Chin Shih-hsin, director of the Marketing and Licensing Department at the National Palace Museum (NPM), describes the "Xue Xiang incident" as the happiest day of his career: "It proves that we've gotten so darn good at reproducing painting and calligraphy that even an expert can't tell our work from the original!"

Chin points out that inasmuch as public education is one of the museum's missions, it is a good thing that reproductions are available for ordinary people to set out in their homes to appreciate at any time of their choosing. That is why the NPM-which ranks alongside the Louvre, the New York Metropolitan, and the British Museum as one of the four largest museums in the world and houses 5,000 years worth of Chinese cultural artifacts-began making reproductions 44 years ago.

The first pot of gold

The history of the peripatetic wanderings of the imperial palace collection is a virtual snapshot of the wanderings of the ROC government itself in the first few decades of its existence.

After the collection was shipped to Taiwan, it was placed in temporary storage in the town of Beigou, Taichung County. A six-room display facility covering some 2,000 square feet was built there in 1957, but it remained exceedingly difficult for most people to get in for a look. Most of those who applied at that time for admission were either high-ranking officials or academics. Historian Jonathan Spence, who retired just last year from Yale University, once recalled the multiple layers of red tape he had to get through before he was finally able to get in to see the collection in 1963 and finish his PhD dissertation.

Before the NPM opened at its current location in 1965, selected pieces from the collection were put on display at the National Institute of Educational Resources and Research (then on the grounds of the Taipei Botanical Garden) to give ordinary citizens a better chance to see some national treasures for themselves. It was at this time that the museum first tried its hand at reproductions.

Chin recounts how impecunious the museum was over four decades ago: "The National Palace Museum had no budget for reproductions at that time, so they had to take a credit line of NT$10,000 from a printing firm in Taichung." To their amazement, the reproductions made by the printer sold like hotcakes, with sales revenues amounting to three times the cost of the printing services. After paying off the printer, the museum was left with a profit of NT$20,000. The museum had brought in its first "pot of gold" from souvenirs.

The NPM and its 650,000-piece collection took up official residence at Waishuangxi in northern Taipei in 1965. The director at the time was Chiang Fu-tsung, who had worked at the museum when it was still in Beijing and later served a stint as head of the National Central Library.

Veterans at the museum recall how Director Chiang took advantage of a visit by President Chiang Kai-shek after the museum opened in Taipei to suggest directly to the president that the museum ought to have a product development department. After the president approved the suggestion, the museum began providing for product development in its annual budgets, and the task of selling reproductions was assigned to the museum's employee benefits committee. Most of the profits were handed over to the national treasury, while a small percentage went to fund employee benefits.

Two Odes on Red Cliff in Running Script, by Yuan dynasty calligrapher Zhao Mengfu, is one of the holdings of the National Palace Museum that has been designated by the Council for Cultural Affairs as a national treasure.

Big annual profits

1975 saw the establishment of the National Palace Museum Fund for the Reproduction of Archaic Documents. It was unusual back then to reproduce anything other than documents. With other pieces, at most they would take photographs and incorporate them into bookmarks, calendars, postcards, and other such items, to be sold at the museum's first-floor souvenir shop.

Nigensha, a Japanese publishing house specializing in works relating to calligraphy and painting, became an important partner to the NPM in 1979 when the latter hired Nigensha to reproduce 373 items. To accomplish the task, Nigensha installed a machine on-site that measured five meters wide and two meters high to photograph the art pieces using negatives matching the dimensions of the original works. The negatives were then turned into photographs using either eight-color or 12-color printing processes.

Nigensha finally delivered its first completed reproduction in 1981, a work by the famed calligrapher Wang Xizhi. The quality of the reproduction was almost too good for Nigensha's own good! In an interview two years ago with a mainland Chinese news organization, the company's fine arts editor-in-chief Yoshihiko Takajima recounted what happened when they first showed the reproduction to then NPM Director Chiang. After doing a close inspection, the director angrily threw his magnifying glass on the table and spluttered with indignation: "Are you playing me for a fool? I ask to see your reproduction, and you bring me the original straight out of storage!" The outstanding quality of the reproductions made them an instant hit with museum visitors. Art schools, in particular, found them invaluable for classes in which students are required to do copies of old masterpieces. The prices of reproductions back in those days would generally run at least NT$10,000.

