Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday.
The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies.
The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial hall.
Photo: AFP
“Eliminating the worshipping of a cult personality and the worshipping of authoritarianism is the goal of promoting transitional justice,” the ministry said in a statement.
“The military honor guards’ sentry duty at the hall would be removed ... but their performances would be maintained, with the venue moving to the Democracy Boulevard,” it added.
The Ministry of National Defense said that a six-member honor guard would continue to conduct flag ceremonies and ceremonial patrols around the hall’s perimeter.
The guards at each hour would march out from the hall’s northern and southern portals in two equal teams to walk the perimeter and then converge in a drill on Democracy Boulevard before the main gate of the structure, it said.
The ceremonial patrols would be suspended on rainy days, while the flag would be raised at 9am and lowered at 5pm, it added.
Chiang is seen by many as the embodiment of a brutal military regime that exiled, imprisoned and killed thousands of opponents until his death in 1975.
For many young Taiwanese, he is also synonymous with the kind of authoritarianism seen in China.
Hundreds of other statues of Chiang have already been moved to Chiang Kai-shek Cihu Statue Park (慈湖蔣公銅像公園), a lakeside park close to his mausoleum in Taoyuan.
Additional reporting by Wu Che-yu
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