It's probably too small for you to see, but the text under the picture does say "The Formosan Monopoly Bureau Taihoku". In one of my earlier posts Chris Overstreet from Wild Postcards expressed some surprise at the name Formosa being used, and here it is again.
The card was sent to me through Postcrossing on 29 December 2009, postmarked Taiwan R.O.C. On it the sender says "I live in a beautiful country, Taiwan, but we all like to call it Formosa". He also adds that the building took two years to build (1913) and eleven years to complete (1922).
The building was created because the previous one had been outgrown. Its work was to take charge of the monopolisation of opium, camphor, salt, and cigarettes during Japanese rule (1895 to 1945)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=540e7bd0-fa89-479d-bdb5-df628a724f6d)
How pretty this building is!
ReplyDeleteI visited Taiwan for Thanksgiving, with my two youngest sons, about 17 years ago. We had so much fun there. The National Museum is an incredible place!