Each year, the large four-story structure attracts about 30,000 visitors. That is not considered a high number, given the museum’s size, convenient location and the fact that nearly three quarters of its visitors are students on field trips.
Lin Wei-chen said the museum is not well known among the general public. “People who know are those who really like Aboriginal culture or are students. Of course, we hope there could be more people who visit the museum. That’s the greatest hope of our founder,” he said.
Part of the reason for the low visitor numbers is that patrons might find the tickets too expensive compared to other museums, he said.
Ticket prices are already quite low, given the museum is entirely funded by Lin Ching-fu. This year, he contributed more than NT$40 billion, 90 percent of which came from his personal funds and 10 percent from his trading company, Shung Ye Co Ltd. None of that money is used for advertising, said Lin Wei-chen.
“We put all our budget into operating the museum,” he said, noting that the museum has only 10 employees, in addition to 50 volunteers.
To attract more visitors, the Shung Ye Museum has initiated a joint program with the National Palace Museum to offer cheaper admission if patrons buy tickets for both museums. Adults can visit both institutions for NT$250 and students for NT$130. (Admission to just the Shung Ye Museum costs NT$160 for adults and NT$150 for students.)
The museum has also steadily improved the quality of its displays. In the beginning, these consisted of items such as a model of a traditional house; later, people and animal figurines were added to enliven the displays, and a few years ago the museum commissioned videos to be filmed in Aboriginal villages to show museumgoers how people actually live in such houses. Additional videos show crafts such as cloth weaving, woodcarving and pottery making, as well as traditional dances.
There is little material concerning the problems Aborigines currently face, including encroachment on their land, high rates of unemployment and the danger of losing their languages and culture. But the museum does not shy away from referencing historical events, such as conflicts between Aborigines and Han Chinese settlers and the Wushe Incident (霧社事件) — the biggest and the last rebellion against Japanese colonial forces in Taiwan, which resulted in a massacre of hundreds of Seediq (賽德克) in 1930 by Japanese troops and rival Aboriginal warriors.
Lin Wei-chen said many Aborigines who visit are touched to find that man who founded and funds the museum is not an Aborigine, but he added that for some reason many do not spend much time gazing at the exhibits, perhaps because they believe they already know enough about their own history and culture.
Those who do stay end up learning things about their own tribe’s culture as well as that of other Aboriginal tribes, said Lin Wei-chen. “They might know their own tribe, but not other tribes.”
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