It’s a story of an Art Museum, and its birth under the China's Civil War

 The National Palace Meusum.

The beautiful structure is a small scalled forbidden city. Behind the building, is a gigantic underground structure deep into the mountain which houses the world largest Chinese art work collection.

Dec. 21, 1948, a warship-turned-cargo vessel carrying large load of unknown cargo departed from war torn China. She was on a secret mission directly ordered by Chinese dictator Jian, Kia- shek. Few days later, the cargo was safely unloaded at northern Taiwan. In the next few weeks, two other warships set sail for the same destination. More than sixty-five million items of Chinese artworks, collected by emperors over four dynasties, throughout thousands of years of Chinese history were rescued from China’s civil war and the subsequent destruction of the Culture Revolution. In the next two decades, Jian government built a huge bunker deep underneath Taipei’s mountain and a small scaled Forbidden City in the front. On Dec. 11, 1965, National Palace Museum was completed. Now owns the world largest Chinese artifact collection, the National Palace Museum has become one of the world top art museums.


They said if you visit the National Palace Museum once a week, you will need three life times to completely view most of the collection (except for the 70% never been displayed). If you are curious about the museum in the story, or you are interested in visit this museum yourself, now there is a great opportunity. Please join us for this unforgettable 16-day in depth experience to Taiwan. Until then, please visit their web site.

Site Visit Date: May 16, 2012 (Optional)
GPS: 25^O 06’ 05.70” N;  121^O 32’ 55.99” N
Web Site; click here

"Taiwan Ecology and Culture Study Tour" is part of the "Ecology and Culture of Asia" course at North Park University. It is open to all North Parkers regardless registering for the course not.