A ceremony was held at the southern branch of the National Palace Museum (NPM) in Chiayi County yesterday for its soft opening with the attendance of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Hong Kong film star Jackie Chan (成龍) and NPM Director Feng Ming-chu (馮明珠).
During the six-month soft opening period, the museum is to be open only to visitors who schedule appointments in advance. Appointments for all of next month are already fully booked, while registration for visits in February is to begin on Jan. 20, the museum administration said.
Ma thanked those who were involved in the establishment of the branch, which was first envisioned 15 years ago.
Ma said the opening of the southern branch was the best birthday present for the NPM, which is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. The museum was originally established in Beijing in 1925 to showcase Qing Dynasty imperial collections.
The collections including more than 600,000 artifacts and artworks were moved to Taiwan in 1948 and 1949 during the Chinese Civil War, and were first displayed to the public in Taipei in 1965 after a new building was completed in Taipei’s Waishuangxi (外雙溪).
Ma said he hoped the Cabinet would review coordination, planning and division of labor among governmental agencies to avoid similar delays in other projects.
Chiayi County Commissioner Helen Chang (張花冠) said Chiayi residents have waited for this day for more than 10 years, becoming even more determined over that period to make art and culture the focus of development in the county.
The museum’s 10 exhibitions showcase a variety of Asian textiles, Buddhist art, Imari porcelain wares from Japan, South Asian costumes, Asian tea culture, Islamic carved jades, Goryeo Celadon ceramic wares from South Korea, blue and white Ming Dynasty porcelain, the history of Chiayi and a multimedia introduction to Asian art.
Branded as a “museum of Asian art and culture,” the 70-hectare facility is to collect, research, preserve and exhibit artifacts and relics from across Asia.
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
The airspace around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is to be closed for an hour on July 25 and July 23 respectively, due to the Han Kuang military exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The annual exercise is to be held on Taiwan proper and its outlying islands from July 22 to 26. During last year’s exercise, the military conducted anti-aircraft landing drills at the Taoyuan airport for the first time, for which a one-hour no-fly ban was issued. Based on a live-fire bulletin sent out by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the nation’s
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we