Tainan History Museum Exhibit Brings Taiwan's 'International' Past To Life
Dutch traders landed in southern Taiwan 400 years ago. An exhibition at Tainan's history museum is now marking their contribution to the island nation's history.
Transcript
00:00 An oil painting shows a Dutch priest baptising indigenous people in Taiwan in the 17th century.
00:07 Part of a private collection in the Netherlands, it's now on public display in southern Taiwan.
00:13 A testament to the time when Dutch soldiers and missionaries arrived there, beginning
00:18 the partial colonisation of Taiwan.
00:21 "The 1624 is an important milestone in Taiwan's globalisation.
00:25 But we hope to use the 1624 as a reference."
00:30 The exhibition at the National Museum of Taiwan History in Tainan is spotlighting 1624 as
00:37 the year Taiwan entered the international arena.
00:41 And the more than 100 artefacts also depict the era's flourishing trade between the Dutch
00:47 and Japanese.
00:48 "We were not there when the Tainan Five Hundred Years' Day was celebrated.
00:55 It's a historic monument that tells us and our next generation what we have left in this
01:00 historical moment."
01:01 Exhibition organisers hope that as the public delves into 400 years of Taiwan's history,
01:07 they'll understand that the island's internationalisation is not as recent as they thought, but that
01:13 its links to the world go back hundreds of years.
01:16 Howard Zhang and Louise Watt for Taiwan Plus.
01:19 [BLANK_AUDIO]