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In the previous episode, we told you how these three rather stunning neo-classical Chinese buildings came to exist. This week, we’re looking at them through a “culture and society” lens. The massive statue of Chiang Kai-shek remains on its pedestal at the CKS Memorial Hall. A place built to venerate a dictator, however, became the site of the Wild Lily protests demanding a democratic Taiwan in 1990, the year after tanks answered calls for freedom in a square in Beijing. We’ll look at what the National Theater and Concert Hall (NTCH) offers visitors, and finally, how do you bring a “traditional Chinese” theater and concert hall (both inspired by buildings in China’s medieval Forbidden City) into the 21st century?
Cover: Over 5,000 protestors, reports say, gathered at the CKS Memorial Hall on March 20, 1990. The following day, May 21st, Taiwan's last indirect presidential election took place at the Chung Shan Building in Yangmingshan, Taipei.
The only legal candidate, incumbent President Lee Teng-hui (1923-2020) was elected with 100% of the vote (641 electors). Lee's running mate was Secretary-General to the President Lee Yuan-tsu (1923-2017).
In 1996, Lee Teng-hui would win his final term in office in a free and fair vote, taking 54% to former Taiwan independence activist Dr. Peng Ming-min's 21.1%.
Image via OfTaiwan.org.
Visit the NTCH's English website HERE.
WATCH: Diana Ross, Placido Domingo & Jose Carreras Super Concert Taipei, Taiwan 1997
Learn more about the Taipei Symphony Orchestra (TSO) HERE.
READ: Taiwan's oldest symphony orchestra makes Japanese debut (2023)
Interested in architecture? Read David Frazier's article: Taiwan’s foundational building boom
Image via Taipei Fine Arts Museum. The exhibit "Modern Life: Taiwan Architecture 1949-1983," runs until Jun 30, 2024.
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Check our very first episode, the story of a very white man who showed up in London in 1703... and claimed to be from Formosa. Or try a foodie episode from Season 3. Or, for those who want some harder-core history, hear the tale of the Lockheed U-2 pilot Wang Hsi-chueh 王錫爵, who became famous for defecting to the PRC by hijacking China Airlines Flight 334 on May 3, 1986.
