Written by Shao-Ji Yao. This article explores the provenance and 150-year history of Taiwan’s Indigenous ethnographic collections at the Ethnological Museum in Berlin. Shaped by director Adolf Bastian’s universal archival ambitions, these artefacts span the period from late nineteenth-century colonial encounters to post-WWII acquisitions. The author details ongoing collaborative efforts to bring these historic items back to Taipei for a landmark transnational exhibition at the National Taiwan Museum in 2027.
