Zhongshan Hall () is a historical building which originally functioned as the Taipei (Taihoku) City Public Auditorium (public hall). It is located at 98 Yanping South Road in the

Ximending Ximending (sometimes Hsimenting, ; Tâi-lô: Se-mn̂g-ting; Japanese Romaji: ) is a neighborhood and shopping district in the Wanhua District of Taipei, Taiwan, along with its main rival, the Eastern District of Taipei. Overview Ximending has b ...

neighborhood of

Zhongzheng District Zhongzheng District (also Jhongjheng District) is a District (Taiwan), district in Taipei. It is home to most of the national government buildings of the Taiwan, Republic of China (Taiwan), including the Presidential Office Building, Taipei, P ...

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. In 1992, it was recognized by the government as a historic site.

History

As a tribute to mark the ascension of the

Emperor Showa Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...

in 1928, the Japanese government in Taiwan dismantled the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

government office in Taipeh (

) and began the plan to erect the . Construction began on 23 November 1932 and was completed on 26 November 1936. Ide Kaoru, the main architect serving as chief engineer in Taiwan under the Japanese government, used the full cost of 980,000 yen and 94,500 workers. The four-story steel structure of the building was designed to be fire-resistant and to withstand severe earthquakes and typhoons. The original building was faced in light green tile to make it less visible to aerial bombers. The windows are adorned with classical designs in a Spanish Islamic style. With for the ground floor, the total area of the City Public Auditorium was , making it the fourth largest city Public Auditorium in Japan at that time. It was smaller than only the City Public Halls of Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya. After Taiwan's

handover In cellular telecommunications, handover, or handoff, is the process of transferring an ongoing call or data session from one channel connected to the core network to another channel. In satellite communications it is the process of transfe ...

to the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

in 1945 after World War II, the Chief of the Taiwan Provincial Administrative Office,

Chen Yi Chen Yi may refer to: * Xuanzang (602–664), born as Chen Yi, Chinese Buddhist monk in Tang Dynasty * Chen Yi (Kuomintang) Chen Yi (; courtesy names Gongxia (公俠) and later Gongqia (公洽), sobriquet Tuisu (退素); May 3, 1883 – June ...

represented the Allies and accepted a formal surrender from the Japanese. The surrendering Japanese commander was Ando Rikichi, Japanese Governor of Taiwan. The former Taihoku City Public Auditorium was renamed Chungshan (Zhongshan) Hall in honor of

Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-sen (; also known by several other names; 12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925)Singtao daily. Saturday edition. 23 October 2010. section A18. Sun Yat-sen Xinhai revolution 100th anniversary edition . was a Chinese politician who serve ...

and functioned as an official meeting place under the Chinese government. The hall was one of more than 125 public halls which pre-dated the KMT’s takeover which were either demolished or renamed to Zhongshan Hall. In addition new halls built by the KMT on military bases and in state-owned enterprise factories were also name Zhongshan Hall. Zhongshan Hall has always been one of the formal reception areas for welcoming foreign guests and diplomats. Former guests have included US President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

, South Korean President

Syngman Rhee Syngman Rhee (, ; 26 March 1875 – 19 July 1965) was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960. Rhee was also the first and last president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Ko ...

, President of South Vietnam

Ngo Dinh Diem Ngô Đình Diệm ( or ; ; 3 January 1901 – 2 November 1963) was a South Vietnamese politician. He was the final prime minister of the State of Vietnam (1954–1955), and then served as the first president of South Vietnam (Republic of ...

, Philippine President

Carlos P. Garcia Carlos Polestico Garcia (November 4, 1896 – June 14, 1971) was a Filipino teacher, poet, orator, lawyer, public official, political economist, guerrilla and Commonwealth military leader who was the eighth president of the Philippines. A l ...

, Iranian Shah

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi , title = Shahanshah Aryamehr Bozorg Arteshtaran , image = File:Shah_fullsize.jpg , caption = Shah in 1973 , succession = Shah of Iran , reign = 16 September 1941 – 11 February 1979 , coronation = 26 October ...

