by the Japanese after they acquired Taiwan. This took place after the first Sino- Japanese war in 1895. In addition, the Japanese also conducted a widespread urban planning that was perceived to be advanced. However, in 1945, following the surrender of the Japanese, the island was taken over by the republic of China. The ruling Kuomintang was forced to resettled the government of republic of China in Taiwan and they later made a declaration that its provisional capital was Taipei. All took place when the Chinese communist party took over the mainland china during the Chinese civil war (Cuno, 132). The art museum located in Taipei is known to be a national palace museum. The national museum belongs to the republic of china (Taiwan) and is perceived to be one of the largest worldwide because it consists of several permanent collections. The national palace museum is mainly a gallery and museum of art with the central collection being various artifacts from the ancient China. The museum should not be confused with the Beijing palace museum. The two have similarities in that they both trace their ancestry to one institution. The division occurred in 1940 when the Chinese civil war erupted. Today, Taipei national palace museum boasts to be an organization in possession of collection perceived to be truly international. The museum is in possession of leading artifacts collections worldwide derived from the ancient china. The cultural artifacts collection found in Taipei national palace museum consists of several precious pieces. The collection include different pieces of Chinese artifacts and artworks that are ancient, and covers several years in the history of china mainly from the Neolithic age up to the late Qing dynasty. Most of the objects were mainly obtained from different places including the Song, Yuan, Ming and the Qing dynasties. The museum development in Taipei is mostly associated with contemporary china’s social changes. Puyi who was the last emperor in the Qing dynasty was sent away from the Forbidden City and it is estimated that this took place thirteen years after the republic of china had been established. The national palace museum was established from the cultural artifacts left behind in the palaces. Most articles mainly consisted of former imperial family’s valuables. They were mainly put together by the ancient emperors of china and the pieces are of high quality. Both the national palace museum best known as Taipei and the Beijing palace museum situated in the people’s republic of china inside the Forbidden City share similar original ancestry. The separation of the two was as a result of civil war in China. The Forbidden City right from the Ming dynasty up to the end of the Qing dynasty remained the imperial palace in China. It is located in the mid of Beijing in China and holds the palace museum. It has served as emperors and their households homes for several years in the past. In addition it has also served as the center for all kinds of ceremonies and politics in the government of China. Since 1925 the palace museum has remain in charge of the Forbidden City. This museum extensive collection of art consists of those from the Ming and the Qing dynasties. Some of the former collection of the museum is currently found in Taipei national palace museum. The two have several things in common including the fact that they descended from one institution. The relationship of the two has remained distant since their separation during the civil war that took place earlier in China. In the palace museum, the collection mainly consists of objects from the imperial collection of the Qing dynasty. Most precious collection is found in Taipei national palace museum. The collection found in Taipei museum is not comparable to the remnant objects found in the palace museum. In 1949, an audit was conducted in the palace museum. In addition to this; the Forbidden City was thoroughly searched and the outcome was several significant items being uncovered. To further replenish the collection in the palace museum, the government transferred various items from different museums in the country. In addition, more collection was bought and the public also contributed by giving donations. Today in the palace museum, the permanent collection of the works of art is estimated to be over a million. These mainly consist of; the different paintings, works of pottery, inscribed wares, various court documents and bronze wares. In the mainland China, great wall that inspires and the imperial forbidden have always been treasured to be Chinese culture historic valuables. To the world the historic cultural sites greatly represent human ingenuity and creativity’s culmination. In addition, it also clearly portrays the spirit that existed in the ancient China. When such historic objects are admired, it helps individuals be able to reflect back on the past humanity while hoping to have a hint of the future. The knowledge of the contemporary society regarding the religion, politics, social, economic and technological systems in china is enriched through study. Today the symbols of China that are recognized internationally include the