On the occasion of its centennial, despite cross-strait exchanges between the Palace Museums having come to a halt due to political factors, the Palace Museum in Beijing, together with the Shen Chun-Chih Cultural and Educational Foundation from Taiwan, has jointly organized the 'Commemorative Exhibition on the Southward Relocation of Palace Museum Artifacts' at the Shenwu Gate of the Palace Museum in Beijing. The exhibition, which opened to the public on the 1st, showcases the process of 'artifacts moving from the Mainland to Taiwan and returning north,' and stands as a rare example of cross-strait cooperation in celebrating the Palace Museum’s 100th anniversary.
The Palace Museum was established on October 10, 1925. Later, due to war and the Chinese Civil War, the Nationalist government moved to Taiwan, with the National Palace Museum in Taipei being established in Waishuangxi in 1965. This has led to the dual existence of the Palace Museums in Beijing and Taipei across the strait. In the past, there were also multiple instances of cooperation; for example, during the 90th anniversary, the Taipei Palace Museum held a special exhibition, 'Long Live Giuseppe Castiglione: 300 Years in China,' with Beijing lending eight pieces for the show. However, in recent years, due to political factors, cross-strait Palace Museum exchanges have come to a standstill.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding. The Taipei Palace Museum is set to hold grand exhibitions such as 'Sixty to Eternity: The Centennial Special Exhibition of the National Palace Museum' and 'A Hundred Song Dynasties—A Grand Tour of Song-Edition Books at the Palace Museum.' As for the Palace Museum in Beijing, apart from hosting the 'A Century of Guardianship: From the Forbidden City to the Palace Museum' exhibition at the Meridian Gate, displaying more than 200 precious artifacts including 'Along the River During the Qingming Festival,' it is also holding the cross-strait collaborative 'Commemorative Exhibition on the Southward Relocation of Palace Museum Artifacts' at the Shenwu Gate watchtower.
The opening ceremony for the 'Commemorative Exhibition on the Southward Relocation of Palace Museum Artifacts' took place on September 30, and the exhibition opened to the public on the 1st, running until the end of the year. As the 'co-organizer,' the Shen Chun-Chih Cultural and Educational Foundation has made this event a rare instance of cross-strait cooperation in celebrating the Palace Museum’s centennial. Following an earlier report by United Daily News, the Foundation also issued a statement on the 1st, noting that this marks the first collaborative effort across the strait to comprehensively document the arduous journey of the Palace Museum artifacts through war and their migration over thousands of miles. The Foundation’s Secretary-General, Shi Jingwen, stated that only by faithfully recording these events can we preserve this precious history and provide foundations for the future. After the war of resistance, the Palace Museum launched a relocation of artifacts spanning twenty years. Through their research and documentation of the artifacts’ relocation to Taiwan, the Foundation planned a special exhibition section focused on 'artifacts relocated to Taiwan.'
The Palace Museum in Beijing pointed out that the third section of the exhibition, 'Passing the Torch: Inheritance Without End,' centers around artifacts that were relocated to the south and those that remained in the north, combined with life-sized sculptures, 'showcasing the wholeness of Chinese culture and the inseparable connection between the collections of the Palace Museums on both sides of the strait.'