National Palace Museum

1925

The museum began in the Forbidden City in 1925

The Palace Museum was established in the Forbidden City on 10 October 1925, shortly after Puyi, the last emperor of China, was expelled by the warlord Feng Yuxiang. Its first articles were the valuables of the former imperial family.

On the move

The collection was moved from Beijing to Shanghai in 1933

In 1933 the Palace Museum's 13,491 crates, and 6,066 more from other offices, were moved in five groups to Shanghai. As the Imperial Japanese Army advanced, the collection went on to Nanjing and then westward, to places including Anshun and Leshan.

13,491crates of the Palace Museum moved in 1933

To Taiwan

Only 22% of the crates reached Taiwan, but they were among the best

In 1948 and 1949 items were shipped from Nanjing to Keelung. A total of 2,972 crates from the Forbidden City reached Taiwan, only 22% of the crates originally transported south, though the pieces were some of the very best of the collection.

2,972crates from the Forbidden City reached Taiwan

Beigou

The collection waited in a mountain village for about ten years

For security reasons the collection was stored in the mountain village of Beigou, in Wufeng, Taichung. A small exhibition hall with four galleries opened in March 1957, able to show more than 200 items.

1965

The Taipei museum opened in 1965 on a centenary

The museum in the Taipei suburb of Waishuanxi was completed in August 1965 and named the Chung-Shan Museum in honor of Sun Yat-sen. It opened on the centenary of his birthday. The collection now holds nearly 700,000 pieces.

700,000pieces of artifacts and artworks in the collection