Cihu Mausoleum Audio Guide

Cihu Mausoleum: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Cihu Mausoleum

   Welcome to Cihu Mausoleum, tucked among the hills of Daxi District in Taoyuan City, in northern Taiwan. Its formal name is the Mausoleum of Late President Chiang, and it is the temporary resting place of Chiang Kai-shek, who led the Republic of China and died in 1975. What surprises many first-time visitors is that this was not built as a grand tomb. It began as a lakeside residence, a quiet retreat that Chiang loved, and it was converted into a mausoleum after his death. So as you walk, you are moving through a place that was first chosen for rest, willow-fringed water and a feeling of home, and only later became a place of memorial. Over the next few minutes we will look at the lake and how it got its name, the villa and the style it borrows from China's southeast coast, and how this corner of Daxi became known as a township of presidents. We will also look at how the site has changed in recent decades. Take a slow breath, look out toward the water, and let's begin.

2. 02

   A Lake Renamed for a Mother

   Start with the water, because the water came first. Cihu means benevolence lake. Before it carried that name, it was known as Green Water Lake. In 1962, Chiang Kai-shek renamed it Cihu, because the scenery reminded him of his benevolent mother and of his hometown of Fenghua, in Zhejiang Province, on the far side of the Taiwan Strait. The lake covers about 8 acres. It is divided into two smaller lakes, one of roughly 5 acres and one of roughly three, joined by a canal. Visitors often speak of the front lake and the back lake. The hanging willows and the green hills around them are what stirred Chiang's memories of home. That is why a name that sounds almost like a family endearment sits on a presidential landmark. The lake also carries wider recognition. It forms part of the Taoyuan Tableland and Ponds, a potential heritage site identified by Taiwan's Bureau of Cultural Heritage. Taoyuan's tableland is dotted with ponds, and Cihu is one of the well-preserved ones. Look at how the two lakes sit among the hills and imagine a homesick man seeing his childhood landscape in them.

3. 03

   The Villa Built to Echo Fenghua

   Now turn to the building itself. Chiang loved the lake so much that he had an official residence built nearby, designed to resemble the houses of Fenghua. The architect was Yang Cho-cheng. The style is described as a blend of southern Fujian and Zhejiang traditions, so the villa carries the look of China's southeast coast into the hills of northern Taiwan. He also gave the residence the name Cihu, the same as the lake, and it became his favorite. When he died in 1975, it was converted into his mausoleum, and his body lies in its main hall. That is why the place feels more like a house than a monument. You may notice the modest scale and domestic proportions, which come from its origins as a residence. One practical note: photography is not allowed inside the mausoleum, though it is permitted outside. So take in the interior with your eyes and keep your camera for the lakeside and the exterior of the villa. The quiet manner many visitors adopt here fits a place that began as somewhere to rest.

4. 04

   Township of the Presidents

   Cihu is only half of a pair. When Chiang Kai-shek's son, President Chiang Ching-kuo, died in 1988, he was also entombed in a similar fashion, at the nearby Touliao Mausoleum, also in Daxi. Two presidents resting within a short distance of each other gave Daxi its nickname: the township of the Presidents. Both burials were meant to be temporary. In 2004, Chiang Fang-liang, widow of Chiang Ching-kuo, asked that father and son be buried together at the Wuchih Mountain Military Cemetery in Hsichih, in what was then Taipei County. Even so, the two mausoleums in Daxi remain places of memorial and visits. The site has had a turbulent public life as well. It has usually been open to visitors daily during the daytime, yet it was closed from December 2007 to May 2008, during the last months of Chen Shui-bian's administration. A resting place for one of the twentieth century's most debated leaders has never been far from the politics of Taiwan, and that is part of why it holds visitors' attention.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   As you finish your visit, notice how the place holds two stories at once. It is a quiet lake in the hills, named for a mother and shaped by a homesick memory of Fenghua. It is also a mausoleum that sits at the center of a long and still-discussed chapter of Taiwan's modern history. Before you go, look back across the two lakes and the canal that joins them, and ask yourself what a person might see in this scenery. Beside the mausoleum, there is also a sculpture park where statues of Chiang, taken down from other places around Taiwan, have been gathered. It offers another way to think about how memory and public space change over time. Daxi has more to offer around the corner, including the nearby mausoleum of Chiang Ching-kuo, so let your curiosity pick the next stop. Every place has another layer, and this one rewards a second look at the water, the villa and the hills.