In the light-filled gallery on the ground floor of the National Palace Museum's newly-opened Documents and Library Building, oil landscape paintings from France's Louvre Museum hang on dark red walls. "It almost makes you think you're in the Louvre itself," exclaims one visitor with surprise. The paintings include scenes from myths, legends and biblical stories, along with lifelike Italian landscapes and war scenes. Although the exhibit is billed as a landscape exhibition, human characters are depicted in lifelike detail, and are the main subjects of most of the paintings.

After enjoying these imposing landscapes, if one strolls across to the calligraphy and painting rooms on the second floor of the museum's main building, one enters a different world. The grandeur of enormous Chinese-style landscape paintings, the quiet elegance of exquisite little album leaves--the Chinese painters portray nature's mountains and rivers in wash colors and water-based inks ground on inkstones. Human characters in these paintings are no more than tiny shadows.

The contrast between the rich oil colors and the ink washes comes as a powerful shock both visually and spiritually. This meeting of the century between two great museums, one Eastern and one Western, really is something out of the ordinary.

From palaces to museums

These two types of landscape painting come from long and separate traditions; but these two museums have at least one thing in common: they both have their origins in royal collections which, after revolutions, came out from the forbidden depths of the palaces to become accessible to the public. The royal collections became public property.

A royal palace and a national museum--one private, the other public--are two quite contradictory concepts. So how does one move away from the confines of the palace structure? Louvre director Pierre Rosenberg, who came over from France especially to take part in the National Palace Museum's anniversary celebrations, says this is "a complex and exciting challenge."

The Louvre was built in the 12th century. First a medieval fortress, it was a royal palace in the Renaissance and remained so until the French monarchy was brought down by the revolution of 1789. Four years later, the Louvre became a public museum. Since 1983, the palace has been extended several times under a program which has given it a completely new face.

The "Palace" in the National Palace Museum's name refers to the Forbidden City in Beijing, which was first built in the reign of the Ming dynasty emperor Chengzu (ruled 1403-1424). The Ming was followed by the Qing, and then in 1925, the 14th year of the Republic of China, the last Qing emperor Pu Yi left the Forbidden City, and the National Palace Museum was formally established. However, after only a few years China was again engulfed by external aggression and internal strife. To escape the fires of war, the museum's priceless collection began a journey which is one of the most extraordinary tales in the history of art. From Beijing it was sent south, then west, crossing and recrossing central and southern China for a distance of over 10,000 kilometers before finally reaching Taiwan safely in 1949. Here the treasures were first stored in warehouses at Peikou in Wufeng, Tai-chung County, before coming in 1965 to be housed in the specially-constructed Chungshan Museum building at Waishuanghsi in Taipei's northern suburbs, ending their travels at last.

A birthday present all the way from France: on its opening day, the exhibition of landscape paintings from the Louvre attracted several tens of thousands of visitors. （photo by Vincent Chang）

A private collection becomes a national treasure

Thus the core of the National Palace Museum's collection is formed by the old collections of the Qing palace. But looking more closely, we can trace this tradition of palace collecting back to the 11th century and the early Northern Song dynasty. The late Northern Song emperor Huizong (r. 1101-1125) expanded the collection to a substantial size. It continued to grow through the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties and finally reached its culmination through the efforts of the Qing emperor Qianlong (r. 1736-1795). Thus the collection's history reaches back over nearly a millennium.

Over these 1000 years of Chinese history, through many changes of dynasty, shifts in political power and changes of capital city, this imperial collection followed the capital north and south many times and became richer and richer.

If we define the basic meaning of a museum as a place where paintings are hung and books kept, then the embryonic form of a museum in China can be traced back to the early Song dynasty and the Taiqing Pavilion built by the second Song emperor. The pavilion housed books and paintings, and for a time the Song emperor Renzong (r. 1023-1063) even opened it to close and trusted ministers and relatives, for "men and women to view on separate days." This must surely be one of the more unusual rules applied in any museum in any age.

Across the centuries, additions to the palace collection came almost entirely from four sources: the heritage from previous dynasties, gifts from ministers and subjects, confiscations, and direct purchases. These exquisite works of art served only for emperors to fondle and admire in their leisure hours; the modern concept of a museum exhibiting artifacts for the edification and enjoyment of the people at large was unknown. Throwing open the palaces for ordinary folk to enter was something which only happened after the revolutions, in the age of democracy.

