Taiwan Odyssey, 4/14/2003, our first day, in Taipei - continued
Before getting to our next stop in central Taipei, Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, our bus granted me a special surprise. Heading south on Shin Sheng Road, we passed the corner of Chang Chun Lu (left) where 4 decades before, in a rare color photo from that time (right), was the memorable western-style house I shared with our intelligence unit, when we worked in Taipei. Where there once had been a road by a canal, now is a four lane elevated highway passing by numerous high-rise apartment buildings.
A life-like display of the Generalissimo at work in his office, makes one remember the colorful place in twentieth-century history as occupied by this man.
Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall is the massive monument to the late president, who brought his followers to Taiwan in 1949, after leaving mainland China to the Communists. He died in 1975, never achieving his dream of reclaiming mainland China.
Chiang Kai-Shek's Memorial depicts the many facets of this complex warrior-scholar. Besides being a strict military disciplinarian, he was a Confucian who converted to Christianity, and in private, a humble man living a quiet lifestyle.
Another pleasant surprise was the discovery of Chiang Kai-Shek's 1955 Cadillac Limousine, exhibited in his Memorial Hall. It brought back a uniquely personal memory. Besides seeing the president driving through town, I had the experience of once receiving his salute. It happened when, in my old Cadillac hardtop, I was stopped on a narrow road to let the Gimo's car pass by. As his car passed by, inches from mine, his German Shepherd dog leaned out of the limousine window to trade doggie sniffs and licks with my dog, Pierre. The Gimo smiled and saluted me, and so did his solemn-faced bodyguards.
A troop of soldiers on guard duty marches through the gallery. The rhythmic cadence of their sudden appearance and departure was a surreal event.