The Historical East Asian Trade Exhibition in National Museum of History, Taipei
Museums are used to be places which are only visited by students on a field trip or school excursion. Or when they have an assignment to complete which relates to history. But, nowadays, museums are trying to provide education in a fun and entertaining in order to lure the ordinary people to go to museum for leisure. If you love this kind of leisure, you will like visiting Taiwan because Taiwan is full of museums and I have to say, most of them are fun and interactive. When my buddy from the US come to Taipei, he was quite interested in finding out more about the Taiwanese history so yeah, there is no better place to bring him but to the museum, right? So here we are, in National Museum of History in Taipei, enjoying the Historical East Asian Trade exhibition. On a Sunday afternoon.
The theme of the Historical East Asian Trade exhibition is about the Taiwan's role in the maritime world during the 17th century where the Europeans conquest for world domination.
In this period, the Europeans fought each other over sea routes and way stations in order to dominate the lucrative trade with resource rich East Asia. One of the most sought commodity from Taiwan in that period of time is salt. We did see the remains of the salt field during one of our trips to Budai Salt Mountain and Zhounan Salt Fields in Chiayi.
At one glance, the bustling Taiwan harbor in those days is kinda similar to the one belongs to Singapore. You can check the Singapore's exhibition at The Maritime Experiential Museum in Sentosa.
As usual, the business is conducted by the order of a lot of businessman. The businessman usually also have stores like medicine or liquor stores. The details displayed by National Museum of History in Taipei is really complete. It works very well to bring visitor back to that era.
The nearest train station to National Museum of History is Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall Station. You can go to exit 1 or 2 of the station and walk straight. The map taken from its website may be of good help to you.
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