Literature

花匠小妙招
2025-07-28 16:46

Mu Xin Gallery 3

In the early 1970’s, Mu Xin was held in solitary confinement several times and was kept in air-raid shelters. He obtained paper and pen by asking to write self-criticism letters, then used them for his literature creation and completed the sixty-six pages Prison Notes which takes up one hundred and thirty two pages amassing about six hundred and fifty thousand words. To avoid detection of the papers, he sewed them into the cotton padding of his pants and walked the notes to freedom upon his release. In 2001, all these notes were shown in his solo art exhibition at Yale University Art Gallery and then went on tour to the Art institute of Chicago, the Hawai’i State Art Museum and the Asia Society Museum in New York City. Due to the frangibility and the abration after all the years, we are only showing the selected ones and will make display changes on a regular basis in the future.

Mu Xin Gallery 5

More than thirty types of publications by Mu Xin have been published on both sides of the Taiwan Strait during his lifetime including proses, novels, essays, haikus and poems. In total, these exceed several million words, he has also left more than forty of his manuscripts.

On the fifteen tables and twenty showcases in this gallery, we display the early version books read by Mu Xin, the survival manuscripts which he secretly wrote before the Culture Revolution and some of the manuscripts written during his stay in the States then back to China, the most complete manuscripts are: Variations on the Practising Book of Odes, The Everfalling Flakes of My Desire, Parron, In the name of Solomon, Literary Memoir.

Information about the special exhibition galleries 1,2,3 downstairs can be found in other brochures according to the exhibition contents.