Hundreds of visitors were drawn by this year's events, including overseas Chinese from every part of the non-Communist world.
President Chiang's birthday was his 75th, and congratulations poured in from the chiefs of state and other leaders of free nations.
Just two weeks previously, the Generalissimo had pledged that he would personally lead the free Chinese forces in a counterattack to liberate the mainland. He predicted that victory would be won in the first battle.
Chiang Kai-shek has devoted more than half a century to the defense and constructive service of his country.
He participated in the events of the 1911 revolution, then went on to combine military command and political leadership as have few men in modern history.
His was the inspiration that carried China through eight years of conflict with Japan.
His is still the inspiration that has endured through the 13 years of the Taiwan period, and that has built up a striking force competent to take on the Communists.
His is the foresight that has enabled a small, overpopulated island to become one of Asia's bright spots of prosperity.
After threescore and fifteen, lesser men would be inclined to rest, to leave the future to younger generations.
Chiang Kai-shek knows that he cannot. His name and person symbolize freedom for mainlanders everywhere. When the day of return dawns, his presence will do more than anything else to give hundreds of millions of people the courage to rise up and strike off their Communist bonds.
The stage was set for this by the Generalissimo's Double Tenth message to the officers and men of the Communist armed forces. He bade them challenge their oppressors, and promised support and reward to such freedom fighters.
Also emphasized was the forgiveness that will be extended even to Communist cadres. The magnanimity of China's leader was clearly evident in the assertion that the past is to be forgotten and a man judged by his attitude and actions at the time of liberation.
Neither the Generalissimo nor his officers have ever thought to achieve numerical superiority on the field of battle. Decision will not come in that way.
As President Chiang pointed out, the numbers of the Communists do not matter, because free China has the allegiance of an overwhelming majority of the mainland's people. They are waiting the opportunity to express themselves, above all to turn on the Communist tormentors who have robbed them of everything worthwhile, even of the right to get enough to eat.
The armed forces of the Republic of China are only a nucleus—albeit an essential one—for the attainment of a mainland foothold. Given the sentiments of Communist fighting units and of the rank and file of people, that will be enough.
Those who are held by Communism ask nothing more than a chance. Even today they are lashing out, blowing up various Communist installations, when they know that the odds are against them.
This is the spirit to which Chiang Kai-shek is appealing-and to which he is making solemn promises of help by sea, land and air.
No one is more aware than he that failure to deliver would be fatal. In fact, no one is more aware that the counterattack should be undertaken at the earliest possible moment.
Chiang himself wants such timing because of the starvation and other suffering that is being visited upon the Chinese people. Only a mainland that is free can possibly get enough food and, with a free enterprise agriculture, begin to work its way back toward the attainment of relatively plenty.
At 75 he is hale and hearty, seemingly more active than ever. His leadership for the counteroffensive is essential. Similarly, he is required at the helm after the return, because a strong hand and a forgiving heart will be of supreme importance.
All this means that the 1962 birthday salute to Chiang Kai-shek is much more than a matter of cake, candles and happy returns.
He is needed by his country and his people in the final great moment of his destiny. Worldwide implications are also involved, because as long as continental China remains in the hands of the most aggressive branch of Communism, there can be no hope of peace anywhere.
The Generalissimo expressed it by saying that once China had been set free, the rest of the Communist system could be dealt with quickly and without recourse to war.
Double Tenth events were exceptionally impressive, despite the cancellation of the usual military parade as a result of Taiwan Straits tension.
Two hundred thousand persons massed in front of the Presidential Building to cheer President Chiang and listen to his words of encouragement.
In the afternoon, demonstration performances were given by the Air Force Thunder tigers, the frogmen and other military units.
For evening, more than 100 floats paraded through principal thoroughfares of Taipei. Most were entered by industrial and business concerns.
Police estimated crowds watching Taipei events at more than a million, a figure which exceeds the city's population. Transportation authorities said that about 200,000 people entered the city by bus, train, and private conveyances.
Enthusiasm was tremendous. The people appeared to have sensed the new confidence emanating from President Chiang and other leaders. Something seemed to be in the air; many go so far as to predict the collapse of the Chinese Communists before another year has passed.
Overseas Chinese Day called attention to the 15,000,000 people of Chinese blood who are to be found all around the world, and especially in Southeast Asia.
Despite Communist infiltration and subversion in such places as Laos and Indonesia, overseas Chinese have remained loyal to the ideal of a free and democratic China.
Most of those who once sent sons and daughters to the mainland have ceased to do so. Remittances have been reduced sharply, because there is no assurance that they will be received by those to whom addressed.
In Laos, where the coalition government recently recognized the Peiping regime, the Chinese school refused to recognize the Communist holiday of October 1, then quietly observed the Double Tenth with the usual day off for community ceremonies.
The hundreds of overseas residents who came to Taiwan for the October events attested to increasing support from abroad. This was reflected in moral backing of the counteroffensive, and in large financial commitments for the development of Taiwan.
