Recycling Personality Cults: Observations of the Reactions to Madame Chiang Kai‐Shek’s Death in Taiwan

Abstract

This article explores government, party and media reactions in Taiwan to the death of Madame Chiang Kai‐shek in October 2003. In doing so, it sheds light on the ways in which the rituals, iconography and language of personality cults – a major part of political culture in Taiwan during the years of martial law – have become the main points of reference for many groups when responding to contemporary political events. I suggest that such reactions reveal the longevity of disparate elements of authoritarian personality cults in modern Taiwan, in addition to raising questions about the role of political religions in post‐authoritarian societies more generally.