great wall and the Forbidden City. All these are associated with the ancient culture of China. However, to most of the world the national palace museum collection still remains unknown. The valuable and culturally significant collection of the ancient china has remained in the national palace museum situated in Taipei Island in Taiwan. All these collection consists mainly of ancient pieces that formed part of the imperial collection of the dynastic emperors in china. They were passed from different emperors successively. In the ancient china the individual who held the imperial collection was perceived to be an emperor with heavenly ordination and possessed great authorization to oversee China as a whole. Thus, considering the earlier history, both the palace museum and the national palace museum do not relate well. Each side insists that they are supposed to be legal owners of the precious collection obtained from the ancient China. In 1925, the national palace museum was opened officially. The main objective was to put together and preserve several imperial collections and other treasures obtained from different dynasties in China. This would allow the members of the public and the generations to come to admire the cultural inheritance. In 1931, the northern China was invaded by the Japanese army. Having the aim to guard the museum’s collections from being possessed by the Japanese army, the national executive directors instructed that all the significant artifacts be packed in crates ready for evacuation. Later the situation worsened when the Japanese army further advanced inland. The nationalist government later gave orders that the pieces in the museum with most value be moved out of the city. The collection that had earlier been packed was moved southwards. The main reason for this act was to avoid them from falling into the possession of the imperial Japanese army. Several pieces were selected from the palace museum and the central museum preparatory office for removal. In 1934, a national palace museum that was located in Beijing was promulgated by the nationalist government. The promulgation of the museum was conducted according to the provisional organizational statute in Beijing where an authority over the national museum and a director were appointed. The museum collection was separated during this period as some were to be left in Beijing and others to be taken to shanghai. Some of the Chinese national palace museum collection was sent to London in 1935. The main aim for this was to exhibit the Chinese art internationally. In 1936, the country introduced Nanjing palace museum and the collection that had earlier been transferred to shanghai were again moved to the newly built palace museum. In 1937, Sung-Hu front fell, and the executive Yuan gave instructions that the museum collection that was in the Nanjing branch be moved. The artifacts were to be transferred westwards by water through various routes located in the south, the north and central. The first group consisted of 80 crates most of which had been earlier taken to London during the international exhibition of Chinese art. These group were taken via the southern path of Wuhan, Changsha, Guiyang, Anshun all the way to Baxian in Sichuan. The group sent through the central route on the other hand comprised of 9,331 crates. This group was to be moved from Hankou, Yichang, Chongqing, Yibin until its arrival to Anguxiang Lusoshan in Sichuan. The final lot was moved in the northern direction through the Jinpu Railway to Xuzhou, then again through the Longhai Railway to Baoji. From that point, trucks were used to carry the valuable crates of cargo via Hanzhong to Chengdu, and at last it arrived in Emei, Sichuan. During wartime, the major duties of the national palace museum were to ensure collection’s protection and preservation. However, on some occasions it was able to plan for various exhibitions. In 1937 bronze artifacts, jade artifacts, paintings and different works of calligraphy, and silk tapestry were selected by the national palace museum and sent mainly for the Chinese art exhibition in Moscow and Leningrad. Upon return the same group were again sent to Chongqing for a third national art exhibition and later brought back to the treasury in Anshun. The artifacts on display at the exihibition office of ancient pieces in Beijing were another collection source in the national palace museum. In order to preserve this collection, a preparatory office was established in 1933 in Nanjing. The preparatory office was mainly perceived to be a national central museum. Later in 1937, the situation in Nanjing worsened and the cultural relics from the preparatory office were transferred westwards. In 1939, they were further shipped to Kunming and Loshan and later reached Nan-xi located in Szechuan. In 1945, all the cultural relics that had earlier been relocated to different places could be returned back to Nanjing. This was the time when Japan surrendered to china. Crossing over the seas to Taiwan The fight between the nationalist and the communist armies ensued during autumn in 1948. As a result of the adverse turn in the country of China, the central