People eagerly peering at exhibits at the National Palace Museum

People watching scroll in National Palace Museum — People looking into the exhibits

Perhaps to prevent deterioration, the lights in the gallery were dimmed, casting a subdued atmosphere throughout the room. From the moment I stepped into this particular exhibit at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, I felt a certain gravity in the air. In the center stood a long glass case, and within it lay a quietly unspooling scroll. Even without reading the description, I could tell from the aged paper and the fading brushwork that it had weathered centuries.

Naturally, a crowd had gathered in front of the display. Everyone leaned forward, faces close to the scroll’s surface, intently studying the illustrations. I wondered if, like the famous Jadeite Cabbage, this scroll was also one of the museum’s star attractions. That small carving—with its delicately perched white butterfly—has come to symbolize not only the treasures of China’s imperial past, but also Taiwan’s cultural pride.

It felt almost like a sacred ritual. The expression “God is in the details” couldn’t have been more fitting. From the brushstrokes to the scenery and the subtle expressions of the figures, every inch of the scroll revealed an astonishing level of detail. One could imagine it had once been painted solely for the emperor’s pleasure.

Though located on an island, the National Palace Museum in Taipei serves as a guardian of the vast legacy of Chinese civilization. Why are these treasures here? The answer lies in 1949, when the Nationalist government, forced to retreat from mainland China after the civil war, selected and transported part of the Forbidden City’s immense collection to Taiwan by ship. To stand now in that quiet gallery, surrounded by these relics of history, felt less like sightseeing and more like diving into the deep waters of time itself.

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