There are 2 great Memorial Halls in Taipei, one to Sun Yat Sen and the other to Chiang Kai-shek. Sun Yat Sen is sometimes referred to as the "father of modern China", as he was the most prominent revolutionary when the Qing Dynasty was overthrown in 1911. The Qing Dynasty had been the rulers of China since 1644 and would be the last of the emperors of China.(Until Mao Tze-tung)
After the 1911 revolution, Sun Yat Sen founded the KMT - the Chinese National Party which is currently the party in power in Taiwan. It is a Chinese tradition that by making a connection between the current leadership and the past leadership you increase the legitimacy of the current leadership. That's why whenever there is a need to maintain the status quo, everyone one claims the legacy of Confucius. Both the Communists in the People's Republic China(Mainland) and the Nationalists in the Republic of China(Taiwan) claim Sun Yat Sen and Confucius as their legacy. So both build monuments to these dead guys so that they can inherit their followers.
This Hall has art galleries, history displays, theaters, ... all the cultural things.
This one is in the shadow of the Taipei 101.
I recently was invited to the Ningbo Opera at the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Theater.
The Ningbo Opera Company is from Mainland China. It was a Chinese story told with Western musical instruments and dancing that looked a lot like ballet. The costumes and staging were elaborate, At times I thought I was at a Broadway Musical. I'm sure sometime in the future some guy from China will see a Broadway musical and think that it looks like the Ningbo Opera Company.
Has there been increased interest in musicals in Taipei like here in America? I'm thinking of popular TV shows such as Smash and Glee. People seem to be more into singing and dancing than a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteMusic has always been big in Taiwan, it's only recently that mainland acts are coming to Taiwan. The theater was not sold out.
ReplyDelete