‘Ghostly’: Taiwan park dotted with hundreds of statues of late dictator as row rages over their fate

Taiwan is divided over how to remember Chiang's legacy. Photograph: Helen Davidson/the Observer

The last time Mrs Hsieh came to Cihu Park in Taoyuan was almost 50 years ago, on a school trip to the grave of Taiwan’s recently deceased dictator. Busloads of children were brought in to pay their respects to Chiang Kai-shek, known as Generalissimo, who had died at 87, after decades ruling the island under brutal martial law.

“There were a lot of buses, and there was a long queue,” Hsieh recalled. “It was a school rule. We had to bow, and then we went home.”