The influences of Chiang Kai-shek in Taipei

Royal guards at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei. — Photos: SANDIP HOR

“Chiang Kai-shek is our national hero; many from around the world visit Taiwan simply to know more about his eventful life and go through his legacies,” tells my guide Kim when we head towards the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, a landmark of Taiwan’s capital city, Taipei. It’s generally the first port of call for visiting world leaders, dignitaries and visitors like me who fancy world history.

Popped inside an expansive parkland, the octagon-shaped white-marble structure, with its pagoda-like blue glass roof, draws attention from a distance. The main hall which is reached via a series of 89 steps, the number matching the leader’s age when he died, houses a bronze statue of him guarded by grimly looking sentries who are replaced every hour in a rifle-twisting ceremony.