The Days I Spent by the Sides of Chiang Kai-shek and His Son

Author: Weng Yuan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1994-01-01
Features: The author, Weng Yuan, served as a close personal attendant to Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo from 1946 to 1988. Through extensive firsthand observations and experiences, he records the daily lives, dietary habits, health practices, leisure interests, religious beliefs, personality traits, political activities, interpersonal interactions, family dynamics, marital relationships, power struggles, family rise and fall, as well as the detailed circumstances of Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo's deaths. The book offers a rich and comprehensive oral history.
For a long time, the Chinese public has been accustomed to viewing the complex political family of the Chiangs through two distorted lenses: one is the traditional Nationalist Party's personality cult, and the other is blindly following the dictates of Chiang Kai-shek's enemies, resorting to merciless slander and attacks against the two Chiangs. However, regardless of political stance, it must be acknowledged that both Chiang Presidents had a far-reaching impact on modern China and contemporary Taiwan.
Against this backdrop of macro historical reality, through the full disclosure of Weng Yuan, a close personal aide, we gain an impartial and in-depth insight into the heart of the Chiang family. This allows us to move the Chiangs, both father and son, away from the historical pedestal or the historical guillotine, back to the starting point of the historical wheel, restoring this political family to its true form.