First of two parts
ON our third day in Taiwan near the end of 2025, May-i and I decided that since the only thing I wanted to see before setting foot in the island-nation was the memorial to the late Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek in Taipei, we would have to go there for a day trip and return the same night to Kaohsiung. But Taipei City is 359 kilometers from Kaohsiung City. That is equivalent to the distance between Manila and Ilocos Sur, which involves a six-hour land travel here in the Philippines. It would seem Kaohsiung would be impossible for a day tour.
But they have bullet trains. We took business class, paying about P4,000 per passenger, but The Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) brought us to Taipei from Kaohsiung in only an hour and a half. On the train, there is a sense of sadness seeing the sights and experiencing these things in this developed country, why don’t we have these things for our people to enjoy? When they handed out a copy of the Taipei Times, there was an article that talked about historical amnesia and how it turns Asia’s tyrants into heroes. Of course, the Philippines was represented in the article.
From the Taipei main station, we transferred to the Taipei Metro or the Taipei MRT (Mass Rapid Transport) and became confused with so many lines. But we were able to find the Zhongxiao Xinzheng Station where we met the tour guide Grace Lin who brought us to the sites through a van. We got the historical tour via Klook through Edison Tours and we did not regret it, especially as it was only my wife and the Spanish tourist Pilar Garrido who were with me so it was kind of “intimate.”
On the way I was already in awe at the sight of their government buildings, some adorned with “Confucian” sayings. We passed by the iconic Presidential Office Building on the way to our first stop, the Banka Lungshan Temple, which was built in 1738 and despite being damaged by termites and wars through the years, is still standing. The Guanyin Bhodisattva was said to have been sitting calmly even as the temple was damaged during World War II and the power and grace of the goddess was said to became more known to people. Grace gave us the names of each god and their powers and it was like a crash course on the Buddhist world view. It was declared a national historic monument in 2018 and was a great part of the everyday life of the people.
Then we went to the reason why I went to Taiwan, the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. We went to an entrance and was already enthralled with it. In the museum were large photos and memorabilia of the generalissimo, from being the leader of China and the civil war with the communists, his battle against the Japanese during the Second World War, his defeat by Mao Zedong and how he evacuated to Taiwan to continue his Kuomintang government there and how he industrialized the country. The exhibit included a car which was gifted to him by the Filipinos and a photo with President Elpidio Quirino who wanted to include Taiwan in the Pacific Union he was planning to create. There is a recreation of his office with him still sitting there as if he still watches the developments in his country. There were restaurants and shops like in Chimei Museum. This should be a norm in museums for the convenience of the visitors.
When we saw some soldiers marching, we followed them for the famous Changing of the Guard ceremony every hour, and then I realized that we just entered a side entrance earlier. We were led to what is known as Democracy Square, and I saw the National Theater and the National Concert Hall, and then I saw the front side of the memorial. It was so grand. With 89 steps, Chiang Kai-shek’s age when he died, leading to a monument of Chiang sitting, a la the Lincoln Memorial in the US. I always thought Chiang was buried there, but apparently, as Grace told me, he is buried in a mausoleum in Daxi district, Taoyuan City, awaiting to be buried in China someday when reunification happens. That is why despite the fact that Chiang formed a rebel government, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) still considers Chiang as some sort of a hero because his ultimate goal really was to have one China. That is why, however ironic, the Kuomintang, Chiang’s political party, promotes closer ties with the PRC.
Many Taiwanese, even the keepers of his memorial, are reassessing Chiang’s role in the nation. Although he is the one who practically supervised and built the island into an economic powerhouse, they have to account for his atrocities when he forced the people to have a singular Chinese identity, known as the White Terror: “For the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, located in a prime area of Taipei City, the task of transforming from a symbol of authoritarian worship to a space that manifests democratic values is an important one during this transitional period.”
Wow, how is that for a nuanced monument? Posible pala iyon?
To be concluded on Jan. 27, 2026
