Dec. 18: Cihu Masoleum and Shihmen Reservoir

Dandrich's uncle took us to two pretty interesting places today. The first was the Cihu Masoleum where the body of Chiang Kai-Shek is kept. Chiang Kai Shek's body rests in a bit stone block. His body was never buried because the Nationalists feared that would symbolize that they had given up hope of reclaiming mainland China. Therefore, Chiang Kai-Shek's body was never buried in the ground. Cihu also has a park full of Chiang Kai-Shek statues. Taiwan's Green Party sought to destroy many of these statues in the last few years so many have been relocated to Cihu. 

To me, it was very interesting to see how much respect the Taiwanese still have for their former leader. Granted, the Green Party did close down Cihu for three years, but those who do make the pilgrimage to Cihu appear to be worshiping at a temple more than anything else. Visitors salute or bow to a picture of Chiang Kai-Shek hanging over his body. The number of statues of him in the park is also crazy considering these are only the ones that have been removed over the last few years. 

Afterwards we visited the Shihmen Reservoir which is somewhat nearby.  The reservoir is used to prevent flooding in lower regions of the river, especially during typhoon season, but it also provides irrigation, power generation, and serves as a source of public water supply. Construction on the reservoir finished in 1964. 

The dam sits on the Tahan River with the higher part of the river running between mountains. We also took an hour-boat ride down the Tahan River. The area around the river is very beautiful. You can also see many of the traditional style fisherman laying and checking on fishing nets in the water.