, and others. Zhongshan Hall has also hosted memorial ceremonies such as the signing of the

Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty The Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty (SAMDT), formally Mutual Defense Treaty between the United States of America and the Republic of China, was a defense pact signed between the United States and the Republic of China (Taiwan) effective from ...

and three formal inauguration ceremonies of the second, third, and fourth presidency and vice-presidency of the

.Zhongshan Hall History
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Current use

The hall has several auditoriums currently used for arts performances such as chamber and orchestral music, traditional Chinese music, voice/choir, opera, dance, ceremonies, and exhibits. * Zhongzheng Auditorium: This Grand Meeting Hall was the largest indoor meeting venue at the time, seating over 2,000 people since it was created on 27 December 1936. After World War II, it was the only concert hall in Taipei. Until Zhongshan Hall on Yangming Shan was completed in 1993, the National Assembly leased this hall. It is historic as Chiang Kai-Shek announced he would take office again and held his inaugural ceremony here. * Guangfu Auditorium - The Grand Ballroom: Guangfu Auditorium is a two-story high rise hall with Islamic design and holds 500 people seated or 1,000 people unseated. This auditorium is historic as on 25 October 1945 it was the venue for the surrender ceremony of the Taiwan District of China warzone. The Japan and Taiwan governments signed the peace treaty here and the surrender of Japan was accepted here as well. * Fortress Auditorium: In addition to indoor meeting areas, Zhongshan Hall was designed with a spacious plaza for outdoor activities. Speakers can stand on the second floor east balcony when addressing the audience on the plaza. Chiang Kai-Shek made four inaugural speeches here. * Zhongshan Hall Square * Taipei Lecture Hall

Notable features

* Sun Yat-Sen statue: In the plaza, there is a bronze statue of Sun Yat-Sen sculpted by

Pu Tiansheng Pu Tiansheng (or Pu Tian-shen, Chinese: 蒲添生, 1912.06.19~1996.05.31) was a well-known Taiwanese sculptor. He created Taiwan's first ever likeness of Sun Yat-sen, today on display in front of Taipei Zhongshan Hall. He was a pioneer of modern s ...

. Pu used a picture of Sun making a speech in Nagasaki, Japan in 1924 as a model for the sculpture. The unveiling took place on 10 October 1949 * Feet-Washing Basin: The feet-washing basin was used by people to wash the dust off their feet before entering public places such as the Taipei Public Meeting Hall in the Japanese Occupational Era. * ''The Water Buffalo'' (水牛群像; ''Shuǐniú Qúnxiàng'', 1930) by

Huang Tu-shui Huang Tu-shui (; 1895–1930) was a pioneer of modern sculptor in Taiwan. From his youth, Huang was familiar with the traditional carving of Taiwan, and was influenced by modern Western styles during his studies in Tokyo. These include the works ...

is located on the central stairway between the second and third floor. The plaster relief was Huang's last work, measuring 5.55 by 2.50 meters, and portrays a southern state with tropical plants, Taiwanese buffaloes, and naked children with straw hats.

Notable events

Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards () is a film festival and awards ceremony held annually in Taiwan. It was founded in 1962 by the Government Information Office of the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan. The awards ceremony is us ...

(

3rd Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

, 4th, 5th,

7th 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube (algebra), cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion ...

8th 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

9th 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

10th 10 (ten) is the even natural number following 9 and preceding 11. Ten is the base of the decimal numeral system, by far the most common system of denoting numbers in both spoken and written language. It is the first double-digit number. The rea ...

, 11th) *

Retrocession Day Retrocession Day is the name given to the annual observance and a former public holiday in Taiwan to commemorate the end of Japanese rule of Taiwan and Penghu, and the claimed retrocession ("return") of Taiwan to the Republic of China on 25 Oct ...

Transportation

Exit No. 5 of the

Taipei Metro Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), branded as Metro Taipei, is a rapid transit system serving the areas of Taipei and New Taipei City, New Taipei in Taiwan, operated by the State-owned enterprise, government-owned Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation ...

's Ximen Station provides access to the hall. There is also an underground parking lot.

Gallery of images

Image:公會堂01.jpg, Taipei Zhongshan Hall as it appeared in 1940. Image:Ando Rikichi surrender.jpg,

(right) accepting the acceptance receipt of Order No. 1 signed by

Rikichi Andō was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army and 19th and final Japanese Governor-General of Taiwan from 30 December 1944 to October 1945. Biography Early career Andō was a native of Miyagi Prefecture. He served as an instructor at the Army Wa ...

(left), the last Japanese Governor-General of Taiwan, in Zhongshan Hall. Image:Japanese_Surrender_Room.jpg, The Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed in this room on 25 October 1945. Image:Resistance against Japan and Taiwan Retrocession Memorial Wall 20090116.jpg, Resistance against Japan and Taiwan Retrocession Memorial Wall. Image:Huang Buffalo.jpg, The Water Buffalo (水牛群像), completed in 1930 by

(1895–1930). Plaster cast. Image:Guangfu Auditorium main entrance 20190523.jpg, The entrance to Guangfu Auditorium.

References

External links

Zhongshan Hall official site
{{Coord, 25.043148, 121.510082, display=title Buildings and structures in Taipei History of Taipei Sun Yat-sen City and town halls in Taiwan 1936 establishments in Taiwan National monuments of Taiwan Government buildings completed in 1936