Renaming of Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall - Renaming Process

Renaming Process

In 2007 the Ministry of Education of the Executive Yuan (part of the executive branch of government led by the DPP) decided to rename the hall. Support and resistance to the measure, mainly along party lines, materialized immediately.

The Memorial had been listed as a "third tier" landmark on the government's list of protected heritage sites. The Executive Yuan subsequently demoted the Memorial Hall to a "fourth tier" landmark, in order to make changes to the hall without Legislative approval. The Executive Yuan said the name change complied with laws stating that fourth-tier landmarks may be modified by the Executive Yuan directly via Organic Regulations, rather than via Organic Acts that require legislative approval. KMT-led Taipei City government responded by designating the 27-year-old hall and its surrounding walls a "temporary historical site" to make alterations to the structure unlawful according to city ordinances.

The official ceremony marking the renaming of the hall took place on 19 May 2007 when President Chen Shui-bian unveiled a plaque in front of the memorial bearing the name National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall (Traditional Chinese: 國立台灣民主紀念館). Chen announced that the name change reflected the desire of citizens "to bid goodbye to the old age and to show that we Taiwanese are all standing firmly behind the universal values of freedom, democracy and human rights." He noted that the date, May 19, marked the fifty-eighth anniversary of the imposition of martial law on Taiwan; the event began rule by the military on the island for thirty-eight years. Minor scuffles broke out among gathered spectators before the ceremony.

Large banners covering the north and south faces of the hall displayed the new name along with images of Formosan lilies. Their design recalled the pro-democracy Wild Lily student movement (Chinese: 野百合學運) of 1990. New signs, displaying the new name and graphics, appeared in the garden park areas of the north and south gates. A drape covered the original name plaque over the entrance and the doors remained closed. No physical changes to the structure of the hall, though, were apparent and the statue of Chiang Kai-shek remained intact inside.

On May 22, Taipei City authorities moved in and dismantled the scaffolding obscuring the "Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall" tablet, and also removed the gigantic signs bearing the text "Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall" which had been hung over the memorial hall, on the basis that this covered the cultural site, which violates the Cultural Protection Law of the ROC and also that it was unauthorised advertising which violated Taipei City law. The City Government also issued a fine to the Ministry of Education for the second time over its redesignation moves, for blocking the view of and access to a heritage building. The Ministry of Education had earlier shut the gates to the Memorial for what it claimed was "repair work". The City Government has stated that, since no workmen could be observed conducting any repair work, it will take steps to re-open the gates.

On May 24, the new name plate unveiled by Chen Shui-bian was taken down by the Ministry of Education. The Ministry of Education cited the costly efforts to have a constant police guard at the name plate as the primary reason for its removal. A veteran was seen spitting on the new name plate that prompted the 24-hour police presence.

On June 7, a joint meeting of committees in the Legislative Yuan repealed the Ministry of Education's Organic Regulations of the National Taiwan Democracy Hall that established the name change. The move effectively voided the legal basis for the change, though pan-Blue legislators refrained from declaring the new name dead or the old one preserved. One legislator involved in the repeal was quoted as saying the final designation for the hall remained a political issue to be resolved through political means. Wang Shu-hui, DPP deputy caucus whip, argued that the legislature had "infringed upon the power of the central government by abolishing measures governing organizations under its jurisdiction".

On November 6, The Council of Cultural Affairs officially designated the memorial hall and its surrounding park a national historic site, which puts control over alterations to the site in the hands of the central government's heritage bodies.

The Memorial Hall website remains at http://www.cksmh.gov.tw, from the abbreviation of "Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall", but it refers to the hall at the time as the Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall. Subsidiary bodies, such as the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall Digital Library, did not all change their names to reflect this.

In December 2008 crowds gathered to watch the inscription at the main gate changed to designate the plaza as Liberty Square.