Jingmei White Terror Memorial Park

Situated in Xindian, this park is on my must-visit list. It is free, it is accessible, it introduces history in a quiet, thoughtful way, and it is big and inviting for families to visit without feeling they are encroaching on anyone's "museum" experience. Their English website is informative and easy to follow, so I will put the link here. There are many videos in English introducing different prisoner experiences on the website.

Let's start with the seven thousand name blocks just inside the memorial park. My daughter and I were taking photos of these name blocks when a middle-aged woman and two elderly people, a man and a woman, arrived, and began studying the blocks. After some minutes, I heard the middle-aged woman call, "Mom, mom! Here he is! Here is dad!" The woman and the man rushed in their slow, elderly way to stand beside the woman and stare at the block with what I assume is their husband and father's name on it. This was my and my daughter's introduction to the Jingmei White Terror Memorial Park and the loss Taiwan's White Terror period - the longest in history - brought for so many Taiwanese.

The park itself is a peaceful space. For some, it will be a place for contemplation, but young children can also be free to run around and enjoy the large outdoor area. This is the original site where political prisoners were held, tried, and imprisoned. Walk through the interrogation rooms, see the furniture guards sat in when they interviewed suspects and touch the walls I imagine prisoners leaned against when they were almost out of energy to withstand their sorrows. 

There are audio tour sets available in several languages, and there is also a children's version. I was surprised that my daughter got so engaged with the narration. I could sense that it moved her to hear the stories and interviews through the earset.

The memorial park could have been a depressing space, but there is a balance between sadness and hope, as well as hands-on, lighthearted activity. Here, my daughter is riding a bike that was in a Taiwanese movie from the White Terror period. When she pumped the pedals, the hat lit up.

There are stamps placed around the buildings, so children can enjoy collecting them. Be sure to prepare a piece of card or a notebook to collect them in. These stamps are a part of Taiwan museum culture, so you can collect them from all around the island!

Taiwan has come such a long way with bilingual information since I started this blog! It's great to see, but maybe my notes are redundant... 

This is the canteen where the prisoners ate. Prisoners had jobs such as doing laundry 

There are intriguing photo opportunities, where you can line up the images of prisoners and transpose them onto the large concrete tubs or wooden tables where they would have worked, washing and ironing clothes to earn their food. There is also a VR experience but that is currently closed due to concerns of sharing equipment during CoVid-19.

Take some snacks and enjoy them in the pagoda. There were several birds flying around while we were there, too. Again, even if your children are too young or sensitive to want to learn about the history, they can still enjoy the space and take in whatever is within their scope to manage. 

One building is dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Convention of Rights of the Child. In this exhibit, you can learn more about the rights of the child in Taiwan. There are stories illustrating the ways children were denied their human rights during the period of White Terror and they were not exempt from punishment under the regime. There are hands-on activities for children and the exhibit is a hopeful one.

Tip: Purchase the chidren's book: Ode to Azalea Mountain. On the back cover is a QR code you can scan to hear the audio including the song.

Visitor information:

Jing-Mei White Terror Memorial Park

• Address : No.131, Fusing Rd. Xindian Dist., New Taipei City 23150, Taiwan (R.O.C)
• TEL:+886-2-22182438
• Park Hours: Tue thru Sun, 9:00am to 17:00pm
• Admission : Free
• Link to map, buses, Chinese address here.

National Taiwan Museum Nanmen Park - History of Camphor

If you have been following my blog for a while, you will have figured out I am a little obsessed with the restoration of heritage buildings in Taiwan. My children still humor my fascination, and are willing to follow me as I check out sites, exclaiming, "Oh, that's from the Japanese Occupation!" Or, "Look at that Portuguese influence!" Luckily for us, government and individuals have embraced restoration and development of cultural and historical spaces within the buildings.

View from the street.

Quiet garden and fountain, nice for a picnic lunch, but take your own, there's not much to buy nearby.

We had not visited the Nanmen Park branch of the National Taiwan Museum before. The description of the building on the museum website naturally pushed me into going to check it out:

"The Nanmen Park is part of the historical monument reuse program which combines the historical architecture with the museum exhibitions.

 This exhibition hall retains the impression of the original camphor warehouse, so to make connection between the processes of camphor production with the history of industrialD development in Taiwan.

