Exhibition marks 75th year since recovery of Taiwan

An exhibition commemorating the 75th anniversary of the recovery of Taiwan by the motherland opened on Sunday at the National Museum of China in Beijing.

Some 160 exhibits that record Taiwan's resistance to Japanese rule are on display to commemorate the liberation of Taiwan, the end of Japan's rule over Taiwan and the Penghu islands and the return of Taiwan to the motherland on Oct 25, 1945, the museum said.

Many of the exhibits are on public display for the first time, including some documents from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), detailing its garrison in Penghu from 1886 to 1891, the museum said.

"The important history shows the joint resistance of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Straits to foreign aggression, and the Chinese mainland and Taiwan are an inseparable community with a shared future," said Wang Chunfa, director of the museum.

"We hope that compatriots on both sides can remember history, jointly safeguard national territorial integrity and work together to advance the process of peaceful reunification of the motherland."

The exhibition will run for two months in Beijing, and after its closure, a digital version will be available on the internet so that more people, especially Taiwan compatriots, can view it, Wang said.

Yok Mu-ming, honorary and former chairman of Taiwan's New Party, said young people in Taiwan do not have a clear and profound understanding of the history of the recovery of Taiwan because of the current education system on the island.

"It is important for young people to better understand the history of Taiwan and the country," he said. "When they visit places outside Taiwan and know they have been cheated on the island, they will react strongly."

Cheng Chi-shen, chief executive of Taiwan's Cross-Straits Cooperation and Unification Association, said that in recent years the Democratic Progressive Party, the ruling party of Taiwan, has gradually reduced the sections on Chinese history and culture in history textbooks to promote "Taiwan independence" among younger people.

"We hope that there will be more exchanges between the two sides, so that more young people from Taiwan can come to the mainland to see things that are different from what they learn from textbooks," he said.