TAICHUNG (Taiwan News) — In 2021, then Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) released a three-minute video in a Facebook group in which he bemoaned that so many Taipei street names were places in China and called for them to reflect a “Taiwanese spirit.”
He also noted it was odd that the headquarters of the “most local” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was on Beiping East Road (北平東路). Beiping is an old name for Beijing used during the Nationalist era replacing the “jing” (capital) with “ping” (peace) because their capital was in Nanjing.
The video was taken down hours later after a large number of people commented that as Taipei mayor, the city street names were under his jurisdiction, and he could get it done if he wanted to. He did nothing in the end, and the Chinese names remain, arranged to form a rough map of China on the face of the city.
So far in this series (parts one, two, three, four), we have focused on the central government’s role in transitional justice, but as this amusing gaffe by Ko reminds us, much falls under the jurisdiction of local governments. By and large, local governments have ignored the issue.
The most common streets, districts, townships, community centers, schools, and even the names of buildings on school campuses are named after Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), Sun Yat-sen (孫中山), the Three Principles of the People (三民主義), or other Kuomintang (KMT) linked persons or ideology. Chiang took his cult of personality and propagandizing KMT ideology so seriously that it is nearly impossible in Taiwan to not encounter something using these names, short of locking yourself into your home — and that will not even work if you live in certain townships or city districts that use these names.
The most common name used is Zhong Zheng in Pinyin or Chung Cheng in Wade-Giles, which is taken from the name that Chiang Kai-shek adopted to associate himself more closely with Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Chung-cheng (蔣中正). A Google search for “Zhongzheng” brings up a plethora of places and sites in Taiwan using this name, and at least 18 schools use this name. Another name that references Chiang is Jie Shou or Chieh Shou (介壽), which is a shortened version of a phrase wishing Chiang Kai-shek a long life (為蔣介石祝壽).
Probably the second most ubiquitous is the name of the road I live on, Zhong Shan or Chung Shan, which are the Mandarin romanizations of the Cantonese Yat-sen. His Three Principles of the People lends its name to Sanmin. In contrast, the individual principles Minzu/Mintzu (民族, nationalism), Minquan/Minchuan (民權, right of governance), and Minsheng (民生, people’s livelihood) are also common.
Lin Shen (林森), a major political figure in the KMT, is fairly widely used. Guangfu/Kuangfu (光復) is used to refer to the expulsion of the Japanese from Taiwan and “restoring” it to China (台灣光復), or in the term “reclaim the Mainland” (光復大陸).
Other common names the KMT brought were about ideals and aspirations, usually borrowing from their political ideology or Chinese tradition. Common examples include Ziqiang/Tzuchiang (自強, to strive for self-improvement), Boai (博愛, universal love), Zhongxiao/Chunghsiao (忠孝, loyalty, and filial piety), Heping/Hoping (和平, peace), Fuxing/Fuhsing (復興, revival of the nation, i.e. restoring rule to all of China), Ziyou/Tsuyou (自由, freedom), Wuquan/Wuchuan (五權, the powers of the five branches of government in the constitution), Jiancheng/Chiencheng (建成, to build, presumably the nation), and in Taichung there is even an Atomic Street (原子街).
Successful name changes
While examples of names being changed are relatively uncommon considering the scale of the names assigned during the authoritarian era, some important examples exist.
In some cases, it involves Indigenous Taiwanese working to remove names assigned to them, not just during the authoritarian era, but also before that. In some cases, they have changed the names of townships where they make up the majority of the population.
The former Wufeng Township (吳鳳) in Chiayi County was named after a “historical figure” of dubious authenticity who is said to have sacrificed his own life to “correct” the headhunting custom of the Tsou people, but they changed the name to Alishan Township. Another example is the former Sanmin Township (三民) in then Kaohsiung County that was renamed Namasiya, which has a far better ring to it than Three Principles of the People.
In most cases, where there is an effort to change names, the target is anything referencing Chiang Kai-shek, as he was the one who ordered the 228 Massacre and launched the White Terror. Though in the eyes of some, Sun Yat-sen and the Three Principles of the People are foreign. There is less animosity towards them.
According to a 2017 report, there were 37 localities, 52 schools, and 335 roads throughout Taiwan with names that reference Chiang Kai-shek. Probably the most proactive municipality in changing names is Tainan, which has removed all references to Chiang across the entire school system on buildings and in school names.
Changing street names
As far as I can determine, three street names have been intentionally changed to remove references to Chiang, and one likely unintentionally. Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), no fan of Chiang, as Taipei mayor changed Chiehshou (long live Chiang Kai-shek) Street in front of the Presidential Palace in Taipei to Ketagalan Boulevard.
Chen as president near the end of his term changed many names, but his successor, as both Taipei mayor and president, Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), changed most of them back, with the exceptions of Ketagalan Boulevard and the change of Chiang Kai-shek International Airport to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
The second name change to remove Chiang was less about transitional justice than practicality and marketing. After the merger of Taichung City and County in 2011, then-mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) decided to rename a contiguous road that stretched from the train station to the harbor that had several names along the way, including Zhengzheng Rd. However, the longest stretch was formerly Taiwan Harbor Road (台中港路), and oldtimers still refer to it as Harbor Road today.
Hu renamed the entire stretch of Taiwan Boulevard (台灣大道). As a 49er born in China and brought to Taiwan as a child fleeing the Chinese Civil War, and a stalwart KMT member, it is unlikely that transitional justice was on his mind in making this change.
A third road name change is also here in Taichung in the Wufeng District. They changed their Zhongzheng Road to Xiantang Road (獻堂路) to honor Lin Hsien-tang (林獻堂) of the famous Wufeng Lin clan. Lin was active during the Japanese colonial period promoting Taiwanese arts and culture and is considered a “father of Taiwanese democracy” by some.
Less ambitiously, Tainan has renamed a 100-meter stretch of Zhongzheng Road Thng Tik-tsiong Boulevard (湯德章大道), using the Hoklo romanization of Tang Te-chang (湯德章), a victim of the 228 Massacre. However, underneath the name is written “formerly Zhongzheng Road,” so Chiang Kai-shek remains on the sign.
Changing place names, including street names, is likely to remain rare due to public opposition. In theory many people like the idea, but in practice it is complicated and frustrating.
My office was on Taiwan Boulevard when the name change came into effect. We had to change all of our name cards, bank accounts, tax accounts, National Health Insurance, labor insurance, business accounts, websites, and more to the new address.
It is also expensive for the city to have to change all the signage and door plaques as well as all of the city records. When the KMT forced through all the name changes after expelling the Japanese, there was a lot less to replace.
As a result, a lot of the names put in place by the KMT are likely to become permanent, at least as long as there is no significant public pressure to make the changes.