Moses Rescued from the Waters, by Niccolo Dell'abate （1512-1571）, from the collection of the Louvre Museum. （Source: the Dimensions Endowment of Art）

The long river of history

Art historian Li Lin-tsan, a long-time member of the National Palace Museum's staff, once likened the opening of the imperial palace collections for public viewing to a fifth great historical discovery of modern times, on a par with the oracle bones, the Han dynasty writings on bamboo strips, the treasures of Dunhuang and the imperial cabinet records. Li wrote that this is because "from the point of view of art, the National Palace Museum is a specialist art gallery: its Qin bricks and Han tiles, its great Tang and Song paintings and its Ming and Qing porcelain are all priceless masterpieces; but if we look at them from the point of view of historical research, they are all witnesses to history." In other words, at the same time as admiring these artifacts' beauty, we can also see in them the process by which culture has been passed down and developed. There really is truth in the saying that "all art is history."

When we unfurl the scroll painting Early Snow on the River by the 10th-century artist Zhao Gan of the Five Dynasties period, we can not only enjoy the scenery of a river at the first snow of winter, but also from the marks and inscriptions added by the palace collection's owners and administrators through the ages, we can get a view over the long river of time.

At the beginning of the scroll is an inscription by Li Yu (937-978), last ruler of the Southern Tang state of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and an accomplished poet, musician and artist. He wrote the famous line "Wiping away tears I face the palace girls," describing his feelings as an enemy army approached his capital. His inscription reads: "Early Snow on the River, depicted by Zhao Gan, painter of the Academy." Later, in the Song dynasty, this work was catalogued as part of the artist emperor Huizong's collection. After this it fell into the hands of the Jin dynasty rulers. The Jin emperor Zhangzong (r. 1190-1208) signed his name on the painting in the "Slender Gold" script devised by emperor Huizong, and stamped it with seven different seals. Next in line along the scroll we see the imperial seal of the Yuan dynasty emperor Wenzong (r. 1328-1330), bearing his reign title Tianli; and the signature of the painter and calligrapher Ke Jiusi (1290-1343), who made an inventory of Wenzong's collection. This painting later survived the Ming and Qing dynasties and is now one of the greatest treasures of the National Palace Museum, where it will be on display in the upcoming exhibition of restricted-display paintings and calligraphy.

Is this the Louvre? No! It's the National Palace Museum's newly opened Documents and Library Building, where a meeting of the century between two great museums--one Eastern, one Western--is in progress. （photo by Vincent Chang）

A cornucopia of rare and ancient works

The exhibit "70 Restricted Works of Outstanding Calligraphy and Paintings" is one of the major attractions of this season of special exhibitions at the National Palace Museum. For 40 days starting from 10 October (ROC National Day), the National Palace Museum will exhibit 70 great masterpieces all together. Works whose names we know by heart, such as the calligraphies Written After Snow by Wang Xizhi (321-379) of the Jin dynasty, Autobiography by Huai Su (725-785) of the Tang, and The Cold Food Observance by Su Dongpo (1037-1101) of the Song, along with what have been called the National Palace Museum's greatest treasures--the Song-dynasty paintings Travelers Among Mountain and Stream by Fan Kuan, Early Spring by Guo Xi and Soughing Wind Among Mountain Pines by Li Tang--will all be on display together.

Lin Po-ting, head of the National Palace Museum's Department of Paintings and Calligraphy, explains that the system of restricting the display of certain works is intended to preserve them, and mainly applies to "rare and ancient" works from the Song and Yuan dynasties or earlier. Because these works are all very famous, scholars from within the ROC and overseas often request to view them, but every time they are unrolled and exposed to the light, some degree of degradation inevitably occurs. For this reason, in 1984 the Department of Paintings and Calligraphy selected three groups of 20 famous works each, which are exhibited one group at a time in rotation, for 40 days starting in October each year. October is chosen not only as a month when there are many national ceremonies, giving visitors a chance to see the works, but also because in fact even in olden times the Chinese were in the habit of displaying paintings in the cool days of autumn.

Every October when these usually "reclusive" treasures appear in the main exhibition hall, they always attract crowds of admiring viewers, and the number of visitors to the museum rises markedly. This year, we have the exciting prospect of seeing all at once paintings which would normally take three years to exhibit. Lin Po-ting reveals: "Many art scholars from Europe, America and Japan have booked long ahead to come here and feast their eyes."

Apart from this cornucopia of large-format works, another special exhibition of "70 Celebrated Album Leaves by Song Calligraphers and Painters" displays works on a much smaller scale. It is worth noting that because albums are much more easily preserved than scrolls, it is mostly scrolls whose display is restricted. This special exhibition of album leaves allows the public to see a wide range of the different aesthetics embodied in different styles of calligraphy and painting. If we say that Northern Song painters were skilled in representing great mountains and rivers, Southern Song artists were especially adept at creating small--scale landscape paintings of simple composition, depicting some little detail from the great canvas of nature, which are best suited to the format of album pages. Meanwhile the calligraphy in this exhibition includes such famous works as the Poem in Seven Character Verse by Huang Tingjian (1045-1105).

