The wee atlas
  • Blog
  • About
  • Index

Historical Taipei: The Red Playhouse, Chiang Kai Shek's House, and the National Palace Museum

1/8/2016

 
A historic theater in the Taipei Ximending area-- I noticed it as we came out of the MRT to go to Ximending (which is a local night-life/young people area). Great history (most of it was in Chinese) and there are some local artists with their wares in the back. It was built when Taiwan was a Japanese colony-- originally as a market building, then a theater, and now a tourist attraction.
Yangmingshuwu (aka Zhongxing Guesthouse) was the summer residence for Chiang Kai-Shek in the mountains of Taipei.  Full of historical photographs of meetings with important people (mostly Western powers) and relics from the Chiang's life (like old outfits and a watercolor stand)-- it was a pretty grand place (which made me wonder about how lavish their life must have been). Beautiful grounds with secret tunnels, alcoves for hidden guards and machine guns-- this is like Taipei's version of Hearst Castle.

The easiest way to get here is probably by taxi-- and there are roughly 4 tours that run every day (probably best to call them before you go). It didn't seem like you were allowed to wander around the premises.
The National Palace Museum is probably most famous for it's cabbage and pork belly jade carvings. Unfortunately the cabbage has been relocated to the newly opened National Palace Museum to the south (but they have pictures of it up in case you wanted a closer look). Really intricate jade carvings, woodblock prints, furniture, sculptures, cauldrons, paintings, and jewelry are located here. Apparently only 1% of the collection is displayed at any one time. If you walk to the library (which is across from the main building and behind the food court area) there is a timeline that shows roughly when things were brought to Taiwan from China. Basically Chiang Kai Shek "stole" the artifacts from Beijing and brought them (mostly on the beds of pickup trucks) across rafts and into a vault that's been dug into the side of the mountain. Apparently Chiang not only stole the artifacts but also stole most of the gold, which is why Taiwan was a force to be reckoned with in the late 40s.

Easiest way to get here: MRT then take a cab. There is a bus system that runs but it's quite a distance from the station and cabs are cheap.

Comments are closed.

    Adela Wee

    Traveling the world since 1994. Taking notes about the places I've been so that friends and family can go there too!

    Archives

    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2014
    December 2012

    Categories

    All
    Art
    Asia
    Caves
    Europe
    Good Eats
    Nightmare
    North America
    Ocean
    Scenic
    Shopping
    Space
    Temples
    Tips
    Trains
    Transportation
    Worth Another Trip

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Blog
  • About
  • Index