National Museum of Taiwan Literature

Address: No. 1號, Zhongzheng Road, West Central District, Tainan City, 700

 

National museum of taiwan literature

The National Museum of Taiwan Literature (NMTL), founded on October 17th,2003, is the first national museum dedicated to the literary arts.

The museum building has a distinguished history tracing back to 1916,when it was built to house the Tainan Prefectural Government. Reflecting contemporary European architectural styling, it is one of several well-known works by architect Moriyama Matsunosuke on the island. Other Matsunosuke projects include the current Office of the President (Sotokufu) and Control Yuan in Taipei. The building was damaged during WWII and suffered decades of neglect before serious restoration work was commenced in 1997.Reopened in 2003, the building is today afocal point of island literature,culture, architecture and history, and a successful example of both restoration and revitalization.

The NMTL records, organizes and explains Taiwan's literary heritage. Archives and displays include examples from indigenous Malayo-Polynesian cultures as well as from key periods in Taiwan history – from the Dutch, Ming/Koxinga, Qing and Japanese periods through modern times. Educational activities promote awareness of Taiwan literary traditions. The museum includes literature and children's literature reading rooms as well as a literary experience center designed to both excite and educate.

In helping spread literary knowledge and appreciation, the museum hopes to make reading and the literary arts a "friend" for life.

Cultural Awakening

Japanese colonial authorities began their rule force-fully. Military rule was enlightened and modern authoritarian rule that sup-pressed and reoriented the island's social and political landscape. Responding to oppression, Taiwanese poured their energies into various societies and cultural activities. Calls for reform necessitated a grass-gradually replaced by a more
roots movement that welcomed cooperation from all those disenfranchised and sidelined by colonial rule. Every period in history has its authors willing to heed the clarion call to action and invest their lives for the social good. They witness oppression and resistance in their writings and participate themselves in social activism.

chinese literature on taiwan

Taiwan was widely promoted as "Free China" after 1949. Policies promoting Chinese culture and reaching out to overseas Chinese had the effect of encouraging many Chinese living around the world to relocate to the island to wark and study. Not a few went on to productive literary careers. Cold War divisions also helped foster ties between cultural circles in Hong Kong. From the 1980s onward, Taiwan's literary award calendar and
publishing industry had embraced world Chinese literature and begun to infuse international influences into the domestic literary scene.

https://en.nmtl.gov.tw/content_78.html