CKS residence to open by 2008

This article was published by the Taiwan Headlines on March 27, 2006. It reports that the Presidential Office in Taiwan recently announced its plan to spend NT$130 million (US$4 million) on the renovation of a formal residence of Chiang Kai-shek and his wife Soon Mei-ling. The residence, in Taipei City's Shihlin District, will be opened to the public by 2008. It will be managed and maintained by the Taipei City Government.

Chiang and his wife lived in the residence for 26 years, until his death in 1975. Since then, the place has been managed by the Presidential Office. The vast gardens surrounding the residence were opened to the public in 1996. The residence itself was designated as a cultural heritage site by the Taipei City Government in 2000 and by the Ministry of the Interior in 2005.

The two-story residence was built in 1950. The front part of the building was built in a Japanese style, while the rest was built in a modern western style. The building features a spacious ballroom, which has a maximum capacity of more than 250 guests. Prestigious visitors to the residence in the past include former U.S. presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. Other structures related to the residence include a pagoda, which was built in 1963 in memory of Chiang's mother, and a church.

So far, the cataloging of valuables inside the residence is almost complete. These include a wide range of traditional Chinese and foreign furniture, valuable antiques and paintings owned by the Chiangs.

The Presidential Office plans to discuss with the Taipei City Government, the Chiang family, the Council for Cultural Affairs and the Academia Historica, in order to decide in what form the residence will be opened to the public - a center for the study of the Chiangs, or a memorial museum.