The museum is a collection of all the artwork, pottery and the like that Chiang Kai-shek (the first president of Taiwan) took with him when he fled mainland China in 1949.
Before we went to the actual museum we went to eat at the, admittedly, high-priced museum restaurant.
The food was good, considering we were starving, and the restaurant itself was pretty swanky.
The place-setting were very nice
The restaurant was, I think, one of the highest points in the complex. It was very near a mountain, and had a great view.
The next day, Sunday, I went out to Taipei on my own to visit the Sun Yat-sen Memorial. Sun Yat-sen was the founder of the Kuomintang Party which was the major democratic reform-minded party in mainland China. Additionally, he was instrumental in the overthrow of the Chinese emperor Pu Yi.
The memorial itself was massive. Below is the building with Taipei 101 in the background.
The memorial itself was massive. Below is the building with Taipei 101 in the background.
Next to the memorial were gardens and open spaces with statues of Sun Yat-sen. It was very nice with kids playing and families enjoying the weekend.
The inside of the memorial is somewhat empty. When I walked in I must have had the "I'm a Western tourist" look on my face because a nice lady from the visitors desk came up to me and asked if this was my first time here. I told her yes and she handed me a map of the monument, in English thank-goodness.
The main, and for me only, attraction of the site is the huge statue of Sun Yat-sen in the main atrium of the building. On either side of the statue are R.O.C honor guards that change every hour. When I arrived the guard was changing, and let me say, it was pretty impressive. Lots of crashing boots and hitting rifle butts on the floor and twirling of said rifles. It was reminiscent of the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown in Washington.
Moreover, the memorial as a whole had the feel of the Lincoln Memorial. The Sun Yat-sen statue, obviously, looks quite a bit like the Lincoln statue, and the memorial building itself is large. I think it could be said that the style of representations of great national figures is sort of universal (big statues for important people), but I definitely felt a comparison, either intentional or unintentional, between Lincoln and Sun.
On the way home I stopped in to a food court in Taipei Main Station. They had a great takeout sushi place where you build your own sushi box. I'll definitely be back soon!
This coming weekend I believe one of our teachers is taking us to dinner, so maybe pictures of that!
Zai Jian!
Nate, great blog!
ReplyDeleteThanks Amy! I hope you like the pictures.
ReplyDelete