government decided to transfer most of the objects that were perceived to be precious to Taiwan. Most of the items send were rated to be most prized in the museum’s collection. The precious objects included various collections that were obtained from the palace museum and the preparatory office. Other documents and files that were also transferred included various collections from the national central library, those from the history and philology institute of academia sinica, and those from the ministry of education and foreign affairs. The navy carried the first batch of crates from Nanjing and towards the end of 1948 it reached Keelung. The following year the second and the final groups of crates reached its destination. The total of crates that were transported from mainland China was 2,972. These accounted for just twenty two percent of the total items that had earlier been transported from Beijing to the south. The items from the preparatory office were a total of 852 crates. It was not possible to send all the collection to Taiwan because by the time of arrival of the items sent earlier, the collection in palace museum had been seized by the communist army. All these pieces transferred were a representation of the best collection from the mainland China. On arrival to Taichung, the national central museum joint managerial office was created by the government. The joint office role was mainly to monitor the staff and the artifacts from different areas that included the national palace museum, national central museum of the preparatory office and the national central library. The education ministry was selected as the competent authority to oversee the joint managerial office. Later, the series of Chinese artifacts collection was published. The exhibition office was opened officially to the public in 1957 at Beikou. In 1961, the office got an invitation to hold an extensive exhibition that focused on Chinese art treasures theme. For a whole year, it circulated in different places in the United States that included; Washington, New York, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco. In addition, other items were selected for participation in the world expo in New York and they included fifty choice pieces. After the division in China that resulted from the civil war, the national palace museum was utilized by some groups to support different claims. Among these claims was that the only legitimate government of China in general was the Republic of China. This was justified through emphasis on Chinese nationalism hence, in the midst of social changes and Cultural Revolution in china’s mainland; it was perceived that the traditional Chinese culture could only be preserved solely by the Republic of China. To distinguish the two institutions clearly, both Taipei and Beijing palace museums, the word national is added to Taipei. In Chinese the two are referred to as Taipei and Beijing Gugong respectively. The building of the museum The design of Taipei national palace museum was done by Huang Baoyu. The construction took place between 1964 up to 1965. The museum was later renovated as a result of inadequate space to display all the artifacts collection. In order to make it more spacious and modern, a major renovation was done in 2001. The displays in the museum are rotated regularly on every three months; hence it will take several years for one to be able to view all the pieces. The art collections in the national palace museum are mainly categorized to include pieces such as; bronze, painting, jades, ceramics, calligraphy, rare books, documents, curios and even pottery. China’s most precious artworks and antiquities are well guarded in Taipei national palace museum. Even though several monumental historic attractions still exist in mainland China there are not comparable to those found in Taiwan. The historical attractions in the mainland China mainly include; the Forbidden City, the great wall and the summer palace. Taipei also possesses other attractions that include traditional tea houses, temples for meditation, and hot-spring baths that are mainly located up in the blossoming mountains. However, above all these historical attractions the national palace museum remains key because of the outstanding collection that is not comparable to anything found in Beijing, Xi’an and shanghai. The treasures of migration across the Taiwan straits clearly portray the modern Chinese history in the early century. Those who remained in the mainland China perceive all what took place in the past centuries as act of theft. When Beijing came to cross strait relations, a major cause of irritation was mainly the art collection displaced. An agreement was later reached and the conclusion was that all the artifacts be maintained in one place that is Taipei national palace museum. This clearly indicates that the relations between two have improved tremendously since it was not possible to reach to an agreement in the earlier years. The improved relations have resulted in the development of travel, trade and tourism in both directions. When those from the mainland china pay a tour trip to Taiwan, they will notice the