Before the advent of visual technology, historical records were preserved in physical objects. Few of the world’s stores of historical relics are more renowned than those of the National Palace Museum. When China’s Qing dynasty collapsed, many relics mysteriously disappeared from the Forbidden City in Beijing. Gradually they reappeared in art markets.
When China descended into civil war after the Mukden Incident of 1920, many relics were taken south of Beijing. In the dead of night on Feb. 5, 1933, more than 13,000 caskets of precious objects were specially removed from Beijing via armed escort. These treasures then began a decade of drifting perilously from place to place. Some finally made their way over the sea to Taiwan.
These relics of the National Palace Museum shared the tumultuous fate of China itself in the 20th century. We begin today’s episode of Taiwan History with how these priceless treasures from imperial China traveled from the Forbidden City to Taiwan.