This
card that Irene sent me
shows guards at The National
Revolutionary Martyrs' Shrine, which is a shrine in Zhongshan District, Taipei, Taiwan, dedicated to the war dead of the Republic of China.
Built on Chingshan Mountain and overseeing the Keelung River in Taipei's Zhongshan District in 1969, the Martyrs
Shrine recalls the architecture of the Hall of Supreme Harmony in Beijing's Forbidden City. The structure houses the spirit tablets of about 390,000 persons
killed, among other engagements, during the Xinhai Revolution, Northern Expedition, Second Sino-Japanese War, Chinese Civil War, and the First and Second Taiwan Strait Crises. A changing of the honour guard from the various
branches of the Republic of China Military, similar to the rituals at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall and Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, take place at the shrine.
The Martyrs' Shrine was the site of the funeral of Chiang Ching-kuo in 1988. On March 29
(Youth Day, commemorating the Huanghuagang Uprising) and September 3 (Armed
Forces Day) of every year the President of the Republic
of China leads the heads of the
five Yuans (branches of government) to pay their respects to the martyrs by
bowing and offering incense. Similar shrines are located
in each locality in Taiwan, and similar ceremonies are led by county
magistrates and city mayors.
Although the Martyrs Shrine is located in Taiwan, most of the
soldiers were born on Mainland China. Taiwan was ruled by Japan throughout
World War II, and about 200,000 Taiwanese who lived under Japanese rule served in the Japanese Imperial Army.