 The mottled red bricks that lined the walls of the exhibition hall whisper softly about the stories of the Nanmen Factory."

~National Taiwan Museum

You can read the full history of Nanmen Park here.

The museum is off the main road and very quiet. It has a lovely park with a fountain and fabulous toilets! Due to the coronavirus threat, the children's activity room and cafe is closed right now, but the main exhibit is still open. The exhibit space is fairly small, so young children can feel a sense of accomplishment in walking the "entire" museum, including stairs up one floor and back down the other side. Entry is NTD20 "regular" and NTD10 "discount". There are lockers available.

History of Camphor Exhibit:

This is the permanent exhibit of the museum. In this section, you can learn about camphor, early trade, and some of the developments and troubles this brought to the island. There is a fun setup where you can sit in an old street scene and "ride" around the district on the back of a wagon. I was more infatuated by this than my 13-year-old, who spent more time reading the history on the walls and studying the art than I did...

Temporary Exhibit: Drawing Nature

On the second floor, you can surround yourself with beautiful drawings of nature, drawn by Taiwanese and international scientists over generations. One of the treasures in a huge book of drawings of birds. There are also stories of explorers and naturalists who visited Formosa long ago, recording their "discoveries". It is a multimedia exhibit, with films, documents, and hands-on activities. There is enough material up close and down low to make it accessible for young museum-goers. (I always encourage families to take young ones to museums and galleries. Don't worry if young children seem to whip through the place, they are taking in what they need with all of their senses, and absorb much more than we adults can in very short amounts of time, with their whole bodies!)

Drawing tools and paper are supplied, so you can attempt to draw what you see in these beautiful containers.

The exhibit material is in Chinese and English, and there is enough detail to make learning meaningful in either language.

With the pandemic meaning there could be sudden changes to opening times, conditions, etc, it is advisable to check the website before heading out so you are not disappointed. It's multilingual. Click here for the English link.

Google map link here.

MOCA - Museum Of Contemporary Art, Including Children's Exploration Room and Art Classes

My children had a random Tuesday off school recently, which of course meant the Hsieh family headed to a museum.  My kids are in love with Taiwan's museums, hence the 60-plus posts I have on this blog covering them.

We decided to go downtown and visit MOCA, the Museum of Contemporary Art. On Chang-An West Road, just west of Chung-Shan North Road, the museum is central and easy to access.  The front courtyard is long, making it an ideal spot for 3-D art and sculptures.  Right now, they have a toy theme going on.  My kids were fascinated by the semi-deflated airplane.

There are tables available at one end of the courtyard, and a coffee shop at the other.  We chose to get some 7-11 take-out and sit under the trees.  We then headed into the museum.  Entrance is free for children attending schools in Taiwan.  If your school has ID, it is best to take it.  I had to answer a quiz about schooling in Taipei to get the free entry.  It's NT50 for adults.  There are lockers for your bags, that require a NT10 deposit that you get back when you open the locker at the end of the visit.

The foyer has a rest area and information desk.  You can rent earphones, or download the soundtrack from a kiosk directly to your device.  We did neither.  They did tell me that this summer's exhibits should have kid-friendly audio available, which would be wonderful.

The current exhibit, Korean K-POP, runs until June 15th.  It is a fantastic exhibit that my children found interesting and a little disturbing.  There is one part on the third floor that the volunteers will suggest your steer your children away from.  My children were disturbed but compelled by the sculptures.  I would suggest skipping that floor if your children are sensitive.  The rest of the work stimulated their curiosity, and I regretted not getting the tour or audio tour, because I think it would have helped them understand the works better.

My children decided to try some shots fitting with the theme of the artwork.
 

The discovery on this trip was the children's art room.  Entry is free. It's for children 12 years of age and under. They must be accompanied by an adult.  There are three sessions throughout the day.  You can check out up-to-date information here.  You can go directly to the U12小玩藝教室 directly, without having to pay to see the other exhibits.

The room is updated every time the exhibit in the museum changes, and follows the overall theme of the exhibit.  Here, my children are doing screen-printing using animal stencils.

They then built castles with the blocks, and rode their Rody's into the structures, re-enacting the Armageddon-like moving model and video upstairs.

