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Chiang Kai-shek's Grandson to Visit Ancestral Tombs on the Mainland
John Chang, a former "foreign minister" and grandson of late Taiwanese leader Chiang Kai-shek, will depart for Chinese mainland from Taiwan on Wednesday to visit his ancestral family tombs for the first time.
Chang, who took his mother's name, is an illegitimate son of former "President" Chiang Ching-kuo, and grandson of the generalissimo who fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war to the Communist Party on the mainland.
Prior to visiting the general's birthplace in Fenghua in Zhejiang Province, Chang, 58, paid his respects to his father and grandfather at their mausoleums in Tsehu, near Taipei, on Tuesday.
The trip to the Chinese mainland will be a family event to observe the Chinese tradition of tombsweeping, and it has no political implications, Chang said.
For decades, Chiang's family has avoided visiting Chinese mainland for fear Chinese leaders would use the trips in their campaign to promote reunification of Taiwan and the motherland.
Accompanied by his wife, son and daughter, Chang will sweep the ancestral tombs in Fenghua on Thursday, then go to Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to visit the tomb of his mother, Chang Ya-juo, he said.
Chiang Ching-kuo's three sons are dead. Chang's twin brother, Winston Chang, died after a stroke several years ago, making Change the only surviving son of the late Nationalist leader.
The former "president", who died in 1988, never went public with his affair with the twins' mother. But John Chang says Chiang told confidants that he would want the twins recognized as his sons.
Chang holds no public office since the Nationalist Party lost the "presidency" in March and ended its 51 years of rule.
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