Tang Te-chang Memorial Park Audio Guide

Tang De-Jhang Memorial Park: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Tang De-Jhang Memorial Park

   Welcome to Tang De-Jhang Memorial Park, known in Chinese as 湯德章紀念公園. You are standing in the heart of Tainan, in the West Central District, on a great traffic circle where seven roads meet. Zhongzheng, Nanmen, Kaishan, Qingnian, Zhongshan, Gongyuan and Minsheng roads all radiate from this one spot. It is also the starting point of Provincial Highway Twenty. Don't expect a quiet garden hidden away from the city. This is a green island in the middle of the roundabout, and you reach it by crossing the busy streets around it. Its story is layered like the roads that feed into it. It began as a fire-prevention open space in the Japanese era and became a stage for a imperial-era governor-general's statue. Later it became a lawn with a bronze of Sun Yat-sen, and today it honors a lawyer named Tang Te-chang. Over the next few stops we will unpack how a circle on a map became a place of memory. We will look at the buildings around it, and at why local people have called it so many different names.

2. 02

   A Roundabout Born from Fire Safety at Tang De-Jhang Memorial Park

   Let's go back to 1906. The Tainan Agency issued Notice Number 131, saying that an open space should be created on Sanjietan Street to guard against fire and other emergencies. Roads such as Longwangmiao Street and Xiaheng Street were to be widened at the same time. Those roads are today's Nanmen Road and Zhongyi Road. That cleared open space is the ancestor of the park under your feet. Before the Japanese era, this area was known by local names such as Niushi Cheng, which roughly means the dung yard, and Sanjietan. The new circle was a piece of Western-style urban planning. The Japanese-era city improvement plan favored roundabouts with roads radiating outward, and this one became the civic center of Tainan. It is the largest surviving roundabout in the city, and it is a municipally designated monument, listed as the former Tainan Taisho Park. The design worked as a hub. Seven roads fan out in different directions, and important government buildings clustered around the circle. That is why people sometimes describe this place as the point from which modern Tainan was laid out.

3. 03

   Many Names, Many Statues at Tang De-Jhang Memorial Park

   Few parks have changed names as often as this one. In the Japanese era it was Taisho Park, and it was also called Kodama Park. On the third of November, 1907, a statue was unveiled here honoring Kodama Gentaro, the fourth governor-general of Taiwan. It was made by master craftsmen in Florence, Italy, and similar statues were placed in Taipei New Park and Taichung Park. In Tainan the statue was proposed by Taiwanese from the seven districts south of Chiayi, with Tsai Kuo-lin as their representative. Even today, some older Tainan residents still call this spot the stone statue in Taiwanese. That statue disappeared after the Second World War. In December 2015 its head was found under the floor of the former officers' quarters of the Second Infantry Regiment, a city-designated monument. Only the head survived, and it is made of alabaster. After the war the park was renamed Minsheng Green Park, and in 1964 a bronze of Sun Yat-sen, made by the Japan-trained artist Liu Shih, was placed here. In 2013 the city discussed relocating that bronze, and the proposal drew debate. Each name and each monument reflects who held power in Taiwan at the time.

4. 04

   Remembering Tang Te-chang at Tang De-Jhang Memorial Park

   The name you see today honors Tang Te-chang, a lawyer who was executed at this very place during the February 28 Incident of 1947. He was accused of leading students in occupying a police station. A military tribunal made up of the garrison command, the military police and the prosecutor's office sentenced him to death. Memory took time to find its place here. In February 1992, councilor Kuo Chao-wu placed a bust at the site of the execution. On the twenty-seventh of February, 1998, the city announced that the park would carry Tang's name. The bust you can see now is by the sculptor Qiu Huosong. An inscription is carved on its base. Walk around it slowly, because it is one of the few places in the city where a lawyer, rather than a ruler, is the figure at the center of the circle. Tang's story reminds us why this roundabout matters beyond traffic and urban planning. It is a civic space that now stands for the rule of law and for the victims of that period.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off from Tang De-Jhang Memorial Park

   Before you leave Tang De-Jhang Memorial Park, look up and around the circle. This is one of the densest clusters of historic landmarks in Tainan. The Confucius Temple, known as the first school of Taiwan, is nearby. So are the former Tainan Prefecture Hall, which now houses the National Museum of Taiwan Literature, the former Joint Government Building used by the city fire brigade, the Altar of Heaven, and the Hayashi Department Store. In the Christmas season, many visitors gather in the park to look at the giant Christmas tree and lights at the literature museum, which has become a shared memory for local people. Now pick one of the seven roads and follow it for a few minutes. Notice how each one leads you toward a different part of the old city, and how the circle you just left works like the hub of a wheel. What else will you find along the spokes?