Early Snow on the River, by Zhao Gan of the Five Dynasties period. The painting's first owner, Li Yu, started the ball rolling by writing its title on it; later all the imperial houses into whose collections it passed added their marks.

A dazzling array

Calligraphy, paintings and porcelain formed the backbone of the Qing palace collection, and are also the richest part of the National Palace Museum's holdings. In these fields very few museums anywhere in the world can compare with it. For instance, celadon ware from the Ru kiln of the Northern Song dynasty is among the most highly prized of any Chinese porcelain, but because the kiln survived for such a short period--it had barely started producing its excellent pieces when troops led by the Jin general Wu Zhu destroyed the Northern Song dynasty in 1126--only some 60-odd pieces now survive in collections worldwide. Of these, 23 are in the National Palace Museum.

When the museum moved south from Beijing, and then to Taiwan, it was forced to leave behind many pieces, but people who are well versed in Chinese art history say that in fact the cream of the original collection is all here. Among the items brought to Taiwan there were almost 60,000 artefacts, including bronzes, porcelain, jade, lacquerware, enamelware, writing equipment, carvings and miscellaneous items. Pictorial works and calligraphy numbered around 6000 items, including calligraphy, paintings and portraits, rubbings, painted fans, tapestries and embroidery. However, the largest part of the collection--although they are not often exhibited--is formed by rare books and documents, such as the enormous Qing dynasty compendium Si Ku Quan Shu. These comprise close to 540,000 items.

The museum has 28 display galleries. Bronze artifacts, jade, porcelain and other categories are represented in permanent exhibitions, arranged in chronological order. Special exhibitions are generally rotated in a three-monthly cycle, but even at this rate several decades would not be enough to display all the treasures in the museum's storerooms.

However, despite the richness of the old Qing palace collection, from the point of view of the systematic collection of a "national museum," there were still gaps in it.

Written After Snow by Wang Xizhi of the Jin Dynasty was one of Qing emperor Qianlong's favorites. Whenever he looked at it he would write his feelings on the edges--more than 70 times in all.

Missing treasures

"Because the name 'National Palace Museum' is so well known historically," explains Chin Hsiao-yi, the museum's director, "we continue to use it and remain a palace museum in name. But in fact the content of the collection has been continuously evolving towards being a comprehensive national museum, through the acquisition of items which the palace did not collect for reasons of bias, or which it was unable to collect."

So in just what areas was the museum deficient after it moved to Taiwan? Vice-director Chang Pi-te reels off a long list: neolithic black and grey pottery; stone inscriptions and statues from the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties periods (2nd century BC to 6th century AD); porcelain from the Yue and Xing kilns, and human and horse burial figurines in sancai (tricolor glaze) pottery, from the Jin, Tang and Five Dynasties periods (3rd to 10th centuries AD); and pottery from private kilns, export porcelain, bronze Buddhist statuary and so on from the Song to the Qing dynasties. In the area of calligraphy, paintings and rubbings, the collection is short of rubbings from steles and tablets of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties periods and works by the Four Monks of the late Ming dynasty, and it is severely lacking in paintings and calligraphy from the period after the reign of Qing emperor Qianlong. Apart from the pieces which had to be left behind when the museum moved to Taiwan, and items unearthed in archeological excavations in mainland China in recent years, these gaps in the collection correspond to areas in which, sadly, the emperors of old were not interested.

Items which were not collected because of bias include such things as pre-Song pottery, for this largely consisted of burial objects: who would dare to present such things to the emperor when wishing him long life on his birthday? Rubbings from tombstones were also "inauspicious objects" which were rarely collected by the palace. Weaponry was banned from within the confines of the palace, and so was not welcome either. Under the Confucianist orthodoxy to which most monarchs subscribed, religious artifacts very rarely entered the collection. And for political reasons, the Qing court steered well clear of the works of artists loyal to the Ming dynasty, such as the Four Monks and Zhu Da.

As for items the palace was unable to collect, these are mainly paintings and calligraphy from the period after the emperor Qianlong. This is because from the emperor Jiaqing (r. 1796-1820) onwards, the country went into a continuous decline, and the later emperors did not share Qianlong's passion for art. Thus the habit of collecting gradually lapsed.

According to Sheh Cheng, head of the National Palace Museum's registration division, there are three main ways in which the museum makes acquisitions to make up for these deficiencies: donations, loans and purchases. The criteria by which items are selected for acquisition also cover three broad categories: areas in which the museum's collection is lacking, items with a high cultural and historical value, and items which are intrinsically rare and valuable.

The museum began to accept gifts and loans in 1967, but it was not until 1985 that it was given its first acquisitions budget of NT$3 million with which to make purchases. This budget later gradually grew to its present NT$50 million (US$2 million) per year. But this sum still looks rather paltry when applied to some rare works, and when it falls short the museum has to apply to the Executive Yuan for funding on a case-by-case basis.

