The National Palace Museum, located in Taipei and Taibao, Chiayi County, has a permanent collection of nearly 700,000 pieces of ancient Chinese imperial artifacts and artworks, making it one of the largest of its type in the world. The collection encompasses 8,000 years of history of Chinese art from the Neolithic age to the modern. Most of the collection are high quality pieces collected by China's emperors; the National Palace Museum shares its roots with the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City, whose extensive collection of artwork and artifacts were built upon the imperial collections of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The National Palace Museum was established as the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City on 10 October 1925, shortly after the expulsion of Puyi, the last emperor of China, from the Forbidden City by warlord Feng Yuxiang; the articles in the museum consisted of the valuables of the former Imperial family. In 1931, shortly after the Mukden Incident Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Government ordered the museum to make preparations to evacuate its most valuable pieces out of the city to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Imperial Japanese Army.

As a result, from 6 February to 15 May 1933, the Palace Museum's 13,491 crates and 6,066 crates of objects from the Exhibition Office of Ancient Artifacts, the Summer Palace and the Imperial Hanlin Academy were moved in five groups to Shanghai. In 1936, the collection was moved to Nanking after the construction of the storage in the Taoist monastery Chaotian Palace was complete; as the Imperial Japanese Army advanced farther inland during the Second Sino-Japanese War, which merged into the greater conflict of World War II, the collection was moved westward via three routes to several places including Anshun and Leshan until the surrender of Japan in 1945. In 1947, it was shipped back to the Nanjing warehouse; the Chinese Civil War resumed following the surrender of the Japanese resulting in Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's decision to evacuate the arts to Taiwan, handed over to the ROC in 1945. When the fighting worsened in 1948 between the Communist and Nationalist armies, the National Beijing Palace Museum and other five institutions made the decision to send some of the most prized items to Taiwan.

Hang Li-wu director of the museum, supervised the transport of some of the collection in three groups from Nanking to the harbor in Keelung, Taiwan between December 1948 and February 1949. By the time the items arrived in Taiwan, the Communist army had seized control of the National Beijing Palace Museum collection so not all of the collection could be sent to Taiwan. A total of 2,972 crates of artifacts from the Forbidden City moved to Taiwan only accounted for 22% of the crates transported south, although the pieces represented some of the best of the collection; the collection from the National Beijing Palace Museum, the Preparatory Office of the National Central Museum, the National Central Library, the National Beiping Library was stored in a railway warehouse in Yangmei following transport across the Taiwan Strait and was moved to the storage in cane sugar mill near Taichung. In 1949, the Executive Yuan created the Joint Managerial Office, for the National Beijing Palace Museum, the Preparatory Office of the National Central Museum and the National Central Library to oversee the organization of the collection.

For security reasons, the Joint Managerial Office chose the mountain village of Beigou, located in Wufeng, Taichung as the new storage site for the collection in the same year. In the following year, the collection stored in cane sugar mill was transported to the new site in Beigou. With the National Central Library's reinstatement in 1955, the collection from the National Beijing Library was incorporated into the National Central Library; the Joint Managerial Office of the National Beijing Palace Museum and the Preparatory Office of the National Central Museum stayed in Beigou for another ten years. During the decade, the Office obtained a grant from the Asia Foundation to construct a small-scale exhibition hall in the spring of 1956; the exhibition hall, opened in March 1957, was divided into four galleries in which it was possible to exhibit more than 200 items. In the autumn of 1960, the Office received a grant of NT$32 million from AID; the Republic of China government contributed more than NT$30 million to establish a special fund for the construction of a museum in the Taipei suburb of Waishuanxi.

The construction of the museum in Waishuanxi was completed in August 1965. The new museum site was christened the "Chung-Shan Museum" in honor of the founding father of the ROC, Sun Yat-sen, first opened to the public on the centenary of Sun Yat-sen's birthday. Since the museum in Taipei has managed and exhibited the collections of the National Beiping Palace Museum and the Preparatory Office of the National Central Museum. During the 1960s and 1970s, the National Palace Museum was used by the Kuomintang to support its claim that the Republic of China was the sole legitimate government of all China, in that it was the sole preserver of traditional Chinese culture amid social change and the Cultural Revolution in mainland China, tended to emphasize Chinese nationalism; the People's Republic of China government has long said that the collection was stolen and that it legitimately belongs in China, but Taiwan has defended its collection as a necessary act to protect the pieces from destruction during the Cultural Revolution.

