I went to go visit the Chiang Kai-Shek (CKS) Memorial Hall for the first time. This place was on my to-go-list since the last time I came to Taiwan, but I finally had the chance to visit!
Who was Chiang Kai-Shek, and why does he have an entire memorial hall dedicated to him?
Well, Chiang Kai-Shek was the first president of Taiwan (Republic of China.) In fact, he was president for over 25 years, from March 1st, 1950 – April 5th, 1975. This was possible because he won five elections for terms that lasted six years each.
Chiang was also the Director-General for the Kuomintang (KMT), the only political party in Taiwan at the time, until his death in 1975. It can be said that Chiang Kai-Shek is a pretty controversial political figure, to say the least. While he helped to establish the foundation of Taiwan in the country's early years, he also suppressed his political opponents and the people of Taiwan for many many years. A couple posts ago, I wrote about the 228 Massacre, which Chiang Kai-Shek played a role in.
The CKS Memorial Hall completed construction in 1976, and was constructed to honor Chiang Kai-Shek. However, over the years, as freedom of speech and education on Taiwan's history has become increasingly advocated for, CKS Memorial Hall's exhibits now also include important documents on events that have been glossed over and taboo in the past, such as the 228 Massacre and Taiwan's period of White Terror. I found these documents to be particularly interesting, as I had read up on these historical events a couple months ago.
CKS Memorial Hall had a whole collection of other Chiang Kai-Shek related things, such as objects he had previously used, old TIME magazines that he was featured on, and military medals, to name a few.
They even had a replica of his office layout set to scale, complete with his original furniture and a lifelike wax figure sitting at his desk which gave me a bit of a shock when I walked in.
The Memorial Hall also had some of Chiang's wife's things, such as her paintings, which I found to be very well drawn (I'll put the photo toward the end of this post).
One thing that I found interesting about Taiwan's museums and national monuments are that they're always constructed to be surrounded by greenery or a park of some sorts. In the case of CKS Memorial Hall, there is a lush park on site. It seems like a lot of seniors in the area stop by the Memorial Hall's park for their daily exercise. Luckily for me, an elderly man jogged by, and I was able to ask for his help in taking a picture of me. He agreed, but looked at me strangely. It was until after I looked at the photos and he jogged away that I realized that I was posing for pictures with the side of the Memorial Hall, not the front!
That's all for now! Enjoy the photos and until the next post,
Deborah
A model of the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall complex from aerial view.
Comments