Exercising some political jazz, the once called Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall has been renamed the Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall in an attempt to distance itself from China. It stands as an impressive monument to the one time dictator Generalissimo Chiang (1887 - 1975). This quadrangle encapsulates a gate along with the main building dominated by a bronze seated figurine of Chiang. The area is flanked either side with cultural aspects; the National Concert Hall and the National Theater.
Once Generalissimo of China itself, the government was forced to flee to Taiwan after losing the Civil War against the Communists. There he continued his tenure as President as the official government of China in exile. Some credit him with preventing Communist China's takeover of Taiwan along with laying the foundations for Taiwan's economic miracle. Yet this came at the vast expense of the Taiwanese. It was essentially a totalitarian single-party state of imposed rule by a foreign country. Martial law continued throughout his reign and suppression was the tool of choice to assimilate the country to Chinese ways and culture, dissidents were treated harshly and an attempt to eradicate the Taiwanese language was implemented.
Why such a huge commemoration was ever even considered in the first place is beyond me, but who am i to judge a democratic countries reverence to its authoritarian past?
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