From Takow to Kaohsiung

Yixian Road (逸仙路), Xinyi District, Taipei, (and maybe elsewhere)

At first sight, Yixian Road (逸仙路; lit. “Avoid Immortal(s)”) in Taipei might seem fairly insignificant to non-Chinese readers, especially since it is only a few hundred meters in length and, although it is on some bus routes, is hardly a major thoroughfare.

Yixian is, however, the Mandarin pronunciation of Cantonese’s Yat-sen, and so this road commemorates the founding father of the ROC (as well as of the KMT), Dr. Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙; in which 逸仙 may mean something like "Leisurely Immortal" or "Extraordinary Immortal" rather than a word-by-word interpretation of "Avoid Immortal(s)"; see MOE dictionary definitions 4&5). Until a couple of decades ago, this road was signed "Yixian Rd." in English at one end and "Yat-sen Rd." at the other, although the Chinese was consistent.

Indeed, this road runs alongside the National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (國立國父紀念館; Mdn. Guoli Guofu Jinian Guan; lit. “National Father of the Nation Memorial Hall”), dedicated to SYS, and which is essentially a museum-like presentation of the man’s life and times, at least from the perspective of Chiang Kai-shek and the KMT, whose project this was between its conception in 1964 and completion in 1972.

The hall may be best-known to people outside Taiwan, Overseas Chinese people in particular, as the usual location of Taiwan’s top annual movie award ceremony, the Golden Horse Awards Ceremony (金馬獎頒獎典禮).

For other streets / place names referencing Sun Yat-sen, see e.g. Zhongshan District, Zhongshan Rd,, National Freeway 1 (a.k.a. Sun Yat-sen Freeway (中山高速公路), innumerable elementary and high schools, the National Sun Yat-sen University (國立中山大學) in Kaohsiung, &c. &c.



Text and photo copyright Jiyue Publications 2022