These pictures are made with fabric stuck onto magnets, that you move around a giant magnetic blackboard.  This is my "Ducks" work. (When you spend three hours in a museum with your children, you find things to entertain yourself.)

 Kyle's "Fisherman".

 Hannah's "Zebra".

There are also sensory toys, books, and musical instruments freely available for children to experiment with.

Back in the foyer, the children discovered some free models you can cut out and put together. You then create your own piece for the "K-POP" exhibit.

From 3pm until 10pm, this awesome toy is operational.  Space Invader game!  You sit inside the robot-tank and shoot aliens on the giant screen a distance away from you.  There is a step inside so children can reach the controls and look out the window. It's free to use.

 

The museum is offering some pretty good art classes and camps over summer.  Information is on their website.  

We'll definitely go back to see the next exhibit.  The art room is great for children from very small to about 10 years old.  Suitability of the art exhibits will depend on what your children like and what the themes are.

• MOCA - Museum of Contemporary Art
•  台北市大同區103長安西路39號
• NO.39 Chang-An West Road Taipei, Taiwan 10
• TEL +886 2-2552-3721
• Parking in underground park. Entrance just East of the museum entrance.
• Coffee shop attached to Museum
• Closed Mondays.

Full information, including details about family days, free school tours, and more, available on their website:  http://www.mocataipei.org.tw/

National Palace Museum

Yesterday, my two kids (6 and 8) visited the National Palace Museum.  I hadn't been there since their major renovations, and was amazed by the changes.  My children didn't LOVE the main exhibit areas, but they did still get a lot of out of it.  If I had done my research, I would have gotten them the headsets with children's introduction to the main museum.  It's designed for kids aged four to eight years.  You can download it, or borrow the headsets for TWD50.  AND, I would have downloaded the worksheets... oh, well, next time...

We decided to have lunch before entering the exhibits, and ate at the cafe at the museum's entrance.  It was pretty good.  Inexpensive food, bilingual staff and menu, healthy food options, and sturdy chairs and tables, made it a good option for us.

Enjoying a Pearl Milk Tea and Ham Sandwich.

In the calligraphy room, there is a section with lots of multimedia to keep everyone entertained and educated.  You can also use the museum's educational web pages at home.

There are several gift shops in Exhibit Hall 1.  I picked up a 10-book set of children's book for just TWD270!  They are clearing them out, and only have about 20 sets left at the time of writing.  If you live near the museum, they are definitely worth picking up for gifts. They are in Chinese with ㄅㄆㄇㄈ.  Published by the museum, they introduce some beautiful pieces from their collection.

I'd be lying to say my kids fell in love with the exhibits upstairs, but I think it's still important to let them see these things, as they learn about them in their textbooks at school.  They were very excited to hear about the children's room in B1, that's for sure.

Entry to the children's room is free, and you can enter without buying entry to the museum, so it is a great little space to visit when it's rainy or too hot out.  Everything is hands-on, and bilingual.  The video they show is only in Chinese, though.

My son was fascinated by the "Create Your Own Zoo" program.  It's like a giant i-pad.  You design your image, and then it plays in a sequence with other kids' pictures.

"Create Your Own Zoo"

There are Q&A sections, engineering activities, and jigsaw puzzles. Everything is made to encourage participation by children and their parents.

Questions about jade.

Challenge: Build the bridge.

Finish the puzzle to make the animations on the screen start.

After our time at the museum (about 2 1/2 hours), we popped to Zhishan park next door.  If you show your museum ticket, you get in free.  I don't know how much it is without the ticket, but I don't think it's much.  I remember visiting years ago, but had forgotten what a haven it is.  We fed the fish and the swans, and watched artists paint the landscape.

Definitely painting-worthy.

If you didn't buy enough at the gift shops, there is another one at the park entrance.

I parked across the road from the museum in the car park.  There is a car park behind the museum, but it's hard to find a space there.
Address:  No.221, Sec. 2, Zhishan Rd., Shilin Dist., Taipei City 11143, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
Tel:+886-2-28812021

Up-to-date visiting hours and entrance fees:  http://www.npm.gov.tw/en/visiting/visit/hours.htm

My age recommendations:  Stroller-friendly, good for little ones, or children six and up.  Toddlers will find it hard to stay patient and quiet enough for the main exhibit areas.