中正紀念堂 - Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall
- Kate Ross
- Jun 6, 2019
- 2 min read
06/06/19 - after a morning of orienting at ICLP, I decided to head over to the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial. The Memorial Hall, part of the Liberty Square, has numerous fun facts that are all relevant to Taiwan's history and Chinese culture.
Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall is easily accessible from the Red/Green MRT, and all of the monuments in the Square are very easily identifiable.
Memorial Hall is the large white building with a blue octogonal roof (the roof symoolizes the number eight which is traditionally associated with abundance and good fortune), with two sets of 89 stairs that lead up to memorial (the two sets of stairs represent Chiang Kai-Shek's age at the time of his death. Inside the memorial was interesting.
After traveling to several places around the world, I have had the opportunity to visit several well-known landmarks. When visiting Chiang's memorial I felt as if I was back at the Lincoln memorial at the end of the National Mall in DC. I felt this way not only because there you are able to look at a giant statue of a great figure to American history, if you look out from that memorial you can see another famous landmark to American's - the State Capitol. In Taiwan, you can see a giant bronze statue of Chiang Kai-Shek standing opposite of the Liberty Square Arch. In addition, this memorial is protected by military personnel which change every hour on the hour. The changing of the guards here in Taiwan took me back to Buckingham Palace in London.
Below is a video of the changing of the guards at the memorial. (Sorry for the random direction change in the middle. Also, I'm not entirely sure about the quality, but it's a long video so I had to make the size of the video smaller?)
Besides the Memorial Hall, Liberty Square is home to the National Concert Hall and Theater, along with the Liberty Square Arch.
I find it exceptionally interesting that even though the culture and sights in Taiwan are completely different to what I am used to back home in the states, that I am able to find similarities to experiences that I have already had.
Below are a number of pictures that I took
Hope you enjoy! More places coming soon!!!
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