People in Taiwan seem to have a fascination with maps, which is odd considering that a vast majority of those published in Taiwan, be they tourist or transport maps, are incorrect and impossible to comprehend.
The population might be cartographically challenged, but this doesn't stop books focusing on old maps of Taiwan from becoming bestsellers, copies of the Council for Cultural Affairs' (CCA,
And the current Taiwan in Maps (
PHOTOS COURTESY OF NATIONAL TAIWAN MUSEUMN
Taiwan in Maps is one of the largest exhibitions to be hosted by the museum in recent years, and the extensive and fascinating displays are located in exhibition halls on all three floors of the museum.
Jointly organized by the CCA and the museum, the exhibition features dozens of original maps and an equal number of reproductions and copies, along with photographs and other artifacts related to cartography in Taiwan.
While those with a whim for cartography and/or Taiwan history will have already seen some of the better-known maps on display and in various publications, there are still plenty of maps in the exhibition that will stoke the interests of anyone with an eye for geography or history.
The exhibition is well-organized and covers every conceivable topic and theme, from the earliest maps of Taiwan hand drawn by Portuguese and Spanish explorers in the 15th century to explanations of cutting-edge satellite imagery used by cartographers now.
Along with the multitude of geographic and topographic maps, there are also plenty of demographic maps on display. These include maps that plot Taiwan's indigenous peoples, the nation's economic growth, Taiwan's farming production and its transportation networks.
Although the maps are far too numerous to give a detailed account of all those on display, a couple of the most eye-catching charts include a simplified military map from 1958 showing the possible flight paths of military aircraft in the event of war with China, and a highly detailed map of Taiwan drawn by members of the Royal Geographic Society in 1864.
Taiwan in Maps is comprehensive and gives visitors insight into the history of cartography in Taiwan, but it is not without its flaws. As is all too often the case with exhibitions in Taiwan, be they at national or regional level, the lack of English-language information is big disappointment. Considering President Chen Shui-bian (
language material is in this instance best described as deplorable.
In addition to the exhibition, the museum has also published a comprehensive guidebook, which features a myriad of glossy photographs and explanations of many of the maps on display. Like the explanations that accompany the exhibits, the Taiwan in Maps guidebook is only available in Chinese.
Event Information:
What: Taiwan in Maps (
Where: National Taiwan Museum (
When: Through Sept. 18
Anyone who has been to Alishan (阿里山) is familiar with the railroad there: one line comes up from Chiayi City past the sacred tree site, while another line goes up to the sunrise viewing platform at Zhushan (祝山). Of course, as a center of logging operations for over 60 years, Alishan did have more rail lines in the past. Are any of these still around? Are they easily accessible? Are they worth visiting? The answer to all three of these questions is emphatically: Yes! One of these lines ran from Alishan all the way up to the base of Jade Mountain. Its
The entire saga involving the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and its Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) continues to produce plot twists at such a rapid pace that fiction publishers would throw it out for being ridiculously improbable. This past week was particularly bizarre, but surprisingly the press has almost entirely ignored a big story that could have serious national security implications and instead focused on a series of salacious bombshell allegations. Ko is currently being held incommunicado by prosecutors while several criminal investigations are ongoing on allegations of bribery and stealing campaign funds. This last week for reasons unknown Ko completely shaved
The self-destructive protest vote in January that put the pro-People’s Republic of China (PRC) side in control of the legislature continues to be a gift that just keeps on giving to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Last week legislation was introduced by KMT Legislator Weng Hsiao-lin (翁曉玲) that would amend Article 9-3 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) to permit retired and serving (!) military personnel to participate in “united front” (統戰) activities. Since the purpose of those activities is to promote annexation of Taiwan to the PRC, legislators
The only geopolitical certainty is that massive change is coming. Three macro trends are only just starting to accelerate, forming a very disruptive background to an already unsettled future. One is that technological transformations exponentially more consequential and rapid than anything prior are in their infancy, and will play out like several simultaneous industrial revolutions. ROBOT REVOLUTION It is still early days, but impacts are starting to be felt. Just yesterday, this line appeared in an article: “To meet demands at Foxconn, factory planners are building physical AI-powered robotic factories with Omniverse and NVIDIA AI.” In other words, they used AI
RSS