The Cold Food Observance was written in a mood of despair by the Song dynasty literary giant Su Dongpo during his exile in Huangzhou, but it is one of the National Palace Museum's proudest acquisitions.

The Cold Food Observance returns home

So what treasures have entered the "Palace" these past several decades?

You may not be aware that one of the purchases which gives the museum the most satisfaction is the return of the calligraphic work The Cold Food Observance by Su Dongpo, which was formerly lost from the collection (the title refers to a three-day period in early April, spanning the Qing Ming tomb sweeping festival, in which no hot food is cooked).

The Cold Food Observance was composed and written by Su Dongpo when he was exiled in Huangzhou; the work also bears a commentary added by Huang Tingjian. Thus the brushwork of two of the "Four Great Song Artists" -- Su Dongpo, Huang Tingjian, Mi Fu (1051-1107) and Cai Xiang (1012-1067)--is present on the same work. It was once part of the Qing palace collection, but in times of war and disorder was twice lost into private hands. At the time of the Anglo-French Expeditionary Force, it even fell into the hands of Japanese collectors. It survived the Kanto earthquake and the Allied bombings of Japan, and in 1987 it was bought back into the museum's collection with special funds.

"Trying to burn wet reeds in a broken stove, I didn't know it was Cold Food Observance." The words which visitors will be able to read in the exhibition of restricted works express the mood of frustration and desolation which then Su Dongpo felt.

A set of zitan (amboyna wood) furniture once presented as a gift to a prince, which is displayed in a glass enclosure on the museum's second floor, was purchased in 1983 from a collector in Hong Kong. It goes some way towards filling the gap left when the museum was forced to leave behind its heavy furniture collection as it hurriedly moved to Taiwan.

Travelers Among Mountain and Stream by Fan Kuan of the Northern Song dynasty is so rare and ancient that it is not usually displayed. But visitors will be able to feast their eyes on it during the upcoming special exhibition of restricted works of outstanding painting and calligraphy.

Living witnesses to the Battle of Chengpu

In the field of bronzeware, a chime of 12 "Zi Fan" bells purchased in 1994 is one of the museum's most expensive acquisitions in the 40 years since it moved to Taiwan. But apart from their monetary value, these 12 bells are even more prized for the inscriptions cast on their surface.

The inscriptions on the bells record how Zi Fan, uncle of Prince Wen (ruled 636-628 BC) of the state of Jin in the Spring and Autumn period, helped Prince Wen fight and win the battle of Chengpu (near Juan-cheng in modern Shandong Province) against the much stronger forces of the state of Chu. After this great victory he called together the dukes and princes at Jiantu (near Yuanyang in Henan) to form an alliance with him at its head, and ordered them to do obeisance to King Xiang of Zhou. "These bell inscriptions not only give a powerful confirmation of the records in the Zuo Zhuan and the Historical Records," says Chang Kuang-yuan, head of the museum's Department of Antiquities, "they also provide historical information which is not present in the written record. For instance, they tell us that this set of bells was cast from high-grade copper presented to Zi Fan by the dukes and princes. It is estimated that as much as 1000 kilograms of copper may have been used, and this demonstrates the esteem which he enjoyed." This is another good example of how art is history.

In recent years the museum has also acquired pottery from the Tang and earlier periods, by gifts and purchases. As the exhibition notes say, these form a small but representative collection. After looking at the splendor of the exquisite porcelain of the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties, we can then turn back to see the painted pottery and black basalt pottery of the neolithic age, the rich variety of the funerary objects of the Han dynasty, the green glaze pottery of the Wei and Jin, and the gorgeous Tang tricolor glaze. This will help us to better understand the course of development of Chinese ceramics.

As for paintings and calligraphy from the late Ming to early Qing and the late Qing to the early years of the Republic, gifts and loans have gone a long way towards filling the gaps in the museum's collection. For instance, in 1978 senior statesmen Chang Chun, Wang Shih-chieh and Luo Chia-wen simultaneously donated works by famous artists of the late Ming and early Qing such as Huang Dao-zhou, Shi Kefa, Zhu Da, Shi Tao and Shi Xi.

The inscriptions on the Zi Fan bells bear witness to how Prince Wen of the state of Jin in the Spring and Autumn period fought the Battle of Chengpu.

Real objects and journeys of the spirit

In 1989 the National Palace Museum began a complete inventory of the items brought from the imperial palace in Beijing and from the National Central Museum in Nanjing, and of the items acquired in Taiwan by donation and purchase. The inventory took two years, and revealed that the original collection agreed completely with the old records. Over 640,000 items were inventoried, including over 35,000 new acquisitions.

