TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s National Archives welcomed over 100,000 visitors in its first month of trial operations since opening on Sept. 2, exceeding expectations, the National Archives Administration said.
Administration Director Lin Chiu-yen (林秋燕) said visitor feedback has provided valuable insights for improvement. Staff are refining signage, guided tours, and visitor flow ahead of the official opening on Nov. 22, which will also mark the administration’s 25th anniversary, per CNA.
The nine-story facility in New Taipei’s Linkou District features public exhibition spaces across its first three floors. The second floor hosts both a permanent exhibition and a special exhibition hall, where technology and storytelling bring archival materials to life.
The permanent exhibition highlights Taiwan’s “Ten Major Construction Projects,” a series of national infrastructure initiatives launched after the nation’s economic takeoff in 1965. These projects aimed to enhance transportation, heavy industry, and port development, producing notable outcomes such as Taoyuan International Airport and Taichung Port, according to eHanlin.
The exhibition also explores Taiwan’s push to develop the high-tech industry in the 1970s and 1980s. Featured documents include a 1981 report by Morris Chang (張忠謀), founder of TSMC, submitted to the Cabinet as a blueprint for the nation’s electronics sector.
Chang emphasized the need to move from labor-intensive growth to a technology-driven economy. He later noted that his work in developing a professional semiconductor foundry model, which eventually led to the creation of TSMC, marked a major milestone in Taiwan’s technology industry and laid the groundwork for the company’s global leadership, according to Yahoo stocks.
The special exhibition focuses on Taiwan’s transition to democracy, using films and interactive displays to illustrate daily life under martial law. After World War II, Taiwan experienced three periods of martial law.
The Kuomintang regime first imposed it in 1948, restricting citizens’ freedoms and fundamental rights, including assembly, association, speech, and publication. The nearly four-decade period officially ended on July 14, 1987, closing 38 years of authoritarian rule, according to eHanlin and the Taiwan Human Rights Memory Bank.
