A photo of the Chiang family illustrates the cover story of the latest Phoenix Weekly. It’s about Chiang Kai-shek’s descendants in Taiwan. Chiang was the wartime leader of the KMT (Kuomintang). He led governments on the mainland and on Taiwan after the KMT fled to the island. His son Chiang Ching-kuo (Jiang Jingguo) also ruled Taiwan for a while. So this family were once central to Taiwan’s affairs. But the KMT lost its leadership in the 1990s and native Taiwanese got more and more control in the government. The Chiang family have faded from the public view.
Not long ago, the fourth generation of this family, brothers Jiang Youbai and Jiang Youchang (Chiang Kai-shek’s great grandsons) published a book called Nobility on the Precipice about the memories, personal lives and the future of this family. The two brothers are not involved in politics, but have started a creative design company, DEM (橙果设计).
- Phoenix Weekly (Chinese): Table of contents of this issue