In the special exhibition "Fine Works of Art Donated to the National Palace Museum," over 22,000 of the finest antiquities, paintings, calligraphy, books and documents donated over the last 28 years are displayed. They include such items as Southern Song Confucianist philosopher Zhu Xi's Interpretations of the Yi Jing, donated by Lin Tsung-yi, a Chinese living in Japan, the papers of the late-Qing military leader Zeng Guofan (1811-1872), donated by Tseng Pao-sun and her younger brother Tseng Yeh-nung, and a set of 15 jade tablets inscribed with the Tang emperor Xuanzong's prayers to the Earth, donated by General Ma Hung-kui.

Apart from the real items on display, gaps in the collection can be made up for by journeys of the spirit--on paper.

The National Palace Museum's book series 5000 Years of Chinese Art brings together archeological and other information on artifacts from mainland China, and already runs to 67 large volumes. Meanwhile Chinese Art in Overseas Collections presents information on Chinese artifacts in museums around the world, under various headings. The museum is currently also writing and publishing a 30-volume Ching Archive Materials on Taiwan in the National Palace Museum, which presents Qing-dynasty official documents such as monthly reports, records of imperial commands, Council of State files and palace files, which provide a glimpse into 200 years of the history of Taiwan's development.

Like most pottery from before the Song dynasty, this Tang dynasty tricolor vase with an applied floral decoration was a burial object. The emperors of old would never collect such unlucky articles, so all the examples in the National Palace Museum are recent acquisitions.

Expensive national treasures!?

Just now there is a new batch of treasures trying to make its way into the National Palace Museum. These are 32 Buddhist bronzes dating from the Northern Wei (386-534) to the Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. They were formerly owned by Nitta Munekazu, a Japanese collector of Chinese descent, and had previously come to the National Palace Museum for a loan exhibition in 1987. One of the pieces, a statue of Sakyamuni dating from the year 477 AD, has an estimated value of over NT$140 million. The piece is one of only two such bronze statues of the Buddha. The other is in the Tokyo Art Museum, but it does not bear a date of manufacture; the only one with a date is this one. Chang Kuang-yuan notes that most of the Buddhist artifacts from the imperial palace are votive objects dating from the reigns of the three successive Qing emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong (1662-1795). Thus this additional collection of Buddhist bronzes would complement the palace collection of Buddhist artifacts. Because the bronzes have a total value of NT$360 million, which exceeds the museum's annual acquisitions budget, final approval from the Legislative Yuan will be required for them to become part of the museum's collection.

Except for statuary and Buddhist bronzes, in which the collection is still lacking, "our holdings have gradually grown into a museum of the Chinese nation, covering its continuous development over 7000 years from the prehistoric neolithic age to the modern era, which started from the Qianlong and Jiaqing reigns, and right down to the present day," says director Chin Hsiao-yi with a touch of pride in his voice. He adds: "In fact, looking at our jade collection alone is like entering a 7000-year time tunnel."

The museum acquires new holdings in three ways: by donations, loans and purchases. This set of 15 jade tablets, used by the Tang emperor Xuan zong when praying to the Earth, is one of the greatest treasures it has received as a gift.

Private treasures

From the jade totems of the Shang and Yin dynasties to the ritual jade of the Zhou dynasty and the burial jade of the Han, and on through to the ornamental jade and "ingeniously carved jade" --such as the Chinese cabbage carved from a single piece of green and white jadeite--of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Chinese have always treasured jade above all else. In recent years, with the discovery of relics of the Hongshan, Liangzhu and other cultures in mainland China, there is now evidence that jade culture in China began in the middle to late neolithic age (6000-2000 BC)--a full 3000 years before the time of Huangdi, the generally acclaimed founder of the Chinese nation!

In the last few years, the National Palace Museum has reexamined the artifacts in its collection on the basis of information from mainland excavations, and ascertained that among the jade items from the Qing palace collection there are two or three large gui (flat ritual scepters) and bi (ritual discs with a hole in the center) which can be attributed to the neolithic period. But these are not enough to show the entire national development, and so jade from the most ancient period has become one of the museum's main targets for acquisitions in recent years. Friends who have not visited the museum for some time may be unaware that the exhibit in the jade rooms was changed the year before last to include recently purchased items.

This year there are two special exhibits of jade, both comprising ancient jade. One is "Circular Jade," with items covering a period from the late neolithic Hongshan and Liangzhu cultures to the Shang, Zhou and Han dynasties. It includes personal ornaments, ritual objects used for worshipping heaven, and burial objects, showing the many roles which circular jade articles played.

The other jade exhibition is a new departure: "Jade from Taiwan's Private Collections" displays 164 jade articles from five private collections. This is the first time the National Palace Museum has collaborated with private individuals in Taiwan in this way. The items are mainly from the period from the neolithic age to the Han dynasty, and are displayed in chronological order. This exhibition shows a different face of jade from the museum's own collection. For instance, there is a jade "bird's-head cup" from the late Warring States period (475-221 BC). Items of similar form have been seen in bronze, silver and lacquerware, but this is the first in jade.

