CHIANG KAI-SHEK MEMORIAL HALL

The 'National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall' (, ) is a monument erected in memory of Chiang Kai-shek, former President of the Republic of China, in Taipei, Taiwan. A new name for the structure, 'National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall' (, ).^[1], was announced by President Chen Shui-bian on 2007-05-19. In subsequent legal wrangling ^[2], the legislature repealed the organic regulations supporting the new name. In effect this annulled the change, though legislators generally declined to declare the old name preserved.^[3][4]. In Taiwan "Memorial Hall" suffices as the practical shorthand designation in English.
The monument, surrounded by a park, stands at the east end of a large square framed on the north and south by Taiwan's National Theater and National Concert Hall. The entire plaza is located within sight of Taiwan's Presidential Office Building in the Zhongzhen District of Taipei.

Contents

Development

Memorial Park

The Memorial Hall

Renaming process

City government responses and name reversal

See also

Notes

External links

Development

After President Chiang Kai-shek died on 1975-04-05, the Executive Yuan of Taiwan's government established a Funeral Committee to build a memorial. The design, by architect Yang Cho-cheng, was chosen in a competition. Yang's design incorporated many elements of traditional Chinese architecture recalling the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing, China. (The Kuomintang revered Dr. Sun as founder of the party and government Chiang had led.) Groundbreaking for the memorial took place on 1976-10-31, the 90th anniversary of Chiang's birth. The hall officially opened on 1980-04-05, the fifth anniversary of the leader's death.

Memorial Park

Yang's design placed the main building at the east end of a park, originally named ''Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Park'' (, ), covering over 240,000 square metres in Zhongzheng District. A main gate, called the Gate of Great Centrality and Perfect Uprightness (), was placed at the west end on Chung Shan South Road, with a Gate of Great Loyalty (, ) standing at the north side on Hsin Yi (Xinyi) Road and a Gate of Great Piety (, ) standing at the south side on Ai Kuo East Road. A Boulevard of Homage, bordered by manicured bushes, connected the main hall with Memorial Square.
Memorial Square is flanked by the National Concert Hall on the north and the National Theater on the south. These cultural centers provide a backdrop to events on the square even as they host over 800 events annually.
The square has been the site of a number of mass gatherings in Taiwan. The Wild Lily student demonstration of 1990 took place at the square. The square is the site of red-carpet ceremonies when Taiwan's leaders greet foreign dignitaries. Crowds gather at the square throughout the year for festivals and outdoor concerts. Every year the Taipei Lantern Festival takes place on the square. Huge lantern floats are arrayed around a central lantern featuring the Chinese Zodiac animal for that year. On normal days it is common to see students, athletes and soldiers working on drills and dance routines.
The ponds and parks surrounding the memorial and cultural centers feature well-maintained lawns, trees, and pathways. The ponds are filled with the colourful koi traditionally found in gardens in East Asia. One often sees people in the parks playing Go or practicing taekwondo, Tai chi chuan and other martial arts.

The Memorial Hall

The main building is white with four sides. The octagonal roof rises 70 meters above the ground and is covered with blue glazed glass tiles. The blue and white colors of the building and the red colour of the flowerbeds echo the colours in the flag of the Republic of China. The octagonal shape picks up the symbolism of the number 8, a number traditionally associated in Asia with abundance and good fortune.
Two sets of white stairs, each with 89 steps to represent Chiang's age at the time of his death, lead to the main entrance. The main entrance features a pair of double doors, each standing 16 meters high and weighing 75 tons, that open into the main hall. A large bronze statue of Chiang Kai-shek dominates the main hall. The figure is shown smiling, seated and wearing traditional Chinese dress. Inscribed on the wall above and behind the seated figure are the Chinese characters for Ethics, Democracy, and Science. Inscriptions on the side walls read The purpose of life is to improve the general life of humanity and The meaning of life is to create and sustain subsequent lives in the universe. An elaborate caisson is set into the ceiling, decorated with the emblem of the Republic of China. Representatives of Taiwan's armed forces guard the main hall during its open hours. (The branch of service represented changes periodically according to a rotating schedule.) Guards are changed in an elaborate ritual that attracts visitors.
The ground level of the memorial houses a library and museum documenting Chiang Kai-shek's life and career and exhibits related to Taiwan's history and development.

