These international conferences almost always include an excursion that explores the local culture. Yesterday, we took a bus 45 minutes outside of Taipei to the National Palace Museum. This museum is quite interesting because it is filled with very important Chinese artifacts that were removed from mainland China when Chiang Kai-Shek fled to Taiwan. We saw beautiful scrolls and calligraphy, bronzework, jade carvings, and statues. We had an English-speaking tour guide who explained the history of each item, the dynasty from which it came, and the symbolism found in the artifact. This museum is quite controversial because the mainland Chinese would like these artifacts back but this would require them to admit that Taiwan is not part of China.
After our museum visit, we went to the conference banquet. Food included frog legs, peking duck, shrimp, a whole fish, little sandwiches including a dried fish cracker and sugar-coated pork, and dragonfruit for dessert. During dinner, an aboriginal dance troupe performed - they work very colorful clothes and the dancing looked, to me, like mix of Native American and Hawaiian dance. There was also a small musical group that performed playing traditional Chinese instruments (including an erhu like the one I brought back for Charles from China). There was one instrument that I’ve never seen before that looked to me like a mixture between a pipe organ and a bassoon - if I had more time and money, I might seek one out to bring home.