Outside of Chiang Kai-shek's mausoleum, various sizes and designs of busts and statues of Chiang Kai-shek are spread throughout the entire Jiaobanshan International Sculpture Park in Cihu, Taoyuan, Taiwan. The park gave me an eery feeling. The busts came from various elementary schools in Taiwan while the statues were designed by Wu Hsuan-San and other artists. I heard that these busts of Chiang Kai-shek were removed from elementary schools during Chen Shui-bian's presidency, a Democratic Progressive Party president. Before the 1990s, Chiang Kai-shek was championed as "the savior of our (the Chinese) nation," (民族的英雄) but the central government labeled him "sinner of history" (歷史的罪人) during Chen Shui-bian's presidency.
The presence of Chiang Kai-shek bust in many (every?) elementary schools across Taiwan for many decades reveals the extent of Chiang Kai-shek's authority and power in Taiwan. Elementary-school children not only learned about him from textbook, but also saw his bust (and/or portrait) on school grounds.
Having the huge Chiang Kai-shek Memorial is not enough, but that a large land, including the Cihu Lake in Taoyuan, is also dedicated to be part of his "graveyard." This is the extent of Chiang's continuous impact in Taiwan, even after his death. Some people idolize him as god-like, while some hate him as an authoritarian dictator today.
I listened to the interpretations of the two mausoleums that my uncle and aunt discussed amongst themselves. They interpreted Chiang Ching-kuo's relatively small mausoleum as a sign of his "thrifty and humble personality." They saw Chiang Kai-shek's enormous mausoleum as a sign of and a dedication to his "accomplishments and contribution for the (Chinese) nation."
The equivalent of these mausoleums in the U.S. would be the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, and many other buildings dedicated to previous presidents.
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