existing uniqueness in Taiwan as compared to the own country. The spiritual heritage and values of traditional Confucian have been well guarded in the Taiwanese society. A trip to Taiwan clearly gives those from the mainland China a clear hint of how their country could undergo evolution to become less consumerist, freer and a cultured future. In several occasions Taiwan as a country has been in a dilemma on whether the art in their possession should or should not be sent to china as requested. In 2009 for example, China had requested the ancient Chinese treasures for exhibition in their country. The two countries were involved in art of war. Regardless of documents being signed to ensure all the artifacts were brought back to Taipei, the greatest fear in the Taiwanese society was the lack of guarantee hence, the perception was that china might not respect the law. Before considering the request to send the artwork the country first had to seek assurance that they will be brought back at the end of exhibition. Taiwan has several reasons why they are fearful of the artifacts being seized while on exhibition overseas. They major reason is that the country is recognized by few countries while majority recognize china. In the past, both sides have arranged different visits as they try to negotiate of different issues that have remained unsettled for many years. In 2009, the Taipei national palace museum director made arrangements to travel to Beijing. Since 1949, this was the first official visit to China by Taipei national palace museum director. In the same year around March, a group of Chinese officials were to visit Taipei. The national palace museum was mainly seeking to borrow obscure artworks. They included various portraits and Qing dynasty emperor Yongzheng seals. He had rule china between 1723 and 1735. There is a long history of the mainland insisting that all the existing possessions legally belong to Beijing. However, Taiwan is not keen to make counter-claims against the holdings in custody of china mainland. Earlier, different artworks from china provincial museums were borrowed by the Taipei national palace museum for a large exhibition held in their country and were prompt to return back. The agreement to lend Taipei national palace museum for an exhibition conducted in autumn temporarily brought together the imperial collection of china. This took place for the first time after sixty years of distant relationship between the two countries. The immense imperial art collection of china that has been greatly divided by strife includes emperor Yongzheng’s paintings together with his concubines. Emperor Yongzheng ruled china in the eighteenth century. It is estimated that a quarter of china’s collection most of which being the best works were taken by the nationalists. This took place when they fled to Taiwan after being defeated in 1949 by the communists during the china’s civil war. In several meetings held by the directors from both Beijing and Taipei museums different agreements were arrived. Among the agreements was that annual meetings should held by the deputy directors from both sides. However, for both sides the full ownership of the whole imperial collection has remained to be the thorniest question. Its resolution has proved difficult since mainland China claims to be the legal owner of all the collection that include Taipei national palace museum holdings. As a result, the Taipei national palace museum do not lend mainland China their art works because they fear China may disobey the agreement reached and refuse to bring back. On rare occasions they have lent other countries their art work from imperial collection. Apart from china mainland, Taiwan is fearful that other countries may take legal action. This is justified by the fact that few countries recognize them as a nation while the majority acknowledges China as being legitimate. Several claims regarding the ownership of the imperial treasures have been made by both Taiwan and China. Up to date the collection still remains in the Taipei national palace museum. An agreement to loan the collection to the palace museum in the Forbidden City would only be reached if a guarantee letter is signed in Beijing. This would clearly indicate that there are willing to return the artifacts to Taiwan. From both sides the ownership of the artifacts has been charged politically. Most individuals from Taiwan perceive that they are the collection’s rightful owners. In Taiwan, the democratic progressive parties have proposed the movement of de-sinicization. However, those in china insist that the treasures will finally be returned home to the Forbidden City in Beijing, a place of origin and where they belong to. In arguing regarding the rightful owner, those from Beijing insists that it does not involve politics, independence or even the two being reunified. Chinese insist that the whole issue is about the people from their land. They further add that the artifacts collection should be kept in a central point where it is accessible to all since they belong to Chinese people. Most Chinese have been angered by the visa restrictions placed by Taiwan to the Chinese