Mausoleum of Chiang Kai-shek

Tucked partway up a mountain in Daxi District, on the fringes of Taoyuan City, Taiwan, the final resting place of Chiang Kai-shek remains a destination for both curious visitors and devotees of the longtime dictator.

After Chiang Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan from the communist advance in China in 1949, he ruled the island with a brutal hand, maintaining martial law and imposing the notorious White Terror, which killed thousands of suspected communists, Taiwanese nationalists, and democracy advocates and imprisoned thousands more, many in the notorious prison on Green Island. Even after his death in 1975, such strict measures were maintained until his son, Chiang Ching-kuo, lifted them in 1987.

During his 36 years in Taiwan, one of Chiang’s favorite locations to visit was his residence in Daxi, due to the landscape’s similarity to his hometown in Fenghua County of Zhejiang Province, China. He built the residence in the style of a traditional courtyard house looking over a lake, which he would later rename Cihu (“Lake of Maternal Love”) in honor of his mother.

Following Chiang’s death, the Cihu Guest House became his final resting place. His body was placed in a marble tomb with three military medals, his cane and hat, and five books, among them Three Principals of the People, the Bible, and Poetry of the Tang Dynasty. A portrait of Chiang looks over the tomb. As Chiang was Methodist, a cross was placed at the base.

Visitors may not enter the courtyard of the tomb, but may look in from the entryway and admire the carved motifs of bats and the Chinese character Shou (which means longetivity) on the beams. Every hour there is also a ritual changing of the guard.