Mr. Lin Jeng-yi (林正儀), Director of the National Palace Museum
No.221, Sec. 2, Zhishan Rd., Shilin Dist., Taipei City 11143, Taiwan (R.O.C.)AN OPEN LETTER TO Mr. Lin Jeng-yi of the NATIONAL PALACE MUSEUM in Taipei
Dear Mr. Lin,
Congratulations on your recent
appointment as Director of The National Palace Museum in Taipei.
I can only imagine the tremendous sense of duty and responsibility you must feel
in caring for the immense trove of Chinese cultural relics (encompassing over
5,000 years of history) and masterpieces along with balancing the needs of both
administrative staff and, most importantly, the millions of visitors your
museum receives every year – many of which being from mainland China.
For me personally, I was hoping to
see one particular artifact I find to be of great historical significance,
namely a Ming dynasty painting [entitled ‘Ch'i-lin (Giraffe) Painting
Eulogized by Shen Tu’ (畫麒麟沈度頌)] of a giraffe that was offered as tribute to the Emperor
at the Ming court in 1414. This painting was a magnificent record about one of
the many foreign tributes bestowed upon China and its emperor through the
travels of the great Chinese admiral Zheng He (鄭和) during the early years of trade and
maritime splendor of the Ming dynasty.
Please take a moment to ponder about
the millions of other visitors who have missed an opportunity to view their own
“must-see” relic. Most likely, they did not get a chance to see it at the
museum due to the fact that the majority of these precious relics are not on
display.
Just think of the sadness and disappointment felt by each of these unique visitors. I hope you can genuinely and empathetically place yourself in their shoes. How would you feel if your favorite was not on display?
Accordingly, I feel compelled to
bring forth my concerns to you personally, as I am sure they are felt by
countless others – including millions of compatriots here in the mainland.
I have lived in mainland China since
2008 and have visited dozens of museums across the country due to my love and
passion for Chinese history. Moreover, both as an avid amateur historian of
Chinese history as well as a discerning collector of related artifacts – I have
appeared twice on CCTV’s Xunbao (寻宝) television program once with my
Warring States bronze sword and another time with my Qing dynasty rubbing copy
of Zheng He’s (鄭和) Tianfei Tablet, both of which were authenticated by the
Palace Museum experts in Beijing (and both of which I will donate to select
museums in the near future) – I can say that I know a thing or two about
Chinese artifacts, their aesthetic and functional qualities, as well as their inherent
beauty.
On your museum’s website you state that: “The holdings from the Palace Museum included 46,100 antiquities, 5,526 paintings and calligraphies, and 545,797 rare books and documents.”, and more specifically that your entire collection is composed of 696,414 objects. But unfortunately, not to mention tragically, less than 1% of the collection can be exhibited in your museum’s facilities at one time leaving 99% of this magnificent collection stored in boxes unavailable for public viewing and appreciation.
Even though your museum states that it makes an effort to “rotate” the artifacts to be displayed every three months, it would still take a decade or more for the entire collection to be displayed.
While the majority of the collection is comprised of rare books and documents, the other artifacts (which would arguably be of more significant interest to museum goers) are still largely unavailable for viewing. This is an absolute tragedy, not to mention a colossal waste and outright cultural theft. The cultural heritage of millions of Chinese – both in mainland and Taiwan – has been taken from them.
As a teacher to both middle and high school students here in mainland China, I always try to promote the dutiful value and virtue of ‘accountability’. In this sense, I both request and expect that you will find it in your heart and be bound by your duty as Director of the museum and curator of this vast Chinese cultural heritage to make this matter your utmost priority and thus demonstrate personal accountability for it. Only then shall you demonstrate a sincere and visionary effort to make the collection of the National Palace Museum more accessible to its real owners – the greater public.
In order to be fair and demonstrate
to you my own accountability in the matter, I will also do my part by offering
you a few practical suggestions which, in my opinion, could greatly improve the
visibility and accessibility of the National Palace Museum collection to your
viewing public.
Firstly, it is inconceivable to me or
any common person that with a site as large in acreage as where the National
Palace Museum sits on there is no room for additional buildings or more optimal
use of space in the existing buildings or adjacent land. Therefore, I would strongly
recommend that you set up a team or committee to make more effective use of
existing space (or to add more buildings with exhibit halls).
Secondly, since we live in this internet age why not make more optimal use of your website and list the entire collection on it (possibly, or initially, excluding most of the numerous objects from the ‘rare books and documents’ category) with background information and photographs and poll users (not only in Chinese language but also in English and possibly other languages) as to which artifacts they would prefer to have on ‘permanent display’ in the museum? The results could be updated automatically and displayed in real time on your website. Given the amount of limited exhibition space the museum has to display pieces, you could limit the number of items for each category (jades, bronzes, paintings, etc.) according to the results of the online poll.
Although preparing such web pages may
initially be time-consuming, it would render two distinct benefits: items and
their corresponding characteristics would at least be visible to the public,
and the museum staff would gain a much better understanding about which
artifacts are of more significant interest and value to the viewing public.
I am sure that other suggestions for improvement could prove beneficial as well. And perhaps you could even add an online ‘Suggestion Box’ on your website for this purpose.
As Chinese civilization continues its
journey into the future, we collectively have a moral duty and obligation to not
only better document and make accessible the relics of the past (along with
their respective tales, messages, and lessons), but also to pave the way for an
even brighter tomorrow by virtue of a greater sense of sharing which,
inevitably, leads to veritable enlightenment for all of humanity.
For this, I solicit your genuine commitment – preferably demonstrated through verifiable actions rather than hollow words.
I, and the peoples from the greater Chinese nation and beyond, look forward to your gracious reply in the very near future.
Most Thankfully,
Dan Fournier
Shenzhen, People's Republic of China
September 9, 2016
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