Letter: Park those statues

The Ministry of National Defense's plan to mothball statues of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) is a misguided one. These statues are relics of Taiwan's recent authoritarian past -- and they deserve to have a place out in the open. Euphemistic explanations to the effect that they need to be protected from decay are unconvincing. I would guess the sculptors who designed them did not consider them to be masterpieces deserving of museum treatment and neither should we.

The statues should be moved to one of the most extraordinary spots I have seen in Taiwan -- Statue Park (銅像公園), adjacent to Chiang's mausoleum in Taoyuan County. There, dozens of statues of the generalissimo are already basking in the elements. Statues decommissioned from schools, parks and other sites have been moved to the Statue Park. You can see Chiang in a wide range of poses: seated, standing and mounted on horses. He is depicted in traditional Chinese attire, full military regalia and the Zhongshan-collared outfit we are more used to seeing him wear. He is shown in the flower of his youth, in middle age and in his dotage.

A visit to the park is a surreal pleasure. The addition of another 200 statues (the number the ministry reportedly plans to put into storage) would intensify the experience.

Chiang's mausoleum is already a magnet for Chinese tourists. The doubling or trebling of his statues could ensure the park will continue to be a popular destination, even if and when Chiang's bones are moved to another location. Perhaps in exchange for donating the statues, the ministry could get a share of profits the Taoyuan County Government would reap if it decided to charge admission to Statue Park. Then the ministry could justify the cost of deploying soldiers to guard the mausoleum.

Jacques van Wersch
Taipei