Liberty Square (Taipei) - History

History

The square had its beginnings in the 1970s at a time when Taiwan remained under martial one-party rule by the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalists). Architect Yang Cho-cheng conceived the plaza as part of a grand design for a memorial to Chiang Kai-shek, the President of the Republic of China who relocated to Taiwan after the overthrow of the Kuomintang regime in China during the Chinese Civil War. The square first opened to the public as Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Square after Chiang's death in 1975.

Architecture at the site incorporates many traditional elements and recalls earlier Kuomintang monuments erected in China. Yang's design symbolically assigned civic virtues to each area of the square. The main gate, the Gate of Integrity (Chinese: 大中至正), was placed at the west end on Zhongshan South Road, with the Gate of Loyalty (simplified Chinese: 大忠门; traditional Chinese: 大忠門) standing at the north side on Xinyi Road and the Gate of Piety (simplified Chinese: 大孝门; traditional Chinese: 大孝門) at the south side on Aiguo East Road. A Boulevard of Homage, bordered by manicured bushes, connects the square to the memorial hall.

The square became Taipei's site of choice for mass gatherings as soon as it opened. The nature of many of those gatherings gave the site new public meanings. The square became the hub of events in the 1980s and early 1990s that ushered Taiwan into its era of modern democracy. Of the many pro-democracy demonstrations that took place at the square, the most influential was the Wild Lily student movement of 1990. The movement provided the impetus for the far-reaching political reforms of President Lee Teng-hui. These culminated in the first popular elections of national leaders in 1996.

The plaza's importance in the development of Taiwan's democracy led to its dedication as Liberty Square by President Chen Shui-bian in 2007. Though the announcement of the new name was greeted with hostility by officials in the Pan-Blue camp, the name has been affirmed since by officials on both sides of the political divide.

The inscriptions over the archways, including the main gate that declares the plaza as "Liberty Square" ("自由廣場"), recall the calligraphic style of Wang Xizhi in the East Jin Dynasty (see Chinese calligraphy). The style is noted for its sense of vitality, movement and freedom. The characters are placed in left-to-right sequence, following modern practice in Taiwan, rather than the right-to-left order of ancient Chinese tradition, which had been adopted at the site previously.

Liberty Square remains popular as a public meeting place and a symbol of democratic progress. Within weeks of its rededication the square was the scene of demonstrations on behalf of freedom for Tibet, and within the year it was the scene of rallies for speech and assembly rights by the Wild Strawberry student movement.