individuals. As a result of restrictions from Taiwan, most Chinese have not been able to have a look and to even understand their cultural heritage. In addition, they might not be able to fully understand why they belong to the Chinese culture or to even find out where they originated from. Hence, according to the Chinese most of them might never get an opportunity to view the art works in Taipei national palace museum. The Chinese further highlights that most of them might never get an opportunity to view the art works in Taipei national palace museum. According to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) government, the museum collection belongs to China legitimately since it was looted during the civil war. Taiwan on the other hand has been quick to defend its collection terming it as a significant act in protecting the remaining pieces from further destruction more specifically during the revolution of culture. In the recent years however, the existing relations between the two institutions regarding this treasure have improved. On the relationship issue, Beijing palace museum reached an agreement to provide what is left to the Taipei national palace museum for exhibitions purposes. On the other hand, those overseeing the Taipei national place museum have expressed in a clear manner that all the artifacts are the cultural heritage of china. These consist of various artifacts in both museums in the mainland china and Taiwan. They further add that the artifacts will have to be possessed by all the individuals in the Taiwan Strait In 2008, as one of the key policies, cross strait palace museums were established. The government’s main aim was to support stabilization of relationships between china and Taiwan. The national palace museum on different occasions has carried out active exchanges different top museums in china. They include; the Beijing palace museums, shanghai, Nanjing and Shenyang museums. Different understandings regarding exchanges have been created and currently regular collaboration ways are in place. This helps to boost future more exchanges that are in-depth. According to Liew, there has been a tussle between the Palace Museum in Beijing and National palace in Taipei over the true owner of the museum contents in Taipei, Taiwan. This is because National Palace Museum in Taipei contains Chinese cultural artifacts and relics since time immemorial. It contains treasures of Huaxia, which is an exhibit of Chinese civilization and culture. In the Museum, there are rare books, bamboo items, documents from Qing Dynasty, ceramics from the Song and Yuan dynasties, Shang and Zhou Bronzes as well as calligraphy of the Jin and Tang dynasty among many other relics of Chinese descent. Taiwan has a vast collection of Chinese artifacts. There over 655,000 cultural relics or artifacts collections, which were removed from Beijing by Chiang Kai-shek National government to prevent them from being seized by the invading troops from Japan in 1930s. Furthermore, Taiwan’s Museum is a replica of Beijing Palace Museum (Li and Luo, 15). The row on ownership between China and Taiwan has hampered activities of both museums. In fact, Taiwan is not free to lend its artifacts to China because they suspect that china may seize them because they believe that the cultural relics are theirs. China has lend works of art to Taiwan comprising of painting of eighteenth- century Chinese emperor Yongzheng. However, Jeffries (113) argued that Taiwan is not willing to reciprocate the gesture of Palace Museum because it is feared that China may seize their artifacts as they claim legal ownership of the same. To curb China’s aggressiveness to reclaim its cultural artifacts, Taiwan passed laws in 1992 in an attempt to bar China from seizing or claiming ownership of their artifacts, a move that infuriated china even more. This move did not dampen the spirit of China. Instead, in the recent years, China has been trying to repatriate its artifacts from other countries. This was evident when it established a fund to purchase and rescue its lost cultural relics in 2002. However, no country is willing to return the said artifacts. The issue of the true owner of the cultural relics and artifacts contained in National palace in Taipei is a difficult and complex issue to handle and no particular answers have been arrived at. In trying to know and understand the rightful owner of the Chinese artifacts, a number of laws, conventions and theories have been considered. First are the Conventions. According to UNESCO, there are laws and conventions aimed at helping other countries retrieve the lost artifact. The convection includes the 1970 UNESCO convention and 1995 Unidroit Convention. The Unesco Convention is meant to discourage and prohibit illegal importation or exportation and transfer of title of any other country’s cultural property. UNESCO’s convention of 1970 encourages countries keep register of all their cultural artifacts as well as protect and preserve their heritage. According to the 1970 convention, a cultural or heritage artifact or relics refers to a property designated by the state as important. They include rare collection