A new exhibition at the National Museum of Taiwan History in Tainan, “Transcending 1624 — Taiwan and the World,” which opened on Feb. 1, offers a rich and evocative interpretation of Taiwanese history. It begins with the question: “How should 1624 be viewed from 2024?”
It was the year Dutch traders landed on Taiwan’s shores, marking the “integration of Taiwan into the Asian-European trade network,” the exhibition said. The 17th century was when “Taiwan became connected to the rest of the world,” the museum added.
The motif of the exhibition is trade, commerce, cultural exchange, assimilation and adoption. In a word: openness.