The National Palace Museum holds the world's largest collection of Chinese artifacts, nearly 650,000 items in all. But only a fraction of these (about 15,000) are on display at any one time.
This collection has its origins in the Song dynasty (960-1279), when Emperor Taizong began gathering treasures from all over China. The ever growing collection shuffled from emperor to emperor and palace to palace over the centuries before finding a permanent home in Beijing's Forbidden City.
The collection expanded considerably during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), as the dynasty's succession of art-loving emperors scoured China in search of more treasures until the 1911 revolution ended China's dynastic rulers. From then, the collection was moved around the Chinese nation in protection from the Japanese invasion. By fall 1948, Chiang Keh-Shek's Nationalists begin shipping the most precious artifacts to Taiwan in protection from the threat of Mao's communists. The National Palace Museum opened in 1965.
Spread over 3 floors, the museum's galleries contain priceless collections of bronzes, ceramics, jades, paintings, calligraphy and rare books -
Gallery 101: "Compassion and Wisdom: Religion Sculptural Arts"
Gallery 103: "Rare Books Collection" includes 200,000 rare books, many inherited from leading imperial households. Displays the development of book-production technology (a Chinese invention). Also includes painting scrolls, maps, documents, artwork and black prints that give insight into the culture, practices and belief systems of the Chinese people as well as the Taiwanese aboriginal peoples in the 18th and 10th centuries.
Gallery 201: "Transitions and Convergences (221-960)" Tang dynasty's famous tri-color pottery.
Gallery 203: "Prototypes of Modern Styles (960-1360)" Song dynasty fostered cultural openness and experimentation as well as scientific innovation. Emphasis is on simplicity and frugality of design.
Gallery 205: "The New Era of Ornamentation (1350-1521)" Ming dynasty embraced elaborate paintings and glaze coloring porcelains.