However, relations regarding this treasure have warmed in recent years and the Palace Museum in Beijing has agreed to lend relics to the National Palace Museum for exhibitions since 2009. The Palace Museum curator Zheng Xinmiao has sa

Ten Years is the first extended play by American pop music duo Aly & AJ. It was released on November 17, 2017. Ten Years serves as their first release in ten years, following the release of their third studio album Insomniatic, which reached number 15 on the Billboard 200, it is additionally their first release since their departure from Hollywood Records in 2010. A departure from their previous commercial pop rock sound, Ten Years instead opted for a 1980s-inspired musical composition that consisted of echoed vocals, an 808-inspired drum machine, synth pads; the EP was preceded by the release of two singles: "Take Me" and "I Know". Ten Years has received positive reviews from music critics, who praised the blend of 1980's-inspired music and modern contemporary production, as well as praising the duo's songwriting; the album has peaked at #25 on the US Independent Albums chart. The EP was additionally promoted by the Promises Tour, which the duo embarked on through July 2018. A deluxe version of Ten Years was released on November 30, 2018, which included the release of the single "Good Love".

Aly & AJ released three studio albums under Hollywood Records: Into the Rush, Acoustic Hearts of Winter, Insomniatic, the latter of which peaked at number 15 on the Billboard 200, contained the single "Potential Breakup Song", which reached number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. The duo left the label in 2010, began releasing music under 78violet, they released the single "Hothouse" in 2013, before returning to the name Aly & AJ. Despite this, the two subsequently stuck to acting. Aly plays Peyton Charles on iZombie, while AJ plays Lainey Lewis on The Goldbergs. In April 2016, the duo began recording music again, writing with Ryan Spraker. In April 2017, the duo confirmed. Ten Years is a synth-pop EP containing a synth-driven sound; the EP opens with lead single "Take Me", a "shimmery" synth-pop song, which contains a bombastic, flirtatious chorus. The single's instrumentation consists of synthesizers, vintage vocal processing and electronic drum kits, while it lyrically talks about the nerves of making a move on a crush.

The second track, "I Know", is a dreamy dance-pop song inspired by the death of an acquaintance, who had died from cancer. It has a fluttering distorted echoes, while containing simplistic verses, it was musically compared to the works of M83."Promises" lyrically talks about the realization of a cheating partner in a confessional and nocturnal way. The duo called it the only song on the EP "more on the fictional side." "Promises" was not going to be included on the EP, but was added at the last minute. Musically, it incorporates a propulsive beat; the EP's closer, "The Distance", is a bittersweet reflection that looks back with wistful remembrance. "Take Me" was announced as the lead single on June 2, 2017. The single was released the same day, but was taken down after; the single was noted for a change in the group's musical style, trading their commercial pop rock for 1980s-inspired synth-pop. The single received positive reviews from critics and had a vampire-themed music video released on September 14, 2017.

"I Know" was released as the second single from the EP on November 3, 2017. The single was inspired by the death of an acquaintance, who had died from cancer."Good Love" was released as the third single from the EP on June 15, 2018. It was included on the deluxe version of the EP; the duo embarked on the Promises Tour to promote Ten Years. It ran from June 3 to July 6, 2018. Liz Cantrell of Spin called the album a "sinuous, slinky comeback, weaving an 80s synth sensibility with contemporary beats," as well as "a promising turn for the Michalka sisters." Justin Moran of Out called the EP "triumphant." Sam Damshenas of Gay Times called the EP "synthpop perfection." All tracks are written by Aly Michalka, AJ Michalka, Jamie Sierota and Ryan Spraker, except "I Know", co-written by Tom Peyton

Dornford Yates was the pseudonym of the English novelist Cecil William Mercer, whose novels and short stories, some humorous, some thrillers, were best-sellers in the period between the First and Second World Wars. The pen name Dornford Yates, first in print in 1910, resulted from combining the maiden names of his grandmothers – the paternal Eliza Mary Dornford, the maternal Harriet Yates. William Mercer was born in Walmer, the son of Cecil John Mercer and Helen Wall, his father was a solicitor whose Mary Frances, married Charles Augustus Munro. Mercer attended St Clare preparatory school in Walmer from 1894 to 1899; the family moved from Kent to London when he joined Harrow School as a day pupil in 1899, his father selling his solicitor’s practice in Kent and setting up office in Carey Street. Leaving Harrow in 1903, he attended University College, Oxford in 1904, where he achieved a Third in Law. At university, he was active in the Oxford University Dramatic Society, becoming secretary in 1906 and president in 1907, his final year.

