On March 16th, a workshop on “Moving the Collection of the National Palace Museum Southward during the 1930s-40s” was held by the Humanities Research Center of National Chengchi University. This workshop was open to the public and invited scholars from different disciplines to review the history of the War of Resistance against Japan and to introduce how the collection of precious antiquities and artifacts of National Palace Museum had been moved to Taiwan.

In order to memorize the 70th anniversary of the Republic of China’s victory in the War of Resistance against Japan, since October last year, the Humanities Research Center started to hold a series of workshops which particularly focused on some turning points in the history of modern China. Here were two topics that had been discussed: the changes of cross-strait relations during 1945 to 1949, and the impact of the 823 Artillery Bombardment in 1958 on cross-strait relations.

Different from previous two workshops on diplomacy, politics and military, this time the workshop focused more on culture. The workshop not only introduced the story of moving the collection in the National Beiping Palace Museum in 1930s but also further analyzed the cultural impact of this event.

In the workshop, Dr. Ming Hsu, a research fellow of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, showed the audience a series of pictures of antiquities that were probably owned by the Qing Court in the past and are kept by private collectors in China now. In Hsu’s opinion, these antiquities might once be rewards from Emperors or were lost by the Court due to battles or wars during the late Qing dynasty. Dr. Ruo-xin Ji, a visiting scholar of the Department of Fine Arts and the Art Museum of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, explained how to number and classify antiquities and also illustrated details of two important inventories.

Mr. Cheng-chung Chang, the chairman of the Chinese Association for Relief and Ensuing Services, described how hard the collection of the National Palace Museum had been moved from Chongqing to Taiwan by the National Government of the Republic of China in 1949. In addition, Dr. Feng-yuan Hsu, a research fellow of National Archives Administration of National Development Council, pointed out that an overseas exhibition of antiquities and artifacts of National Palace Museum held in the Soviet Union during 1939 to 1942 was also a method to protect them from wars and damage.

Dr. Shih-hsiung Chow, a retired professor from National Sun Yat-sen University, gave a greatly positive feedback on this workshop and looked forward to other workshops in the near future. Dr. Whei-ming Chou, the director of the Humanities Research Center, said with certainty that the Humanities Research Center will keep on holding workshops for the public. The next one will focus on the topic of “Moving Gold to Taiwan in 1948-1949.” If you are interested in stories and history, welcome to the workshop.