Return of the honor guards at CKS Hall welcomed by crowds

At 9:00 a.m. sharp, the gates of the hall slowly opened, and a head armed forces honor guard officer led two honor guards from the army, and another two from the navy, who goose-stepped to the statue of the late President Chiang Kai-shek inside.

After the salute, they about-turned and executed a rifle drill, to the delight of onlookers.

Sun Teh-hsin, captain of the honor guard, noted that there will be a 10-minute changing of the guard ceremony every hour between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. daily.

There will also be a flag-raising and flag-lowering ceremony at 6:30 a.m. and 5:10 p.m., respectively.

“Perhaps the honor guards were a bit nervous, so they quickened their pace a little and the ceremony was completed a few minutes earlier than usual,” Sun noted.

“But overall, the performance was good,” he went on, adding that it usually takes three months to train an honor guardsman.

In the past, each of the three branches of the armed forces served as honor guards for four months. A new arrangement by the Ministry of National Defense, however, will see all three forces taking part in each performance.

The memorial hall, constructed in 1980 in commemoration of the late president, had its name changed to the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall at the end of 2007 under the then-Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration of former President Chen Shui-bian, and the honor guards were re-deployed elsewhere.

In early December 2007, the DPP administration replaced a plaque on the hall bearing the Chinese characters for “Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall” with a new one that read “National Taiwan Democracy Hall,” as well as replacing the four-character inscription “Ta Chung Chih Cheng” that alludes to Chiang's name located at the top of the main gate leading to the hall with a new epigraph that reads “Liberty Square.”

The Legislative Yuan passed a resolution early this month to replace the original Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall plaque, and the Ministry of Education, which oversees the facility, said it will have to spend NT$1 million to switch back the original plaque by the end of July, although the “Ta Chung Chih Cheng” epigraph on the main gateway will not be put back.

Tseng Kun-ti, director of the CKS Memorial Hall Administration, said the changing of the guard performance is a favorite for tourists, adding that the number of tourists has dropped significantly since the suspension of the ceremony.

“The honor guard is a valuable tourism resource,” Tseng said.

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