Three thousand years older than Huangdi?! Jade from the most ancient period has been one of the main focuses of the National Palace Museum's acquisitions in recent years. Pictured here is a cong from the Liangzhu culture.

Finding jade a good home

What are the distinguishing features of Hong-shan and Liangzhu jade? Teng Shu-ping, a research fellow in the museum's Department of Antiquities, says that jade articles from the Hongshan culture of Northeast China's Liao River basin are typified by a rich variety of animal shapes, including birds, fish, pupating cicadas and so on. On one "jade bird pendant," a round bird's egg is held between two bird's feet, reminding one of the Dongyi legend in which a young girl swallows a bird's egg by mistake, becomes pregnant, and gives birth to the human race. But perhaps the most interesting item is a "pigdragon"; its pig's head is vivid and lifelike, and perhaps represents the animal in embryonic form, to symbolize vitality.

Jade articles from the Liangzhu culture of Zhe-jiang Province include jade cong (rectangular blocks with a circular hole through the middle) carved with patterns; huan (discs with a large hole) incised with images thought to depict Chi You, the eastern tribe leader slain by Huangdi; jade bi (ritual discs with a hole in the center) incised with magical images, and so on. Of these, the bi and cong imply a conception of the universe in which the heavens are round and the earth square. The jade artifacts of the Longshan culture of Shaanxi are mostly undecorated and robustly proportioned, and include plain bi, plain cong and many pieces carved in the shape of weapons.

The new archeological finds have brought new insights into ancient history, and have also brought a little more understanding of the spiritual world of China's ancient cultures. From the different styles of the ancient jade artifacts we can delimit the three large regions in which three tribes were distributed across eastern and west central China. Teng Shu-ping says: "These three sources match with the information on clan groups and distribution of peoples gleaned from the written historical record, i.e. the Dongyi [the eastern tribes], the Miaoman [the southeastern tribes], and the Huaxia [usually regarded as the forebears of the Han nationality]. They all shared a veneration of jade, and believed that it provided a means by which they could commune with the spirits of their ancestors and with the gods."

But Teng Shu-ping is also painfully aware that many of these jade artifacts have been illegally dug up and sold in mainland China, and not excavated by expert archaeologists. Such practices not only damage the ancient tombs, they also cause a great deal of archeological information to be lost. Furthermore, the spiralling price of fine ancient jade has indirectly encouraged counterfeiters, so that there are many bogus pieces about.

Teng describes herself as purchasing for the museum with a heavy heart. "But at least I can be sure these pieces of ancient jade will be in the hands of the state. It's as if I'm marrying a daughter to the National Palace Museum; at least I've found her a good home where she won't get divorced, and there will be continuity."

A jade bird from the prehistoric Hongshan culture. The round egg it holds between its feet brings to mind the legend of a Dongyi girl who swallowed a bird's egg by mistake and so gave birth to the human race.

The mainland's archeological advantage?

One cannot help but wonder whether the steady stream of archeological finds in mainland China in recent years will not at some time threaten the superiority of the National Palace Museum's collection.

The museum's vice-director Chang Lin-sheng says that it will be very hard for anyone ever to compete with the museum's enormous collections of porcelain, paintings and calligraphy. This is because paintings and calligraphy are extremely rarely found in tombs and burial sites--in the last few years, for instance, only two paintings have been excavated from Ming dynasty tombs. As for porcelain such as ware from the Song dynasty Guan kiln, or doucai porcelain (decorated with strongly contrasting colors) produced at Jingdezhen in the Chenghua reign (1465-1487) of the Ming dynasty, most finds have consisted of shards, and nothing at all has been found of Qing dynasty cloisonne enamel ware.

Furthermore, the artifacts unearthed on the mainland are mostly housed in local museums, and do not necessarily find their way into the Palace Museum in Beijing. "For instance, Tang tricolor ware is in Henan, and Hongshan jade objects are in Liaoning and eastern Inner Mongolia. If you want to see everything, you have to travel all over the country; it's not like here where everything is together in one place," she emphasizes.

This "pig-dragon" with its vividly lifelike pig's head is another fine example of the artistry of Hongshan culture jade.

We are making history

When tracing the thread of a nation's history, as well as following it back into the past, one must also consider how it extends forward into the present. "A museum's life is eternal, and Chinese culture is also continuously advancing," says director Chin Hsiao-yi. He says that to take account of the development of art since the founding of the Republic, in 1986 the National Palace Museum set up its Contemporary Art Gallery to exhibit modern artifacts donated from many sources. In the field of painting and calligraphy, the museum collects works of modern masters on whom "the coffin has been closed and judgement passed," such as the three mainland-born artists Chang Tachien, Huang Chunpi and Pu Hsinyu. Cabinets devoted to the plastic arts display recent and modern craft products on a loans basis only-- the museum does not purchase them, as they are not within the scope of its acquisitions policy.

