MiSAdveNtuREs oF RatUGym iN TaiWAn PaRT fOuR

Arts & Culture

We were taken to the Grand Hotel which was once owned by Madame Chiang Kai Shek nee Soong May-Ling’s. It’s a fabulous piece of Chinese architecture sitting majestically atop a hill overlooking the entire Taipei city. Amazing view from the 12th floor, and on which floor is the ballroom which supposedly had the highest ceiling in Taipei!

After a spot of lunch there, the bus trotted us off to the National Palace Museum. The museum had a superb collection of Chinese art – ancient porcelain, scrolls, painting, religious objects, curio boxes, jade etc. I spent a good part of an hour just looking at the magnificent porcelain from the Sung, Ming and Ching Dynasties. To see how porcelain artifacts developed over time was truly awesome. I particularly liked the colourful plates and vases from the Ching Dynasty and the simplicity and elegance of the blue-green bowls from the Sung Dynasty. The latter is reputedly the most valuable as subsequent artisans were never able to replicate its delicate colour. It was interesting to see the Arabic influence on some of the designs, particularly those from the Ching-te period, as apparently the Emperor was particularly interested in Islam.

Another collection that truly captivated me were the miniature sculptures made of ivory, jade and even peach stones, I kid you not! These are about the size of your thumb, and the one I saw was of a boat, with people in it! What was also amazing was the collection of curio boxes, which apparently could only be kept by Emperors. The court officials and those seeking favours from the Emperor would bestow curio boxes as gifts to the Emperors, and the more items it contained and the more valuable each item was of course, the more favoured the person is to the Emperor. The visit ended with a pit stop at the museum gift shop, time to load up on the souvenirs! J