Following the National Palace Museum''s rejection of Han Kuo-yu''s plan to exhibit its entire collection, the KMT presidential candidate has unveiled a second plan to digitize the museum''s full collection. At a Thursday press conference, his advisers said Han intended to display all 700,000 artifacts online. The proposal drew immediate criticism, with a DPP lawmaker saying that work on a digital archive has been ongoing since President Tsai Ing-wen came to office. The lawmaker said the Han camp''s latest announcement was invented to get him out of trouble for the previous one.Han’s campaign advisers held a news conference on Thursday with a special guest, former National Palace Museum director Feng Ming-chu. Days earlier Han had said he wanted to simultaneously showcase the National Palace Museum’s full collection of nearly 700,000 artifacts. His remarks stoked heated controversy. On Thursday, Han’s team came forward with an expert who endorsed the campaign’s vision for “National Palace Museum 4.0.”Simon ChangHan campaign adviserHow does Mayor Han dare to promise a complete showcase of all the artifacts? He dares to do it because we have drafted a plan for a digital National Palace Museum. The digital museum will of course display the entire collection at once.Feng Ming-chuFormer National Palace Museum directorThe National Palace Museum’s digital archive is about 70 or 80% complete. A digital National Palace Museum presenting all 700,000 national treasures won’t be a problem at all to create.A DPP lawmaker panned the campaign team’s clarification of Han’s campaign pledge. She said it was clear the Han camp was clutching at straws. Wu Su-yaoDPP lawmakerThey’re trying to talk their way out of a bind. This idea of digitizing the National Palace Museum. If Mayor Han had done his homework, he would know that efforts to turn the collection into a public good – to make it public – have gone on since President Tsai came to office. At the start of 2017, the National Palace Museum released 70,000 images of paintings and antiquities for free public download.Critics say that the plan to display more artifacts has transformed overnight into a plan to digitize more artifacts. DPP lawmaker Wu Su-yao blasted the presidential candidate for backpedaling, saying he’ll see in the end whether the voters are fooled.
