Chiang Kai-Shek, for those who care (well, those who care already know), is associated with the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, KMT, or pan-Blue). Local Taoyuan County officials, pan-Green (Democratic Progressive Party/DPP), and mainland Chinese media, who either resent the Nationalist occupation of Taiwan (DPP) back in the day or don't recognize Taiwan as separate (PRC), refer to the airport as Taoyuan International Airport. So the Executive Yuan of Ah-bian's administration got together and officially approved the name Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on September 6, 2006. The KMT and its allies held a one-vote majority in the Legislative Yuan, decried the change, and proposed "Taiwan Taoyuan Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport" instead. In the end, the pan-Green party won and all the signs have changed.
Back when it was being built in 1979, it was planned as "Taoyuan International Airport".
Well, glad that's all taken care of. Let's talk about some more pressing issues now, maybe? Like dealing with corruption, etc etc, in the government? Sheesh.
Well get this, though -- Terminal 1 was designed based on the main Terminal of Dulles International Airport. Who knew?? I knew they copy video games, software, movies, but who thought they'd be copying airports?!
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But think about the resources, both human and monetary, that had to go into changing this minor thing.
You're absolutely right. The Greens should have left this alone. And the Spanish shouldn't have wasted their time and money removing Franco and his monuments, Hitler's name should still be everywhere in Germany, Mussolini's memorials should have been left alone....all that waste of time just to change a few silly names.
Bad memories of the airport shown in the picture below. Yes, Dulles. We missed our plane by 3 freakin minutes! Can you believe that? They said the system locks you out at a predetermined time and we were literally 3 minutes late. We had to spend a load of extra cash, take and take an indirect flight with a super-long lay over to get home last week. UGH. I was not a happy camper.
But, an interesting observation you have made. I never noticed, but you are correct, now that we think about it.
Mr. Turton, you must have too much time on your hands to comment on random blogs of people you don't know.
but if you're gonna make comments, at least make it a reasonable/correct one. I don't believe Chiang Kai-Shek falls under the same category as Hitler or Mussolini. Yes, Chiang's legacy is a topic of heated debate in Taiwan, but he didn't kill of an entire civilization just cause they looked different. come on.
Bev, you beat me to it. I definitely wouldn't put CKS in the same category as Hitler/Franco/Mussolini. The reason I thought it was ridiculous is the fact that Taiwan is teetering between pan-Green and pan-Blue, and the change not only angered the pan-Blues, it also disappointed a lot of pan-Greens, who have already been pretty disgusted with the dirt Chen & his camp have been in. Maybe if Taiwan finally obtained status as a sovereign nation, it wouldn't seem as ridiculous to change names and stuff like that, but last time I checked, I think we're still at status quo...
You'll have to excuse my wife, Mr. Turton - it must be the pregnancy emotions talking ;) (I know I'll be paying for that comment later!)
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