Nigensha's life-like reproductions have been hugely popular in recent years in mainland China, as well. In June, for example, there was an exhibit in Jiangsu Province of about 100 Nigensha reproductions, including noted works by Mi Fu and Fan Kuan. Without ever coming to Taiwan, visitors who saw the life-size reproductions at the Jiangsu exhibit were able to get an appreciation for the incredible treasures to be found at the National Palace Museum in Taipei.

The first-ever handover of power between political parties in Taiwan took place in 2000. And changes were taking place in the cultural sphere, as well. Cultural and creative industries were on the rise at about that time, and the NPM also made somewhat of a shift in priorities. No longer was product development limited to reproductions and adaptations of items from the collection. The museum was beginning to develop other types of products, license its brand, and enter into collaborative production arrangements. It was also at this time that the Fund for the Reproduction of Archaic Documents was renamed the NPM Cultural Relics and Art Development Fund.

By the end of 2008, the fund had a surplus of NT$52.46 million, with sales of reproductions accounting for about 90% of the fund's revenues (which also include government appropriations, licensing fees, souvenir sales, and interest income) in any given year. Sales income in 2007 came to NT$160 million, rose to NT$210 million in 2008, and was already up to NT$123 million in 2009 as of the end of May.

A quick review of the math thus reveals that the museum has come a very long way indeed since that NT$20,000 "pot of gold" from reproductions back then. Today, the haul from a single year is 10,000 times bigger. Seek no further for the proverbial "bottomless jewel casket" of Chinese legend, for here it is!

"Pretty much all the world's leading museums now believe that providing creative value-added services based on cultural artifacts is one of their key functions, along with display and education," says Chin Shih-hsin, who points out that the Shanghai Museum and the New York Metropolitan Museum have both established their own souvenir companies, and the souvenir division of the Louvre also brings in considerable revenues. The Metropolitan makes nearly US$200 million (NT$7 billion) from derivative products each year, which is over 45 times more than the corresponding figure for the National Palace Museum, but the NPM has undoubtedly had more success moving in this same direction than any other museum in Taiwan thus far.

The "old" at the National Palace Museum can transmogrify into "new" gift items, including: "Mr. Chin" (at left), by the noted Italian design firm Alessi, which takes its inspiration from the Qing dynasty; an iPhone case featuring calligraphy from Wang Xizhi's Preface to the Lanting Anthology (above); a Fe Fe mug, with curves to match the full-figured concubines favored by the emperors of centuries past (right); and cute little stylized figures modeled after people of the olden days (far right).

The secret of success

The souvenir shop today occupies over 600 square meters on floor B1 of the museum, where it re-opened in May 2006 after a two-year renovation project. The new shop is four times the size of the old one, and sells reproductions of museum pieces. In addition, the museum contracted with Alessi, an Italian firm, to design and develop tableware, stationery, and various baubles and souvenirs. The NPM, which has adopted "Old Is New" as a slogan for its public relations activities, attracted a lot of media attention this past March when a big group of mainland tourists swarmed into the souvenir shop.

The shop's many finely crafted and creatively designed knick-knacks are hot sellers, and visitors always linger outside the window display at the entrance to the shop to gaze at all the different-sized adaptations of the museum's famed Jadeite Cabbage.

As the items in the souvenir shop have exploded in variety, the museum has taken to making a distinction between "reproductions" and "adaptations." The regulations governing the reproduction of publicly owned artifacts define the term "reproduce" as the remaking of an item "in the original dimensions, original materials, original colors, and original appearance." In addition, Chin adds that "reproduce" in its strictest sense also means to remake an item using the original techniques.

The aforementioned regulations also require the custodial institution to submit a reproduction plan before a national treasure or an important ancient artifact can be reproduced, so the NPM is the only entity that is qualified to legally reproduce the items in its collection.

With the famed Mao Gong Tripod, for example, the museum first made model reproductions and took photos of the object, which it then provided to firms bidding for the right to "reproduce the reproduction." The finished products, which bear the NPM logo, are shipped to the museum, which either sells them itself or sells them on consignment via some 40 contracted merchants.