The Contemporary Art Gallery has now been open 10 years. But it often seems to be forgotten by the public, for very few people coming out of the main building make the right turn into the Contemporary Art Gallery. As one visitor put it, "After all, you come to the National Palace Museum to see old things." But during the exhibition the year before last of works by Monet, 300,000 people pressed into the gallery. This year's special exhibition of jade from private collections will also be housed there; meanwhile the Contemporary Art Gallery's own special exhibition "Creating from Tradition: a Taste of Our Modern Art" is being held in the newly-completed Documents and Library Building, and includes the works of 1O modern craft workers. Among them are pictorial ceramic panels by Sun Chao and wood and gold carvings by Wu Ching.

"In the work of maintaining an artistic heritage, ten years is a very short time," says Chen Yuan, head of the Contemporary Art Gallery. Perhaps, she says, the museum has not done enough to educate the public, or perhaps it comes down to the public's expectations of the National Palace Museum, and the museum's own policies. But in any event, she emphasizes, "today's innovation will become part of tomorrow's tradition, and today's tradition was innovation at some point in the past. Thus the way in which an artistic heritage is passed down is always alive and vital."

Walking through the long corridors of history, perhaps we are apt to forget that we ourselves are making history.

The thread of a nation's history reaches not only back into the past, but also forward into the present. The special exhibition "Creating from Tradition: A Taste of our Modern Art" presents the works of 10 modern artists.

The national museum of a monolithic culture?

The exhibition two years ago of works by Monet from France's Musee Marmottan was the first time that a foreign museum has lent works for an exhibition at the National Palace Museum, and this year's visit by such a large number of paintings from the Louvre is an even greater event. The harmonious blending of East and West which such exhibitions present is a new experience for visitors, who are used to seeing the National Palace Museum display purely Chinese artifacts.

But in fact housing Eastern and Western culture under one roof is common practice in many museums around the world. For instance, the Louvre's collections include Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Oriental antiquities, and European paintings and sculpture from the middle ages onwards. The collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is even more encyclopedic in scope, for as well as items from Europe, the Americas and Asia, it even has pieces from far-off Africa and Australasia.

By contrast, the National Palace Museum stands out as a "national museum devoted to a single Chinese culture. Our exhibitions follow the course of historical development, and do not seek to cover all geographical areas," observes director Chin Hsiao-yi.

From the display in the room which charts the parallel histories of Chinese and other cultures, we can see that the world's cultures spring from many sources, but no other culture has developed continuously and independently from such early beginnings as has Chinese culture. In fact this "monolithic" culture of the Chinese nation embraces the stimulus of interchange with many different peoples. But despite their different backgrounds, their cultural consciousnesses have often merged together or influenced each other. Taking the Manchurian founders of the Qing dynasty as an example, despite having entered China as foreign conquerors, they later became so sinified that they were more Chinese than some of the Han Chinese themselves, and we have this to thank for the collection in today's National Palace Museum.

Some say that Chinese culture is monolithic, but in fact it has been stimulated by interaction with many other cultures. This cloisonne water pot with spoon, which bears a Jingtai reign mark （1450-1456）, is decorated with a lily pattern which has a thoroughly foreign feel. It was used to hold water for grinding ink.

Traces of other cultures

On a visit to the National Palace Museum we can see many traces of the stimulus given by the exchange between different cultures.

The bronze and jade articles from the earliest antiquity bear the marks of different tribal groups; the extraordinarily finely carved Hindustan jades from Northern India and the Anatolian Peninsula bear a strong flavor of Islam. Porcelain from the Liao, Jin and Yuan dynasties (non-Han dynasties in the period 907-1368) is markedly distinct from the porcelain of the Song and Ming dynasties, but there are also signs of mutual influence. Some blue-and-white qinghua porcelain is decorated with Arabic script. Tibetan Buddhist ritual objects and Manchurian clothing and jewelry also display a different style from Han Chinese artifacts.

Out-and-out foreign goods include the clocks and watches presented by foreign ambassadors during the Qing dynasty; meanwhile snuff bottles were copied and transformed to take on a thoroughly Chinese style. This flavor of other nations can also be seen in the many foreign peoples depicted in paintings, such as the pictures from various dynasties of foreign emissaries bringing tributes, or the lifelike image of Marco Polo in the painting Kublai Khan Hunting. Buddhism brought with it a great influx of foreign culture, and its influence can be seen everywhere, in buddhist sacred objects and in paintings, calligraphy and scriptures.

