President Yen Chia-kan gave the memorial address. (File photo)
Leaders of the Republic of China and foreign dignitaries assembled in the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall April 4 to pay tribute to President Chiang Kai-shek on the first anniversary of his passing.
President Yen Chia-kan gave the memorial address. He told the distinguished audience that the late chief executive had planned for the future with such prescience that there were no setbacks in the wake of his demise.
Government and people followed President Chiang's instructions and continued to reach their goals.
Among those in the audience were Madame Chiang Kai-shek, the widow, who returned from New York, where she was undergoing medical treatment, especially for the services.
At her side were Premier Chiang Ching-kuo, the elder son of President Chiang, and other members of the family. The 16 million people of Taiwan were able to watch this and other memorial events on three TV networks throughout the island.
(File photo)
President C.K. Yen, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, Premier Chiang Ching-kuo and other leaders went to Tzuhu to pay their respects at the sarcophagus of President Chiang Kai-shek.
So have hundreds of thousands of ordinary people during the last year, although the work of improving roads and making Tzuhu into an unofficial national shrine is yet to be completed.
President Chiang used this quiet and secluded country villa an hour's drive from Taipei as a place of prayer and retreat.
Premier Chiang stayed at Tzuhu and close to the sarcophagus for nearly three weeks after the lying-in-state and national services at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei.
Of Tzuhu, the Premier has written: "I suddenly felt sad and very lonely. I looked toward the azaleas, the green bamboos and the blue pines of the garden - their colors glistening in a striking contrast.
I heard the murmur of the flowing springs of the mountainside and gazed up to blue sky and white clouds. My heart was full of grief that Father's personal affection had been so easy to lose and was now so impossible to regain."
When the Chinese mainland is recovered, a National Funeral will be held in Nanking and the body of President Chiang will be entombed beside that of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the Founding Father of the Republic of China.
(File photo)
President Chiang Kai-shek was a dedicated Christian but he respected all religions. Churches and members of many faiths joined in services and prayers for the repose of his soul. Buddhists (left top) and Taoists set up altars to express their sorrow and respect.
Christian choruses sang not only hymns but special materials.
At the first anniversary memorial rites, college students chanted poems relating President Chiang's lifetime of faithful service to God and country.
Ground will be broken soon for a memorial hall in Taipei to honor President Chiang.
It will include facilities for meetings and for studies of the life and times of the Generalissimo, who assumed free Chinese leadership after the 1925 death of Dr. Sun.