The National Museum of Taiwanese Literature was opened in 2003 in the southern city of Tainan. The museum is dedicated to researching, preserving, cataloging and exhibiting literary artifacts. The museum thematically traces the history of Taiwan’s literary development. The introduction celebrates Taiwan’s spirit of self-determination, and highlights her struggle as she treads her literary journey.
The museum is housed in a national historic building, the former Tainan City Hall. Built by the Japanese in 1916, the architecture is in the Mansard style, made popular by the French architect Francois Mansart (1598-1666), and was a commonly used style in European and North American public buildings in the 19th century. The building was badly damaged during the second world war, and was subsequently used as for the Supply Department for the ROC Air Force, before once again becoming the City Hall until 1997.
The renovated architecture inside is particularly interesting, with lots of internal archways and columns, as well as some beautiful brickwork.
Inside there are eight exhibition rooms, showcasing the history and development of Taiwanese literary through a range of languages, including Taiwanese, Japanese, Mandarin and Classical Chinese. Subdued lighting sets the mood producing some interesting shadow effects around the displays.
One of the exhibition rooms is dedicated to Lai He, widely considered the father of Taiwanese new literature. Born in Changhua in 1894, he was a novelist, poet and doctor. Lai He was the leading representative poet throughout the Japanese colonization. As a doctor, he opened a clinic where he saw patients, as well as a reading room where he wrote and kept a large collection of books, newspapers and magazines for friends, students and patients to read. He was also a prominent social activist, discussing current events, Taiwan’s future direction and served as a mentor for young writers. He died in 1943.
There’s also a children’s section where the young can learn about various writers, read some simple books or try their hand at calligraphy.
I’ll leave you with a couple more images to close.
The museum is located at no 1, Zhongzheng Rd, Tainan city.
Stay tuned later in the week when I’ll announce the winning image from the Taipei Photowalk.
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Craig Ferguson Images | Cultural Photography. One of the key aspects of life that we humans identify with is culture. We label people, places and events according to our ideas of what they are, ranging from the broader scale defined by tradition and place down to the small scale subcultures and tribes. Craig Ferguson Images is consistantly creating new visions in the field of cultural photography. From traditional festives and customs to modern, urban subcultures, Craig Ferguson Images is in touch with the changing world. From our base in Taipei, Taiwan we are perfectly positioned at the crossroads of the ancient and the modern.
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That's a beautiful building. In some respects, the Taiwanese have done a better job of preserving late Meiji-Taisho-early Showa period architecture than the Japanese have done in their own country.
It's always the way, isn't it? Architecture seems to be better preserved in the colonized countries rather than the originals. Thanks for stopping by.
You know, actually, a big reason for that is that 1) big cities like Tokyo were firebombed to hell by the US (ie the US tried to get the entire city to burn to the ground) and 2) earthquakes and also their resulting fires. My speculation for the second explanation is I think the earthquakes in Taiwan weren't as much of a problem because of the lower density at the time.
“One of the exhibition rooms is dedicated to Lai He, widely considered the father of Taiwanese new literature. Born in Changhua in 1894, he was a novelist, poet and doctor. Lai He was the leading representative poet throughout the Japanese colonization. As a doctor, he opened a clinic where he saw patients, as well as a reading room where he wrote and kept a large collection of books, newspapers and magazines for friends, students and patients to read. He was also a prominent social activist, discussing current events, Taiwan’s future direction and served as a mentor for young writers”
Cool. Sounds like a real Renaissance man that I think is becoming harder and hard to achieve in our modern era.
Thanks for the insightful comment. I hadn't really thought of the firebombing as a possible reason.
Certainly the war and earthquakes have played their parts, but I think the biggest reason has been postwar prosperity, and the resultant boom in property development. A significant chunk of Japan's prewar architecture has been razed to make way for commercial and residential properties. It's a phenomenon that has occurred nation-wise, and not just in Tokyo. Even today, where there is a greater awareness of the need for historical preservation, there are often stories in the Japanese media of people fighting (sometimes losing) battles against developers.
It's always the way, isn't it? Architecture seems to be better preserved in the colonized countries rather than the originals. Thanks for stopping by.
You know, actually, a big reason for that is that 1) big cities like Tokyo were firebombed to hell by the US (ie the US tried to get the entire city to burn to the ground) and 2) earthquakes and also their resulting fires. My speculation for the second explanation is I think the earthquakes in Taiwan weren't as much of a problem because of the lower density at the time.
“One of the exhibition rooms is dedicated to Lai He, widely considered the father of Taiwanese new literature. Born in Changhua in 1894, he was a novelist, poet and doctor. Lai He was the leading representative poet throughout the Japanese colonization. As a doctor, he opened a clinic where he saw patients, as well as a reading room where he wrote and kept a large collection of books, newspapers and magazines for friends, students and patients to read. He was also a prominent social activist, discussing current events, Taiwan’s future direction and served as a mentor for young writers”
Cool. Sounds like a real Renaissance man that I think is becoming harder and hard to achieve in our modern era.
Thanks for the insightful comment. I hadn't really thought of the firebombing as a possible reason.
Certainly the war and earthquakes have played their parts, but I think the biggest reason has been postwar prosperity, and the resultant boom in property development. A significant chunk of Japan's prewar architecture has been razed to make way for commercial and residential properties. It's a phenomenon that has occurred nation-wise, and not just in Tokyo. Even today, where there is a greater awareness of the need for historical preservation, there are often stories in the Japanese media of people fighting (sometimes losing) battles against developers.