Welcome to our Taiwan Travel Series! Today, we’d like to show you the many historical treasures of Taiwan. From shrines to mansions, Taiwan’s very long is history is also very rich in diversity and tradition. If you would like to read more of our Taiwan Travel Series, check out these myths about Taiwan; part 1 and part 2 of our culinary adventures; a spa experience in Beitou; and our latest adventure at Lotus Lake.
Back in college, I took a humanities class that was casually disguised as an English class. I had heard through the grapevine from other previous freshman that this “English” class was easy-peasy. The “passibility-with-an-A” portion of this class is not the main point of the story. It’s about the people I met in the class.
A topic came up in one of the “lab” classes, a place where students disseminated everything we learned in the lecture hall that day. That topic was the idea of what made up a nation. It started to get real political science-y in there, but at one point, someone had mentioned that Taiwan was not a country (according to guidelines mentioned in the UN).
I could give two flying farts about this little tidbit at that moment, until I was sitting in office hours with a fellow peer. We talked a little and she said: “yeah, I am from Taiwan, but, I guess I just found out that we’re actually not a country.” This was all small talk to my seventeen-year-old self, especially since I was busy wondering if I had enough money to buy some top ramen for dinner.
Fast forward nine two (don’t question it) years and my husband and I were in Taiwan. I remembered back to that one day in college with the classmate and all those times my husband explained some of the history in Taiwan. For seven years, Frank explained his opinion about Taiwan and their long history as a country. He and his family fought long and hard for Taiwan’s independence, especially because Taiwan meets all the criteria of being a country. And now that we are in Taiwan, the story of the girl in college and all the stories Frank told me were starting to make sense. This time, I could connect the dots and it was about to get real. Real historical, that is.
Presidential Office Building
The Presidential Office Building has a lot of cool history…I think…Built in 1895–and then rebuilt again in 1947, the Presidential Office Building is where the President of Taiwan does all of his presiding. Of course I had to refer to Wikipedia for that information because I couldn’t understand a word the official guide was saying. There are facility tours in all kinds of different languages. Unfortunately, we missed the English one and the next one was a couple hours later. So, Frank offered to translate for me and we took the Mandarin-speaking tour; which basically consisted of me staring at stuff, reading some of the English information signs and then laughing when other people laughed.
228 Peace Memorial Park
228 Peace Memorial Park is very peaceful…Nailed it!On February 27th, 1947, there was a skirmish between a cigarette vendor and someone from the Office of Monopoly. This led to an uprising of the people; which then led to the murder and disappearance of anywhere from 10,000 to 30,000 people and about 40 years of martial law. Now there’s the 228 Memorial Peace Park in honor of those who lost their lives. Just like the name says, the park is –in fact– very peaceful.
I was lucky to witness history-changing events like the first black president of the United States in my lifetime. Frank is lucky to be a part of Taiwan progressive movement from dictatorship to democracy in his lifetime. We only hope that we are lucky enough to witness a peaceful independence of Taiwan and the world recognizing it as an official country in our lifetime.
More 228 Peace Memorial Park.Chiang Kai Shek Memorial
From Frank’s old house: the view of Chiang Kai Shek Memorial.When Frank was a kid, he actually lived across the street from the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial. He also had a fondness for doodling and once drew a Hitler ‘stache on a picture of Chiang Kai Shek in his history book. This, of course, prompted a parent-teacher meeting where both he and his parents were reprimanded. His parents then told him to never do this again. I laughed when I heard this story, because in America, I wouldn’t be thrown in jail for drawing a mustache on a president’s photo.
There are a lot of Taiwanese folk who believe Chiang Kai Shek wasn’t actually a leader of Taiwan because he came over from China and essentially took over the island with the Chinese Nationalist Army. However, there are quite a few folk who do believe he was a leader of Taiwan because those people are the descendants of his army who lost the war to communism in China.
Nevertheless, Frank wasn’t impressed with the memorial because he’s not fond of Chiang Kai Shek. He has even referred to him as the Asian Hitler (hence the ‘stache artistry). It still a very large and grand memorial and something to check out.
another view of the memorial.National Revolutionary Martyr’s Shrine
Martyr’s ShrineWe were able to watch the changing of the guard at this shrine, which was dedicated to mainland Chinese soldiers who died in a battle somewhere not in Taiwan. The thing about dictatorships (or countries who were once dictatorships) is that guard changing tends to be very strict and uniform. So, for about three minutes, we watched as military marched in line and changed the guards. Then we heard a ping. One of the guards had dropped their key and the supervisor watching them looked at the guard, looked at the key and then they both pretended it didn’t happen. Wow. Talk about not breaking character.
Coincidentally the same guard who dropped the key.Lin Family Mansion
The Lin Family Mansion.The Lin Family Mansion is one of the last historical mansions in the city of Taipei. The history of how this big house was built is quite interesting. A guy named Lin sold rice. Somehow, he had saved up a ton of money in this business and bought a ton of land to build his mansion. He sold rice, people. Rice. Who knew that a few millions grains of rice could make this:
Traditional Japanese-influenced house.Fort Santo Domingo
Fort Santo Domingo.We talked at length about the beautiful view of Fort Santo Domingo’s bathroom. Fort Santo Domingo underwent quite a few changes in leadership. First it was the Spaniards, then the Dutch, then it was the British. All the while, that view of the bathroom remained the same.
Anyway, the fort is a reminder of when Taiwan was under colonial rule and was at one point known as Formosa.
Cannons that used to go kaboom.Now It’s Your Turn
Check out our itinerary for ways to plan your walk through the history of Taiwan!
Get more stories delivered directly to your inbox. Join us on our adventures! Go Nuts!
You can also follow this blog on Bloglovin and Facebook!
