Taiwan, China, and the National Imaginary

Chapter 1 focuses on three museums that treat Taiwan’s premodern history: the National Museum of History (國立歷史博物館‎, NMH), the National Taiwan Museum of Prehistory (國立台灣史前博物館‎), and the Shihsanhang Museum (十三行博物館‎). The NMH was the first museums established by the KMT after its move to Taiwan in 1949. Until recently, it has stood firmly in the sinocentric historical narrative, which implicitly links Taiwan to the dynastic history of mainland China. The other two museums, both established in the early 2000s, are in the “nativist” mode, forging an origins narrative that traces Taiwan’s historical roots not to China but to Taiwan’s prehistoric peoples and their present-day descendants—the aboriginal groups of Taiwan.