Wen Long SHI Founder of Chi Mei Group and Chairman of Chimei Culture Foundation 

When I was a kid, I visited a museum ran by the Japanese (Note: Tainan Educational Museum was originally the Tainan Museum, which was also the first public museum in Taiwan) and saw some animals (animal taxidermy), it left a great impression on me. I thought to myself, if I ever had the ability to build a museum, I would display animals for everyone to view. Over the past 20 to 30 years since the establishment of Chimei Museum, we were able to collect a good number of taxidermy. Yet some of the animals have become rare and can hardly be seen today because of humans' continuous development, which is causing serious damages to the animal habitats. 

Animals are straightforward. They fight for the simple need of food. A well-fed lion, for example, would not be interested in hunting even if a sheep was standing nearby. Human world is, however, very different. Besides the basic needs, we desire a lot more and cannot be easily satisfied. We are always going after our desires. In this sense, animals with full stomachs perhaps understand peaceful coexistence much better than humans. If we could have a bit of this value, our society would certainly change for the better. 

I always believe it is important to respect the coexistence with nature. Animals and humans should have lived in a friendly relation. Humans are, after all, a type of animal species. Instead of controlling the lives of other animals, we should let the principle of nature lead our destinies. Today, this exhibition is about animals. This is certainly a meaningful event to me. I am wishing that all visitors to the exhibition will think about their relations with animals and learn to follow nature. Life will be much simpler this way. 

Here, I would like to thank everyone for their contribution to this exhibition. Thank you all very much.