National Chengchi University (NCCU) yesterday approved a student proposal to remove a portrait of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and change a bus station’s name referencing the former president.
The NCCU Student Association on Facebook said that the portrait — the only known one of its kind — hanging in Siwei Hall was not in memory of Chiang as founder of the school, but a sign honoring Chiang’s status as a dictator.
The Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例) says such signs should be removed, it said, forming the basis of the association’s proposal that the handling of the portrait should be decided via a democratic vote.
Photo courtesy of National Chengchi University Student Association
A vote to remove the portrait passed eight to six, the association said.
A photograph of the building with the portrait intact for archival purposes would be added to the university Web site, NCCU said, adding that the portrait would be kept at a suitable location to be decided pending a discussion between the university’s Department of Student Affairs and the library.
The association also moved to rename the bus station currently named “Chiang’s Statue Station,” saying that it was not near enough to the statue to merit the name.
The association said that the bus station, closer to an inclined slope that the school’s faculty and student population refer to as Haohanpo (好漢坡), should instead take the slope’s name.
The NCCU Department of General Affairs said the name change had already been implemented on campus, but was not yet official, as it has only recently notified the Taipei Public Transportation Office, as the bus station is also used by city buses.
The association also discussed whether portraits of Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) and other buildings named after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials, such as Chen Kuo-fu (陳果夫) and Tai Chi-tao (戴季陶), should be renamed.
These individuals have never held power in Taiwan nor held a position at the university, and it is debatable whether they should be memorialized at the university, the association said.
These are questions best left for future students and Taiwanese to answer, the association said.
Chen was highly influential within the KMT, while Tao was the original author of the lyrics that were later adopted as the national anthem.
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