Renaming process

Taiwan's society underwent a dramatic transformation in the years following Chiang's death. In the next two decades Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) and Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) presided over a peaceful transition from single-party rule enforcing martial law to pluralistic democracy with protected human rights. The nature and meaning of Chiang Kai-shek's rule could be openly debated and, as details of the 228 Incident and White Terror publicly emerged, they were.
In 2000 Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), a native of the Taiwan and member of the Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP, was elected president. The executive branch of Taiwan's government fell out of KMT control for the first time. Executive power had been handed to the DPP and its affiliated parties, known as the Pan-Green Coalition; the KMT and its affiliated parties, known as the Pan-Blue Coalition, maintained control of the legislature. Elections in 2004 preserved the situation, awarding a second term to Chen and a majority in the legislature to the opposition.
In 2006 37 DPP legislators proposed that Chiang Kai-shek's memorial be relocated to his tomb at Cihhu and that the current structure be renamed ''Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall'' (, ). They noted that the law authorizing a memorial for Chiang does not specify the site; a change in locale could thus be enacted by a simple executive order.^[5]
The proposal attracted support from other Pan-Green officials. Pan-Green leaders saw the idea as another step in the direction of rectifying names and symbols associated with Taiwan's authoritarian past to make them more inclusive and characteristic of local Taiwanese culture. Pan-Blue officials resisted the measure. Few expressed open support of Chiang Kai-shek or one-party rule, arguing instead that the move represented unnecessary expense and election-year theater and that the localization of Taiwan's place names and symbols represented a treacherous effort to desinicize the island's culture.
In 2007 the Ministry of Education of the Executive Yuan (part of the executive branch of government led by the DPP) decided to rename the hall. Support and resistance to the measure, mainly along party lines, materialized immediately.
The Memorial had been listed as a "third tier" landmark on the government's list of protected heritage sites. The Executive Yuan subsequently demoted the Memorial Hall to a "fourth tier" landmark, enabling changes to be made to the hall without Legislative approval. The Executive Yuan said the name change complied with laws stating that fourth-tier landmarks may be modified by the Executive Yuan directly via Organic Regulations, rather than via Organic Acts which require the approval of Legislature.^[6] Taipei's city government, controlled by the KMT, responded by designating the 27-year-old hall and its surrounding walls a "temporary historical site" to make alterations to the structure unlawful according to city ordinances.^[7]
The official ceremony marking the renaming of the hall took place on 19 May 2007 when President Chen Shui-bian unveiled a plaque in front of the memorial bearing the name National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall (Traditional Chinese: 國立台灣民主紀念館). ^[8] Chen announced that the name change reflected the desire of citizens "to bid goodbye to the old age and to show that we Taiwanese are all standing firmly behind the universal values of freedom, democracy and human rights." He noted that the date, May 19, marked the fifty-eighth anniversary of the imposition of martial law on Taiwan; the event began rule by the military on the island for thirty-eight years. ^{[9] [10]} Minor scuffles broke out among gathered spectators before the ceremony. ^[11]
Large banners covering the north and south faces of the hall displayed the new name along with images of Formosan lilies. Their design recalled the pro-democracy Wild Lily student movement () of 1990. The background colors, blue and green, suggested political inclusiveness. New signs, displaying the new name and graphics, appeared in the garden park areas of the north and south gates. A drape covered the original name plaque over the entrance and the doors remained closed. No physical changes to the structure of the hall, though, were apparent and the statue of Chiang Kai-shek remained intact inside. Some of these details changed again in the days that followed: see below.

City government responses and name reversal

The legality of the Executive Branch's move has been disputed by the Pan-Blue Coalition. Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) said: "According to the Constitution, any administrative order that goes against an existing law is invalid. So if the Legislature has not yet abolished the organic act of the CKS Memorial Hall, which has the same legal status as law, the newly proposed organic regulation, which is an administrative order, is invalid." The Constitution of the Republic of China gives only the Legislature the power to enact, amend, or repeal laws.^[12] KMT legislators contend that the move by the Executive Yuan encroaches upon the powers of the Legislative Yuan, thereby violating the separation of powers.
Taipei City mayor Hau Lung-pin declared he would authorize no changes to city-maintained signs, including mass transit signs and maps, that would recognize changes in the hall's name. Hau cited the high costs of making such changes and blamed the name change on the desire of officials to create "ideological strife." ^[13] The mayor asserted that, until the amendment proposed by the Executive was passed by the Legislature, he would recognize no changes to the hall as legal.^[14]
On May 22, Taipei City authorities moved in and dismantled the scaffolding obscuring the "Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall" tablet, and also removed the gigantic signs bearing the text "Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall" which had been hung over the memorial hall, on the basis that this covered the cultural site, which violates the Cultural Protection Law of the ROC and also that it was unauthorised advertising which violated Taipei City law. The City Government also issued a fine to the Ministry of Education for the second time over its redesignation moves, for blocking the view of and access to a heritage building. The Ministry of Education had earlier shut the gates to the Memorial for what it claimed was "repair work". The City Government has stated that, since no workmen could be observed conducting any repair work, it will take steps to re-open the gates. ^[15]
On May 24, the new name plate unveiled by Chen Shui-bian was taken down by the Ministry of Education. The Ministry of Education cited the costly efforts to have police stand guard at the name plate 24-7 as the primary reason for its removal. A veteran was seen spitting on the new name plate that prompted the 24 hour police presence.^[16]
On June 7, a joint meeting of committees in the Legislative Yuan repealed the Ministry of Education's ''Organic Regulations of the National Taiwan Democracy Hall'' that established the name change. The move effectively voided the legal basis for the change, though pan-Blue legislators refrained from declaring the new name dead or the old one preserved. One legislator involved in the repeal was quoted as saying the final designation for the hall remained a political issue to be resolved through political means. ^[4]

See also

★ National Theater and Concert Hall (Taiwan)

★ Presidential Palace

★ Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall

★ Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum

Notes

External links

★ Official Site: National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall

★ Australian information page: Chiang Kai-shek Memorial

★ Official Site: National Theater and Concert Hall