He acted in the 1905 production of Aristophanes’ The Clouds, of which the Times reviewer said: "Among individual actors the best was Mr. C. W. Mercer, whose ‘Strepsiades’ was full of fun, who possesses real comic talent." After a small part in the 1906 production of Measure for Measure, in his final year, he appeared as ‘Demetrius’ in A Midsummer Night's Dream, as ‘Pedant’ in The Taming of the Shrew, a production which included the professional actresses Lily Brayton as ‘Katherine’, her sister Agnes as ‘Bianca’. Among the many useful friends Mercer made in the OUDS were Gervais Rentoul, who asked him to be his best man, Lily Brayton's husband, actor Oscar Asche producer of the play Kismet, writer of Chu Chin Chow. After university, Mercer took a caravanning holiday in Hampshire, with Asche, Lily and another theatrical couple, Matheson Lang and his wife, Hutin Britton. Mercer’s third-class Oxford law degree was insufficient to gain him traditional access to the bar. However, in 1908 his father obtained his son a post as pupil to a prominent barrister, H. G. Muskett, whose practice required his appearing in court on behalf of the police commissioner.

As Muskett’s pupil, Mercer saw much of the seedy side of London life, some of, evident in his novels. In 1909, he was called to the Bar. In his first memoirs, As Berry & I Were Saying, he recalls his involvement in the trial of the poisoner Hawley Harvey Crippen, when he returned from acting with the Old Stagers, at Canterbury, to have first look at the legal brief. Mercer is in a photograph of the Bow Street Court committal proceedings, published in the Daily Mirror of 30 August 1910. In his spare time, he wrote short stories that were published in Punch, The Harmsworth RED Magazine, Pearson's Magazine, the Windsor Magazine, maintaining a relationship with this last until the end of the 1930s, he assisted in the writing of What I Know - US title King Edward As I Knew Him - the memoirs of C. W. Stamper, motor engineer to King Edward VII. At the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, Mercer was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the 3rd County of London Yeomanry, although his stories continued to appear in the Windsor until March 1915.

In 1915, his regiment left for Egypt and, in November 1915 as part of the 8th Mounted Brigade, he was sent to the Salonika/Macedonian front where the war was in stalemate. Suffering severe muscular rheumatism he was sent home in 1917 and, although he was still in uniform, the War Office did not again post him, he left the army in 1919. In June of that year the Windsor carried his first story since the end of the war. Since 1914, the Mercer family home had been Elm Tree Road, behind the north-west side of Lord's cricket ground in St John's Wood, where his friends Oscar and Lily Asche were close neighbours. In autumn of 1919, he and Asche combined to write the stage show Eastward Ho!, but the production was not a great success and he did not again attempt to write for the stage. A frequent social – and romantic – Elm Tree Road visitor was Bettine Stokes Edwards, an American girl who danced in Chu Chin Chow who became Mercer’s first wife; the New York Times announcement of their engagement states: "Mr & Mrs Glover Fitzhugh Perin of 57 West Fifty-eight street have announced the engagement of Mrs Perin’s oldest daughter Miss Bettine Stokes Edwards...."

Suggesting that her father either was dead or divorced. Mercer and Bettine married at St James's, Spanish Place, in the Marylebone district of London, on 22 October 1919; the month of October marked the appearance of a story in the Windsor called Valerie whose female lead made a living as a dancer. Mercer decided not to return to the bar, to concentrate on his writing, he and Bettine lived in Elm Tree Road, where their only child, was born on 20 July 1920. After the Great War, many ex-officers found that the rise in the cost of living in London precluded maintaining the style of life of a gentleman to which they had become accustomed. In 1922, the Mercers emigrated to France, where it was possible to live more cheaply, where the climate was kinder to Mercer’s muscular rheumatism, they chose the resort town Pau, in the