Taiwan tour: part 2

Warships in Taiwan's waters, representing 
different eras of Taiwan's history. 

After the 2025 International Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage wrapped up in Kaohsiung, our group of international scholars still had a few items on our agenda. First, we visited a special exhibit at the National Science and Technology Museum called "War and Shipwrecks." 

The exhibit was very well-done. It delved into the close relationship between armed conflict and the creation of shipwrecks. Most importantly for me, the exhibit showed the different eras of underwater cultural heritage in Taiwan's waters. I'm not very familiar with Taiwanese history, so I was grateful for the clear framework. Each era was exemplified by a warship, which was highlighted throughout the exhibition. Taiwan was first inhabited by Polynesian indigenous people. Warships from the Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644) are among the oldest shipwrecks in Taiwan's waters. Dutch colonists arrived in the early 1600s, carried by their own distinctive "retourschips," some of which sank near Taiwan. The Qing dynasty (1644 - 1912) then took control and declared Taiwan a province of their empire. One of the most famous shipwrecks in Taiwan, the Guangbing warship, located in Taiwan's Penghu Islands, dates from the Qing dynasty. Taiwan was ceded to Japan in 1895 and used as a strategic base by the Japanese Navy in WWII, leading to many shipwrecks. The shipwrecks of Taiwan have four clear eras and origins: Ming, Dutch, Qing, and WWII. 

The VR room

The "War and Shipwrecks" exhibition was highly interactive. A highlight for me was definitely a special room in the middle of the exhibition that used video projectors to create a pseudo-virtual reality experience. Set in Taiwan's Penghu Islands, the story began with the sounding of air raid sirens. You could then use video game-style controls to try and shoot down the incoming aircraft (assuming this is WWII, the planes would have been American). Ultimately, the warship you are on sinks into the ocean, and then you see footage recorded by divers showing some of Taiwan's shipwrecks underwater. I'll be honest: it was a bit shocking to me that a museum would put the visitor in first person, shooting down enemy airplanes and sinking to the ocean floor with their ship. That said, the video definitely created a memorable experience for me, and I can imagine it must be instrumental in teaching Taiwanese visitors the true value of underwater cultural heritage. Every ship has a story, and many of them are grave sites. A room next to the first-person experience drove home this point with interviews from WWII veterans in Taiwan. 

An example of Taiwan's cultural heritage outside the BUCH
office in Taichung.

We left the National Science and Technology Museum mid-day and headed back north on Taiwan's high speed rail system to Taichung. Our last agenda item was a visit to the Bureau of Cultural Heritage (BUCH), a co-host of the conference. The area just outside the BUCH office has been converted into an art park highlighting some of Taiwan's cultural heritage. The BUCH director, Lin Hung-Lung, explained that cultural heritage is not just the structures or objects themselves but the artistry that went into making them. For example, a minimum of 6 expert artisans would have been required to construct the small building just outside BUCH's entrance: brickmakers, ceramic artists, wood carvers, and more. 

At the BUCH office, we toured their exhibit and conservation lab and had a meeting complete with tea, cookies, and the exchange of name cards. The BUCH staff mentioned that they wanted to ask us some questions, but ultimately, we ran out of time for a discussion. Now that we have each other's contact information, I'm hoping we can follow up by email. 

It was an honor to visit the BUCH office, and I am glad for my new connections to Taiwanese colleagues.