The Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall was built in 1980 in honor of General Chiang Kai-shek. Chaing was the successor to Sun Yat-sen. He fought with the Allied forces in WWII after Japan declared war on China. After defeating the Japanese, Chiang continued fighting the growing communist influence in China, but was overtaken and eventually forced out of the country into Taiwan.
Chiang established Taiwan as the temporary seat of government for the Republic of China, and America and most European countries recognized it as such until after his death in 1975. The People's Republic of China have refused to recognize the ROC as a ruling power, and their conflict continues to this day. Chiang is seen as a controversial figure in Taiwan. Under his rule, he established Taiwan as an economic force. However, he did so at the cost of the local Taiwanese traditions. Chiang demanded that the entire country speak Mandarin Chinese and follow his view of Chinese traditions, although much of the country was filled with indigenous Taiwanese, who spoke their own language and hold their own customs. Chiang ran the country under a sustained martial law for most of his life, and violently silenced any forms of protest or dissent. Because of this, his memorial has become something of a political hot potato.
I've visited the memorial three times for different reasons, so I've got plenty of pictures.
The Memorial Hall sits in the middle of a massive courtyard. It is flanked by two other buildings, which house theaters and a bookstore.
Inside the Hall is a museum, with art galleries, a library, and displays of artifacts and pictures from Chiang's life.
This is the sign at the entrance, they take this stuff pretty seriously.
Two of Chiang's bulletproof cars are on display. The Caddy has mirrored windows, and is looked more like a hearse then a limousine.
The globe from Chiang's desk was in a glass case. Surprisingly, it was turned so that North America faced forward.
In the back of the museum was a recreation of Chiang's office, complete with a creepy wax model.
There were also many pictures of Chiang with various political figures, including Churchill, Eisenhower, Ghandi, and my favorite, Lyndon Baines Johnson.
Outside, at the top of the hall, stood a massive statue of Chiang. 89 steps, one for each year of the general's life, lead to the top, where the statue is guarded by more motionless soldiers. I was lucky enough to see the ceremony in which they were relieved at the end of the day, complete with some spinning of bayonets.
If you look closely at the soldier, you can see the sweat soaked through his pants just above the belt. He had been standing motionless at attention for an hour, in muggy 95 degree weather.
The memorial hall has been at the center of a great political controversy the last few years. Several years ago the opposition party won the presidential election, and declared that the hall be renamed the "National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall" due to Chiang's history of human rights abuses. The massive stone gate at the front was re-carved, new banners were draped over the hall, soldiers no longer guarded the statue, and the solemn statue room was filled with colorful kites. When the KMT party regained control of the government last year, they undid all of the changes made by the previous administration. I was told that the sign at the front was just replaced last week, surrounded by a few hundred armed policemen in case a demonstration got out of hand.
I'm sort of on the fence on the issue. On first visit the Hall seemed overwhelming, it seemed to deify the man while whitewashing any wrong he had done in his life. But after thinking about it, its not much different then the numerous monuments America has built in Washington D.C. to honor our past presidents. I've noticed that people here are very rigid in their political beliefs, there isn't much room for compromise to them. (sort of like in the states). Besides, its not like we dont have giant, ostentatious monuments built for people with questionable pasts. Stone Mountain GA comes to mind.
That's all for now. Thanks for reading!
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