The Story of a Memorial

            I’m back in Hualien (the city I’ll be living and teaching in for the next 10 months) after three days in Taipei. Orientation with all the Taiwan ETAs took up the first two days, so I was excited to go sightseeing on my own on the third day.

View of Liberty Square from the Memorial Hall

            This was my first time in Taipei, so I knew I wanted to go see the iconic Liberty Square and Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall. That morning, I took the MRT (mass rapid transit) from my hostel right to the Square. Liberty Square is a gigantic open plaza made up of white tile. A massive, five arch, blue and white gate watches over the plaza, with the National Theater and the National Concert Hall flanking it to the left and to the right. Completed in the late 1970s, the square served as a key gathering place for protests during Taiwan’s transition for martial law to progressive democracy in the 1990s. On that morning, tourists populated the sunny square, taking photos and walking up the steps to the Chiang Kai Memorial Hall.

1. The Main Gate of Liberty Square, 2. The CKS Memorial Hall from the Plaza

            Inside the Hall, a massive seated bronze statue of Chiang Kai Shek smiles upon the visitors who wait behind velvet ropes. I squeezed in behind three layers of people taking pictures. Two armed guards in full military uniform stand on either side of the statue. Every hour on the hour, the guards swap out in an elaborate procession. The ceremony, combined with the presence of the gigantic bronze statue within the massive hall, reflects Chiang Kai Shek’s looming figure in Taiwanese history. In 1950, due to the Chinese Civil War, Chiang fled from mainland China to Taiwan and maintained the seat of the Chinese Nationalist Government in Taipei with the intent to retake mainland China. Dying in 1975, Chiang never realized his ambition to defeat the Communist government of mainland China and tensions between Taiwan and China continue to influence global politics today. Chiang established the martial law which reigned in Taiwan until the 1990s.

Statue of Chiang Kai Shek

            After viewing the statue, I sat down on the steps of the National Theater to enjoy a small breakfast purchased at 7-11 (By the way, there is a 7-11 on pretty much every corner in Taiwan). I looked out at the people moving about on the plaza. Before me, a high school marching band played a rendition of Katy Perry’s “Firework.” Behind me, local teenagers practiced choreographed dances to Mando Pop in the shade of the theater. A young couple held the hands of their daughter as they helped her down the steps. The whole scene reminded me that on top of the foundation of a country’s history, stands a people, every day, living.

The National Theater