President Eisenhower of the US came to Taiwan in 1960 to show his support for the forces standing against communism. A photograph of his visit hangs on the wall of the Chunghsin Guesthouse (
Eisenhower's visit encouraged the KMT government to build a guesthouse for such distinguished visitors, but by the time it was completed in 1970, the elegant two-story mansion surrounded by elegant gardens and forests had come too late to serve its intended purpose. In 1971, Taiwan ceased to be a member of the UN and the prospect of visits by numerous foreign heads of state, for whom the guesthouse had been planned, evaporated. The only people to make use of the guesthouse were Chiang Kai-shek (
PHOTO: CHANG JU-PING, TAIPEI TIMES
Today, the guesthouse is decorated with photos of foreign dignities, but few if any of these had an opportunity to visit the secluded mansion. On the first floor is a photo of Ronald Reagan when he was governor of California with his wife Nancy in Taiwan in 1971 and a picture of US representative in Taiwan Karl L. Rankin greeting US Senator John Foster Dulles during a visit to Taiwan.
PHOTO: CHANG JU-PING, TAIPEI TIMES
The second floor holds more historical photos, recording meetings between Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Chiang Kai-shek in Cairo in 1943 or Chiang meeting with anxious students in Nanking after Japan sabotaged the railway system in northeastern China in September 1931. Walking the corridors of the mansion is a pictorial history of the career of Chiang and the early years of the ROC.
Huang Hsiao-tsui (
PHOTO: CHANG JU-PING, TAIPEI TIMES
While Chiang used the guesthouse as one of his 15 official residences, being conveniently close to the Chungshan Building (
Today the guesthouse, situated in a fenced enclosure of more than 15 hectares, has been designated a museum and a memorial site. In addition to the large collection of documents and photos, the building and its furnishings can be enjoyed for their pretensions of imperial grandeur.
Currently visitors are only allowed to visit the site on guided tours, but despite this restriction, last year, 200,000 people made the trip. In addition to the pleasant grounds and interiors, there is also the "secret" tunnel ostensibly for use by Chiang in an emergency. Several years ago, local media reported that there were four or five secret tunnels, but staff insist there is only one.
Tours of the grounds include a walk through a forest filled with pine, cryptomeria, acacia and a wide variety of other plants. As the plants mostly have explanatory plaques, this is a great place to learn about some of Taiwan's native flora.
Spring is the busiest time to visit the Yangming Archive, so crowds in the current season are sparse and there is plenty to look at throughout the year, even if the atmosphere of the house is a trifle suffocating, reminiscent of a troubled era.
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