April 12, 2013

I guess that April is the rainy season here.  The temps have fallen off to less than 70 and it has been raining pretty consistently for the last two weeks.  No problem for yours truly.

To put a cap on our tomb sweeping day, our cousin Sharon took us to the Cihu Mausoleum last Friday.  Located in the hills about 30 miles outside of town, it is the current resting place of Chiang Kai Shek.  He isn't buried, but rests in an above ground coffin as his desire was to be buried in his home province in China once Taiwan retakes the mainland.  It is a lovely setting...a lake sits in front of the house that hoses his body, while a mountain rises in the back...which is said to be THE feng shui to be interned. 

We were there on April 5th, which is the day that Chiang died, so it was a special day at the mausoleum.  Sharon said she planned to be there on this day, but we suspect otherwise.  Regardless, there were a lot of people there and his resting place was lined with flowers and very solemn.

We walked up during the changing of the guards, and the ceremony was similar to other such rituals I've witnessed, but what made it special to me were the shiny silver helmets that the soldiers wore.  Reminiscent of this scene from Animal House.  A pledge pin?!...On your uniform!?

While all of that was nice enough, what made the Cihu Mausoleum a must see tourist destination for me was the Chiang Forest.  Watching the reaction of the world to Margaret Thatcher's death was similar to what you read about the legacy of Chiang Kai Shek...from saviour of the people to heinous butcher  What is indisputable is that he casts a long shadow over the history of China and Taiwan.  During the years between 1949 and his death in 1972, there was a cult of personality surrounding his family, and one of its manifestations was a large number of statues of Chiang were erected throughout Taiwan.  The first government elected that wasn't from Chiang's KMT political party was led by the opposition DDP leader Chen Shui-bian from 2000-2008.  Have been reading a lot about this period and will share another day, but a feature of this time was that the DDP removed all of the Chiang statues from around the country, and instead of pissing off all the Chiang loyalists and sending them to the scrapheap (or to Fremont in Seattle) like they did with Lenin, they placed them all in the park at Cihu Mausoleum.  Stretching as far as you can see are every kind of Chiang statues imaginable.

When sightseeing, some people love natural beauty or spectacular architecture, and while I am down with those too, kitschy and quirky is my favorite type of attraction and it doesn't get any kookier than this place.  Next to the Shrimping District, this is my favorite spot in Taiwan.  As we're strolling around looking at all of the different Chiang poses, Dr. Suess's Green Eggs and Ham was running on a loop through my mind.  So to honor this truly unique place, I give you my tribute to Chiang Kai Shek.

I am Chiang
Chiang I am
and I do not like
Green Eggs and Ham

Do you like them with a scroll?

Do you like them with a pole?

Do you like them with a chapeau?

Do you like them in a row?

Do you like them with a bible?

Do you like them in the saddle?

Do you like them from the rear?

Do you like them as you disappear?

Do you like them with your awards?

Do you like them with your wards?

Do you like them in a chair?

Do you like them with no hair?

Do you like them in the mist?

Do you like them when you're pissed?

And finally...
Do you like them in a sarcophagus?

Do you like them as you walk amongst us?