After breakfast and some coffee, we headed to the National Palace Museum. This is the collection of all the objects that the Nationalists took/stole on the way out of the Forbidden City and Palace in 1949. It is an immense collection of objects including paintings, ceramics, jade, bronze, official documents, etc. dating to the beginnings of China in the Neolithic Period of 9000-7000 BCE. (That's "Before the Common Era", a phrase also used by other non-Christians, especially in the Middle East). We all sort of split up, and I walked with Paul. We worked our way through the various collections, beginning with the official documents of the Emperors to other writings. Many of the objects had English explanations as well as Chinese and Japanese.
The museum traced the art of the emperors from late Paleolithic times through the Qing Dynasty of the 1800’s, ending in 1911. The tracing of the development of porcelain from 5000 BCE to its heights in the 1800’s is fascinating. Even in the 1200’s and 1300’s these people were making delicate and beautiful work while the Europeans were barely able to make a pot. One could see the influences from century to century as people moved back and forth across the continents, and influenced each other. What we call Delftware from England and Holland of the 1700’s was being produced in the 1500s and 1600s in China.
Lunch at the museum was “traditional” Taiwanese fare: Noodles & soup, shrimp rolls and a type of shrimp toast with a corn and shrimp and veggie filling. Also was our favorite, the fried calamari.
After lunch the crowds took over the museum, including hundreds of scouts in their white and blue uniforms. Since they were teenagers, they were mostly bored, and playing with each other. Paul, however, was able to amuse them as we were standing next to a porcelain figurine of an emperor with his hand raised, and Paul assumed the same position. Of course, they cracked up and waved and played back.
After the museum, the skies opened up. It rained for the rest of the day. We holed up at Paul’s apartment and read. Sushi for dinner at a local place. Why Sushi as a “Chinese” food? Japan owned this island for many years until WW2 and there are many residual Japanese influences.
Another note on the Taiwanese people. My impression is that they are very similar to Americans. I’m speaking about their dress, their mannerisms, and their body language. It appears to me that this is a very American city, as opposed to a European one. In Europe, people hold themselves differently and for me, at least, are fairly obvious as different from America. Here, not so much. My impression was the same in Rio, as opposed to Buenes Aires which is of the European character. In Rio, people looked and acted like Americans until they began to speak. Here, obviously, the faces are different, but the feel is similar. One difference here is the politeness and orderliness. People line up at the subway rather than crowd the doors as I’ve seen everywhere else in the world, especially Washington. There are lines painted on the floor of the platform and people que up for each subway door.
No comments:
Post a Comment