蔣介石さよなら／Goodbye, Chiang Kai-shek

今朝、授業に行くところ、変な風景をたまたま見掛けた。キャンパスの「成功湖」の隣りに以前から蔣介石の銅像が有った。昔は台湾の公園、学校は全てこの独裁者の銅像が置いてあった。しかし、台湾が民主主義に変えて、国民の言論の自由が復活してから、多くのところはこの銅像を除いた。南部の人は特に蔣介石に対して恨みが有るから、特に南部の学校などは蔣介石の銅像を積極的に無い事にした。

でも不思議な事に、台南に有る成功大学はまだ一個有る。ああ、ごめん、言い間違えた。有った。今朝は取り除かした。まあ、聞いた話では、まだキャンパスに有る。どこかの建物の中、しかも８階に入れられて置いた。つまり、多くの人は見えない所だ。

これはなんで大事かと言うと、蔣介石は台湾ではかなりシンボルに成っている。昔、日本人と闘って、中国から日本人を追い出した人だし、共産党と闘った人でもあるので、中国国家主義者からすれば、大事な英雄の一人だ。でも多くの台湾人は中国人のアイデンティティが薄い、というか、無いと言う人も多い。調査を見たら、この２０年間、どんどん「台湾人」と言う自己アイデンティティが強く成っていて、「中国人」と言う自己アイデンティティが弱く成っている。現在は圧倒的に「私は台湾人だ」と言う人が多く成ってきた。（中には、「私は台湾人でも、中国人でもある」と言う意見も勿論有るけど。）中国じゃなくて、台湾を中心にすれば、蔣介石は台湾を日本から開放した人じゃなくて、単に日本に次いで台湾を支配した人だ。

蔣介石はこう言う意見がかなり別れている人物だ。

私はこの銅像の移動を見て、残念に思った事が一つだけ有った。「ああ、もうちょっと待って２月２８日に取り除かしたら良かったなぁ」と思った。

I saw the scene in the photos below on my way to classes this morning.  There's a statue of Chiang Kai-shek next to the pond near the Mandarin Center.  Or, I should say, there WAS a statue of Chiang Kai-shek.

Taiwan used to have statues of the guy in pretty much all of its parks and schools, but with the advent of democracy and government by law, criticism of the government, past and present, became possible.  As a result, a lot of schools and other institutions decided to get rid of their hero-worship, Chiang Kai-shek statues.  From the time when I first came here I thought it was odd that there was a statue of the guy in Cheng Kung's campus.  Cheng Kung is in Tainan, and the southern part of Taiwan has always had more animosity towards Chiang Kai-shek than the north.

So why is this statue-removal important?  Chiang Kai-shek is more than just a past president.  He's a symbol.  He fought against the Japanese in WWII, and then against Mao and the Communists after the war.  Of course, he lost the civil war against the communists, but he's still seen as a hero by Chinese Nationalists.  On the other hand, because he took over Taiwan, instituted martial law, and because of the various violations of human rights that he brought to the island, he's also viewed as a villain by many Taiwanese people, particularly those who think of themselves as "Taiwanese" rather than "Chinese residing in Taiwan".  Basically, he's a really polarizing figure.

As for that identity, there have been surveys done on this subject, and the trend over the past couple decades has been a rapid increase in people reporting that they self-identify as "Taiwanese" and a rapid decrease in people reporting as "Chinese".  (There are also people who answer these surveys with the answer that they are both "Taiwanese and Chinese".)

I found myself thinking just one thing was unfortunate as I watched the statue being taken down.  If they had just waited another month and a half, they could have taken it down on 2/28.

 フードの意味がよく分からないけど、赤頭巾の物語を思い出した。
I'm not sure what the red hood is for, but it made me think of Little Red Riding Hood.  It's probably just to protect the statue from damage.

 報告は無かったらしい。（というか、隣りに居った人は大学は元々別の日にすると報告して、密かに移動を早めにしたと教えた。しかも、今はちょうど期末試験の時期だから、学生はいつもより忙しい。）この集まりはたまたま通っている人だけだ。それにもかかわらず、止まって見たり、写真撮ったりする人が多かった。これは普通な工事の風景じゃない。蔣介石だからこそ、もうちょっと深い意味が有る。
As evidence that this was more than a normal statue removal, look at all the people gathered here taking photos.  This removal was unannounced too, so these people are all just people like me who happened to come along.  (Or as I heard it, the removal was announced to be happening on a different day later on and was secretly pushed forward.  Also, right now we're right in the middle of finals time, so the students are all busier than normal.)

 さよなら〜
Bye bye!