How do they ensure the quality of the reproductions? Chin explains that the museum carries out inspections before accepting any items, comparing the reproduction against the decorative patterns, materials, and dimensions of the original. "Substandard porcelains are destroyed. Unsatisfactory bronzes are melted down. Everything that doesn't measure up is done over again. The original artifact is the standard."

These days, due to the technical difficulty of reproduction and the fact that young consumers don't generally care much for the simplicity of ancient artifacts, the museum does not put primary stress on reproductions; instead, it focuses more on the production of creative new adaptations. With adaptations, there is much more room to play around with all sorts of different ideas. As Chin Shih-hsin explains, "An adaptation can be of different dimensions and weight, and you can even do away with the external form of the original object altogether and just retain the design concept."

But adaptations can only be made under a licensing arrangement. The museum has a Tang dynasty terra-cotta maidservant, for example, that inspired a "cuted up" knock-off christened "The Concubine." The museum then licensed a firm to manufacture curvy coffee mugs printed with her image. Another noted example is the many different lead crystal or jade adaptations based on the Jadeite Cabbage, which are also very popular as a cell phone baubles. The adaptations are markedly different in appearance from the original on which they are modeled.

But regardless how much creativity and added value a licensee pours into a product, the price must be approved by the NPM. Chin relates, "An astronomical price would mean nice profits for the maker, of course, but it would restrict sales volume, which runs counter to the museum's mission as a promoter of cultural literacy."

Now that you're in the treasure trove, don't leave without a souvenir! Reproductions of all sizes and styles are extremely popular with visitors to the Palace Museum gift shop.

Treasures get a new groove

As of the end of June 2009, the Council for Cultural Affairs had only designated 13 works of calligraphy and painting in the NPM as national treasures, but for the general public, anything in the museum that emperors of centuries past kept around for enjoyment counts as a national treasure, and is a worthy subject for reproduction or adaptation. The most reproduced items in the collection are the Jadeite Cabbage, Along the River During the Ching-ming Festival, and the 100 Butterfly Vase, as well as One Hundred Horses and Eight Horses by Giuseppe Castiglione, an Italian Jesuit priest who served as court painter for the Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong emperors.

The roughly 10,000 works of calligraphy and painting in the NPM collection are far outnumbered by the 70,000 pieces of bronze, porcelain, lacquer ware, and cloisonne, not to mention the 570,000 books and documents. Nevertheless, as Chin points out, calligraphy and paintings account for about 70% of the museum's reproductions, an indication of just how irreplaceable Chinese calligraphy and painting are to the people of Taiwan.

The priceless treasures of the National Palace Museum exist nowhere else in the world, and we all know there is no substitute for the "soul" of the original works, yet the reproductions in the museum souvenir shop are certainly good enough to commemorate our visits and decorate our homes. Aren't you the least bit curious to know how these reproductions are made? If so, then read on!

History of the National Palace Museum

NPM Holdings Certified as National Treasures(as of June 20, 2009)

If you haven't been to the National Palace Museum, then you haven't been to Taiwan! The Museum, which relocated to Waishuangxi in northern Taipei in 1965, boasts a collection of over 650,000 items, making it a "cultural Mecca" that no international visitor to Taiwan would think of missing.

The "old" at the National Palace Museum can transmogrify into "new" gift items, including: "Mr. Chin" (at left), by the noted Italian design firm Alessi, which takes its inspiration from the Qing dynasty; an iPhone case featuring calligraphy from Wang Xizhi's Preface to the Lanting Anthology (above); a Fe Fe mug, with curves to match the full-figured concubines favored by the emperors of centuries past (right); and cute little stylized figures modeled after people of the olden days (far right).

The "old" at the National Palace Museum can transmogrify into "new" gift items, including: "Mr. Chin" (at left), by the noted Italian design firm Alessi, which takes its inspiration from the Qing dynasty; an iPhone case featuring calligraphy from Wang Xizhi's Preface to the Lanting Anthology (above); a Fe Fe mug, with curves to match the full-figured concubines favored by the emperors of centuries past (right); and cute little stylized figures modeled after people of the olden days (far right).