If you have a chance to go to Taiwan, there's one place you should not miss-- the Taipei Palace Museum. The museum has around 650,000 pieces of ancient Chinese treasures. These treasures were originally in the Palace Museum in Beijing. But how did they get to Taiwan? In 1931, the Japanese invaded the northeast part of China. To protect the national treasures from the Japanese, the government of the Republic of China decided to move some important pieces to Nanjing. However, they did not stay long in Nanjing. In 1949, the people's Liberation Army won in the Liberation War. The Guomindang government went from Nanjing to Taiwan. Along with them they took the art pieces. The Taipei Palace Museum was set up in 1965 to hold the national treasures. Taiwan people are very proud of the Taipei Palace Museum. Some of the collections are world famous. One of the most visited art pieces in the museum is the "Jade Cabbage". It is made from a single piece of jade . If you take a close look, you can see two grasshoppers on the leaves, a large one and a small one, which were the symbol of many children in a family. If you are interested in the treasures, you could take a look at a TV programme called Taipei Palace Museum. It gives a picture of the treasures of the Taipei Palace Museum. There are also interviews with over a hundred experts about the stories behind some of the pieces. Why did the Guomindang government take these treasures to Taiwan?
Because the Japanese invaded the northeast part of China. Because they wanted to protect the treasures from the Japanese. Because they wanted to show them to Taiwan people. Because they were defeated by the People's Liberation Army.