of plants, animals, minerals, objects as well as property relating to country’s history covering national leaders, scientist, artists and event among many other things and issues. It also includes antiquities of one hundred and above years, which include engraved seals and coins. Because China claims that the cultural relics in Taiwan is hers, it can invoke Article 7 of the 1975 Convention that required parties to disputes to agree and return the cultural relics to her rightful owner, because Illegal exportation or importation and transfer of cultural artifacts of different countries can cause a lot of misunderstanding. The UNESCO convention is more concerned on ownership of the cultural artifact than any other thing or context. UNESCO convention considers the common law concerning exclusion and exploitation rights. Secondly, United Nations passed a number of international agreements. One such international agreement is the 1954 Hague Convention for protection of cultural property, which includes cultural monuments and artifacts under armed conflict (Knuth, 246). Unidroit Convention of 1995 contains a threat of recovery of cultural items held by other countries. Under the Unidroit Convention of 1995, a person or individual under Chapter 2 of the Convention has a right to reclaim stolen objects in the court of Law of that country, where the cultural artifact is located. Different countries apply different perspective depending on the law of the country. Such laws include European law and the common law. Under the European legal system, if a person purchase a product or a good under good faith, the purchaser is transferred title of the same and original owner relinquishes the title of ownership. Genoways (36-39) attested that Roman law permit a period of five years after theft for legal owner to recover the goods from innocent purchaser. After the period, the original owner of the stolen items has no title and the purchaser takes good title for the item. However, in countries like the United States of America and the United Kingdom, common law prevails. Layton (211) states that the common law principle vets ownership of objects the landowner, as of the phrase, if the soil belongs to the person, the person also owns the sky and the depths of the land. According to the common law ‘nemo dat rule’, a person who purchases a stolen property from a thief, no matter how innocent he or she is does not acquire the title of the stolen property. This means that the law favors the original owner of the stolen item. Thus, if the item has been sold to a person or institution who purchases it in good faith, the title of the stolen item reverts to the original owner to whom it was stolen. The rule applied is also called lex situ. Considering that that the Chinese artifacts were sent to Taiwan for safe keeping, it is evident that; first the cultural relics (artifacts) from china were not stolen. Secondly, it is a fact that those items were transferred during war time with Japan and were not sold to Taiwan (Richman, 37). For the items that were sent for safe keeping in Taiwan, European law and Common law provides that it is good practice to return them to the rightful owner, which is China. However, if some artifacts were stolen and Taiwan Museum bought it in good faith, then according to the European Law, the title has passed on to the purchaser, which is Taiwan and China has been disposed of title and cannot have right over the stolen artifacts. However, under the common law, the stolen cultural artifact (relics) need to be sent back to its right full owner which is China. This is accordint to the Article 3(1) of the Unidroit Convention of 1995. Furthermore, if Taiwan agree to return the artifacts to China, then it is only prudent to ensure that China pays compensation to the country, especially if Taiwan exercised due diligence during its purchase. This is because convention under common law allows the person who possesses the stolen artifacts bought in good faith to be compensated. Sources Bradsher, Keith. China Agrees to Lend Art to Museum in Taiwan. 16 February 2009. 2 May. 2012. . Genoways. Hugh H. Museum Philosophy for the Twenty-First Century. Oxford: Rowman Altamira, 2006. Jeffries. Ian. Political Developments in Contemporary China: A Guide. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2010 . Knuth, Rebecca. Libricide: The Regime-Sponsored Destruction of Books and Libraries in the Twentieth Century. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003. Layton, Robert. Conflict in the Archaeology of Living Traditions. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 1994. Li, Xianyao and Zhewen Luo. China's Museums. 3d ed., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Cuno, James. Who Owns Antiquity?: Museums and the Battle Over Our Ancient Heritage. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2011. Liew, Jonathan. Taiwan and China at loggerheads over treasured artworks. The Telegraph. 12 Oct 2009. 2 May. 2012. . Richman, Jennifer R. Legal Perspectives on Cultural Resources. Oxford: Rowman Altamira, 2004. UNESCO. 1970 UNESCO Convention and 1995 Unidroit Convention. 2 May. 2012. . Read More