Who is Chiang Kai-shek? Dr Sun Yat-sen's Successor!

Image: drs2biz.

On August 10th, 2006, I was about to depart from Chongqing for a trip down the Yangtze River to the 3 Gorges Dam at Yichang. Before leaving Chongqing, however, I was persuaded to go for a day tour of two museum/prisons at Baigongguan and Zhazidong. I'm glad I took this tour as it was a real eye-opener. The items on display were all neatly labelled, but I could not understand most of them because they were written in Chinese. Several of my friends helped me by translating the signs for me when I returned to Haikou, however, and they are truly poignant.

The communist revolutionaries were a mixed bunch, but included poets, housewives, children and soldiers. When I captured an image of a child's pair of shoes, I guessed the worst and I was correct. The child was executed with its mother on the day of the mass slaughter of these inmates. This was a turning point for me in my education about Chinese history of the 20th century. The "penny dropped" and I realised that all of the mantras I had been taught about Chinese history in my schooling was lacking in depth, to be polite, (some may say it was politicised). Chiang Kai-shek was not entirely the hero I had been led to believe!

There are images and biographies of the martyrs, at these museums, that would be of exceptional interest if they were translated into English. Maybe an idea for a new lens?