Chiang Kai-Shek's Diaries and Republican China: New Insights on the History of Modern China

Abstract

In 2006, the Hoover Institution Archives at Stanford University made Chiang Kaishek's personal diaries from 1917 to 1955 available for research, with more materials to be released soon. Those materials have attracted scholars with an interest in modern Chinese history from all over the world and given rise to the possibility of a reevaluation or even a rewriting of modern Chinese history. After Chiang Kai-shek's death on April 5, 1975, his personal diaries were given directly to his son, Chiang Ching-kuo. Chiang Ching-kuo in turn gave these diaries, along with his own diaries, to his youngest son, Eddie Chiang Hsiao-yung, the late husband of the depositor, Elizabeth Chiang Fang Chih-yi. When the two Chiangs' diaries were shipped out of Taiwan remains a mystery. In December 2004, the original personal diaries of both Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo were transferred and deposited at the Hoover Institution from Canada by Elizabeth Chiang Fang Chih-yi. Elizabeth Chiang, considering Hoover's reputation in archival management and protection, along with the political sensitivity that these diaries might not be properly handled in Taiwan where anti-Chiang ideologies were rife under the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, decided that the diaries will remain in the Hoover Archives for fifty years or until a permanent repository is found on the territory of China. In the process of the acquisition, Hoover fellows Ramon H. Myers and Tai-chun Kuo also played decisive roles in persuading the Chiang family to make the final decision.