Qing dynasty portraits of tribute bearers show the appearance of many different ethnic groups. This one portrays Taiwanese aboriginals from Tatu.

One small step

For friends who have not visited the National Palace Museum for a long time, this great 70th birth-day banquet is a golden opportunity to reacquaint yourself with the old and get to know the new. Walking through the museum's exhibition rooms is like walking into a time tunnel. When the emperors of old were caressing these pieces of ancient jade, how could they guess that today they would be set out in display cabinets for all the world to see? Looking at these antique objects through modern eyes, we not only see their unchanging beauty, but also the tremendous changes in history to which they bear witness.

Reaching the age of 70 is a great milestone in a human lifetime, but for a museum which is dedecated to preserving a heritage for all posterity it is but a small step on the road of history. And the 70 years of the National Palace Museum's existence is just a drop in the ocean compared with the 7000 years of heritage it presents. Just thinking about this timescale takes your breath away!

[Picture Caption]

A birthday present all the way from France: on its opening day, the exhibition of landscape paintings from the Louvre attracted several tens of thousands of visitors. (photo by Vincent Chang)

Moses Rescued from the Waters, by Niccolo Dell'abate (1512-1571), from the collection of the Louvre Museum. (Source: the Dimensions Endowment of Art)

Is this the Louvre? No! It's the National Palace Museum's newly opened Documents and Library Building, where a meeting of the century between two great museums--one Eastern, one Western--is in progress. (photo by Vincent Chang)

Early Snow on the River, by Zhao Gan of the Five Dynasties period. The painting's first owner, Li Yu, started the ball rolling by writing its title on it; later all the imperial houses into whose collections it passed added their marks.

Written After Snow by Wang Xizhi of the Jin Dynasty was one of Qing emperor Qianlong's favorites. Whenever he looked at it he would write his feelings on the edges--more than 70 times in all.

The Cold Food Observance was written in a mood of despair by the Song dynasty literary giant Su Dongpo during his exile in Huangzhou, but it is one of the National Palace Museum's proudest acquisitions.

Travelers Among Mountain and Stream by Fan Kuan of the Northern Song dynasty is so rare and ancient that it is not usually displayed. But visitors will be able to feast their eyes on it during the upcoming special exhibition of restricted works of outstanding painting and calligraphy.

The inscriptions on the Zi Fan bells bear witness to how Prince Wen of the state of Jin in the Spring and Autumn period fought the Battle of Chengpu.

Like most pottery from before the Song dynasty, this Tang dynasty tricolor vase with an applied floral decoration was a burial object. The emperors of old would never collect such unlucky articles, so all the examples in the National Palace Museum are recent acquisitions.

The museum acquires new holdings in three ways: by donations, loans and purchases. This set of 15 jade tablets, used by the Tang emperor Xuan zong when praying to the Earth, is one of the greatest treasures it has received as a gift.

Three thousand years older than Huangdi?! Jade from the most ancient period has been one of the main focuses of the National Palace Museum's acquisitions in recent years. Pictured here is a cong from the Liangzhu culture.

A jade bird from the prehistoric Hongshan culture. The round egg it holds between its feet brings to mind the legend of a Dongyi girl who swallowed a bird's egg by mistake and so gave birth to the human race.

This "pig-dragon" with its vividly lifelike pig's head is another fine example of the artistry of Hongshan culture jade.

The thread of a nation's history reaches not only back into the past, but also forward into the present. The special exhibition "Creating from Tradition: A Taste of our Modern Art" presents the works of 10 modern artists.

Some say that Chinese culture is monolithic, but in fact it has been stimulated by interaction with many other cultures. This cloisonne water pot with spoon, which bears a Jingtai reign mark (1450-1456), is decorated with a lily pattern which has a thoroughly foreign feel. It was used to hold water for grinding ink.

Qing dynasty portraits of tribute bearers show the appearance of many different ethnic groups. This one portrays Taiwanese aboriginals from Tatu.

The Buddhist artifacts in the National Palace Museum's collection are mainly votive objects from the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns of the Qing dynasty. Pictured is a gilt bronze image of the Tibetan Buddha Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), the founder of Yellow Lamaism.

Walking through the National Palace Museum's galleries is like entering a 7000 year time tunnel. Savoring the distant origins of Chinese culture is an intoxicating adventure. (photo by Vincent Chang)

The Buddhist artifacts in the National Palace Museum's collection are mainly votive objects from the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns of the Qing dynasty. Pictured is a gilt bronze image of the Tibetan Buddha Tsongkhapa （1357-1419）, the founder of Yellow Lamaism.

Walking through the National Palace Museum's galleries is like entering a 7000 year time tunnel. Savoring the distant origins of Chinese culture is an intoxicating adventure. （photo by Vincent Chang）