United Nations Day called attention to the fact that the Republic of China is l charter member and holds one of the five permanent seats on the Security Council.
At Communist insistence, the question of seating the Chinese Communists is being raised again at the General Assembly—but with no slightest chance that Peiping will get any closer to the gate than it did last year.
The Republic of China objected to wasting further time on a futile debate. After the massive refugee assault on the Hongkong border, the Communist case is weaker than ever, nor have the frontier assaults against India won any new friends for Mao Tse-tung.
But as a legitimately sovereign state, China objects to having its bona fides examined once a year.
Chinese adherence to the spirit of the United Nations Charter remains very strong, however.
Since time immemorial, great philosophers of China have taught that the world must be one and that men must be brothers in a totality of peace. That ideal has begun to find expression in the United Nations. The Chinese government and people continue to support the U.N. and to fight the Communist attempt to take it over and bend it to the will of world domination by the Soviet system.
Taiwan Retrocession Day called attention to the fact that the island was returned to Chinese sovereignty by the Japanese at the end of World War II. It had been ruled by the Japanese for half a century.
Several remarkable achievements have been recorded during the 17 years since.
Despite the long period of Japanese tutelage and attempts to rob the Taiwanese of their heritage, the native-born of the island returned to Chinese loyalty and cultural allegiance quickly and with few exceptions.
Conclusive proof of this is to be found in the armed forces, which are overwhelmingly composed of the island-born. Both mainland officers and foreign observers testify that a more loyal, dedicated fighting force is not to be found anywhere.
The Taiwan story has many other facets.
One of the most brilliant is that of land reform. Some have said that the government of the Republic of China was too slow to meet the demands of the peasants on the mainland. The truth is that the government didn't get the chance-but it did on Taiwan, and most farmers now Own the land they till.
Taiwan's land reform success is even greater when contrasted with the dismal, tragic record of the mainland. There the Communists promised land, collectivized it, and then took away family and individual rights totally in the slave pens that are called communes.
When the Japanese left Taiwan, even agriculture was depressed. The pineapple industry had been virtually closed out by insect pests. Rice production was far below maximum potential. Upland crops had been little developed.
Today the farms of the island are small, but among the most prosperous in Asia. Close to half a million families were making their last land payments this autumn. That will mean even greater profits in the years ahead. In his Double Tenth messages, President Chiang promised a similar resolution of the mainland agricultural problem, when the government again has a chance to put its policies into practice.
Industry was a mere parts-supplier for Japan in 1945. Now it is developing by leaps and bounds. Textiles have become the largest foreign exchange earner after sugar. Although lacking in raw materials, the island has an abundance of skilled and semi-skilled labor that is especially useful for industries that can process imports and then export them.
Taiwan has growing pains, and more investment is needed quickly. But the government is facing up to such difficulties frankly, and is welcoming the counsel of both public and private experts from abroad. The economy is confident that there will be no serious recession. Consequently, inflation so far this year has been held to less than 3 per cent.
Another success note came in the opening of Taipei's first commercial television station on the Double Tenth.
The initial broadcast period is five hours a day—an hour at noon and four in the evening, beginning at 7. Most programming so far is live, ranging from 'rock and roll to Chinese opera, from flower arrangement to children's singing and dancing.
The studios are located in Taipei, but the transmitter is high above the city on Yangmingshan. Most of northern Taiwan is within range. Three years from now, a micro-wave relay system will carry signals to the tip of the island and bounce them on to northern Luzon. By that time, a relay from Japan via Okinawa will have reached Taiwan, and Asia's first international television network will have come into existence.
The new entertainment and educational medium appeared to be certain of widespread popularity. About 1,500 sets had been sold on the eve of broadcasts, and the price of about US$115 is a lot for Chinese pocketbooks.
Station investment was provided by a Sino-Japanese partnership. Now the problem will be to develop advertising to pay the way, because as in the United States, the watching audience will not be charged.
Taipei also has a low-power station operated by the Ministry of Education. Plans are under way to expand it as an economical way to get advanced education to the people.
An encouraging note came from Japan, where the Asian Peoples' Anti-Communist League held its annual meeting.
Japanese speakers not only warned against neutralism, but against any attempt to develop trade between Japan and the Chinese Communists.
Rumors of such trade plans have caused unease in Taiwan-not so much for economic reasons as because of Communism's unceasing attempt to mix trade with politics.
The government of the Republic of China long has made it clear that any two-China approach-such as that sought by some Japanese businessmen—is out of the question.
As indicated in Laos, the Communists are now prepared to accept two Chinas, although overtly denouncing any such thought. If ever a similar crisis were to arise in Japan, it would be greatly tragic for the Chinese and Japanese people, and for the prospects of Asian peace.
Judging from the sentiments of Japanese leaders at the anti-Communist meeting, opposition to ties with Peiping is growing stronger. This is a hopeful sign for the anti-Communist solidarity and eventual alliance of Japan, China and other free nations of East Asia.