Contemporary writings depicted him as a "bandit," and accompanying Nationalist troops as looters and thieves.
Recent DPP moves include removing hundreds of Chiang statues from military bases and erasing Chiang's name from the nation's main international airport.
Those initiatives provoked only faint outcries from Chiang's KMT successors, who are keenly focused on regaining power in next year's presidential election.
But here in Tashi, at least one elderly Taiwanese openly resents the changes.
Standing amid a group of Chinese visitors, retiree Ting Lai-pin fondly recalled how people rushed to set up Chiang statues in past decades to honor him for strengthening Taiwan's economy and building up its armed forces to confront a possible Communist attack.
But that is all in the past, Ting lamented.
"All the efforts to belittle Chiang are but a struggle against the Nationalists to bar them from returning to power," he said. "How can we attract the mainland tourists if we annihilate all traces of history?"
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