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Hello, this is Kung-shin Chou, director of the National Palace Museum. Welcome to the Museum.

The National Palace Museum houses more than 650,000 works of art in its collection. They are including paintings, calligraphies, bronzes, jades, ceramics, curios, rare books, and documents. These art works trace their origins from the Neolithic period to the 20th century. They show the achievements of the Chinese people in culture and art, as well as the artistic fruit of our ancestors. To truly understand the broadness and depth of Chinese culture, the National Palace Museum is the best possible place to begin.

Most of these art works are from the imperial collections compiled during the Sung, Yuan, Ming, and Ch’ing dynasties, with additions of donations and acquisitions made in Taiwan. Now, the collection is internationally renowned as possibly the best assemblage of Chinese art in the World. In 1937, these precious cultural assets were packed and shipped from the Forbidden City in Peking to escape damage and destruction from the war, traveling among safer areas in Shanghai, Nanjing, Chungching, and Wuhan before finally settling in Taiwan during the winter of 1948 and the spring of 1949.

The National Palace Museum has been located in Washuanghsi, Taipei for more than forty years. Through all this time, the Museum has devoted itself to the collection, conservation, research, exhibition, and education of Chinese works of art. The National Palace Museum hopes that everyone can enjoy these precious assets of Chinese culture, and make them more a part of our daily lives. The National Palace Museum wishes to present a young and modern museum to you. Please enjoy your visit, and have a wonderful experience.