Statement: Wu Xuehua's original works refuse to reprint for profit
Grand Hotel
People who travel to Taiwan generally go to attractions like Sun Moon Lake, and few people will go to the Yuanshan Hotel at No. 1, Section 4, Zhongshan North Road, Taipei City.
This red-walled, gold-tiled traditional Chinese architectural hotel is similar in style to Beijing's Zhengyang Gate. It was this unique hotel that, in the 1950s and 1990s, played a politically charged role, hosting only high-level politicians and celebrities, as well as foreign guests.
Zhengyang gate in Beijing
Few people know who the big boss behind this hotel is.
This has to start with the Kuomintang's defeat and retreat from Taiwan...
Seeing that the war situation in China was unfavorable, Chiang Kai-shek listened to the advice of the strategist Zhang Qiyun and began to operate Taiwan in early 1949 as his retreat.
The first to be sent to Taiwan was Chen Cheng, a close confidant whom Chiang Kai-shek relied on the most; after Chen Cheng arrived in Taiwan, he, in accordance with Chiang Kai-shek's wishes, straightened out armaments and stabilized the economy, and also wantonly built airports and various military bases in preparation for the Nationalist army to retreat to Taiwan.
In June 1949, Chen Cheng called Chiang Kai-shek in Taiwan to inquire about the construction of Chiang Kai-shek's private residence.
In early July, a plane landed at Taipei's new airport, and Chen Cheng, who had been notified, went to the airport to meet Miss Kong Jia'er, who was on a mission, kong Lingjun, known as the "Witch of the Republic of China."
The reason why Kong Lingjun is called a witch stems from her past, she was spoiled by her parents since she was a child, coupled with Song Meiling's doting on her, her personality is arrogant and lawless, and at the age of fourteen, she dared to intimidate Chiang Kai-shek and Song Ziwen, who did not pay attention to her eyes, and regarded human life as grass. Meet someone outside and pull out a gun without a word. She shot and killed traffic police in the streets of Nanjing; played a live-action version of CS with Wang Longyun's son in Yunnan in the park; for her pet dog, she dared to use a gun to drive the state government officer off the plane...
She only had her aunt in her eyes, and the others were all floating clouds.
Kong Lingjun came to Taiwan to do two things, first, to find a mansion for her aunt; second, to transfer his business to Taiwan.
After she got off the plane, she yelled at Chen Cheng to drink five or six, and Chen Cheng was also well aware of the origin of this witch, and did not dare to offend, as long as she put forward any kind of request, she tried to meet it.
Kong Lingjun's power was very great, and in the four fields of Taiwan's military, political, commercial, and civilian fields, he set up a business network belonging to the Kong and Song families and installed his own people.
In the construction of the presidential residence, although Chen Cheng has come up with several design plans, she is still not satisfied, and feels that the budget of several million dollars is too small.
Chen Cheng said bitterly that the authorities' funds were dwarfed, and that if some money was used in the place where it should be used, the presidential residence would be able to get by. But Kong Lingjun did not agree at all.
On this day, Kong Lingjun, accompanied by his entourage, came to a park on Taipei's Fulin Road, which was the back garden of the Governor's Palace during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan, and after 1945, it was taken over by the Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Department and became the Shilin Horticultural Experimental Garden. The pavilions and rockeries are all lacking, and the whole garden is a medium-sized Suzhou garden. What is even more rare is that there are several villas ready-made here, and the environment is quiet, surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the transportation is convenient.
Kong Lingjun traveled a bit, pointed to a rockery and said, "I think it's good here!" ”
Seeing that Kong Lingjun had taken a fancy to this place, Chen Cheng immediately sent a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek to ask for instructions. Chiang Kai-shek was anxious about the war and Li Zongren's "forcing the palace", and without much thought, he agreed.
Chen Cheng began to repair the place and change it to "Shilin Official Residence", but most of the funds were diverted by Kong Lingjun. Why? It turned out that Kong Lingjun considered that she was doing business in Taiwan and needed a place to eat well, live well, and play well, so she planned to use the funds to build a large hotel, and the location of the hotel was on Zhongshan North Road. Originally a shrine, it is said that feng shui is very good, and it was built as a Taiwan Hotel.
According to Kong Lingjun's idea, the hotel should be built in both a high-grade and a different background, and just when she was hurting her brain, the repair of the "Shilin Official Residence" had been completed, and her uncle and aunt, with a large number of troops, came to Taiwan.
In the early days of the Kuomintang's defeat and retreat from Taiwan, the management was chaotic, and various contradictions emerged one after another. Chiang Kai-shek was well aware of the truth that only with an army can there be strength, so he urgently placed the army and calmed down contradictions. However, the army's resettlement houses were not fully built, because some of the funds were also removed by Kong Lingjun, so that many middle- and lower-level officers and their families temporarily lived in a place called "Dependent Village" and took shelter in those houses made of several pieces of tin. (A few years later, the children in this place learned the army management model of the elders and established the Jianghu Gang, which was later Taiwan's two major gangsters, the "Four Seas Gang" and the "Bamboo Gang".)
Chen Cheng had no choice but to tell Chiang Kai-shek about the incident. When Song Meiling asked Kong Lingjun what he wanted the extra money to do, Kong Lingjun's answer was very relaxed: "I just want to build a big hotel that can represent the identity of my aunt!" ”
Although Chiang Kai-shek lost the mainland, in his heart, Taiwan should still be a "country", and the Republic of China is still recognized by many world powers such as the United States, so there will certainly be some diplomatic contacts in the future, and there is indeed a need for a reception place that can represent the Republic of China.
However, the money that Kong Lingjun has removed has been spent elsewhere, and the repair work of the Taiwan Grand Hotel is still slowly proceeding. When Song Meiling saw that the situation was not good, she borrowed NT$200 million from the Bank of Taiwan in the name of the "Taiwan Dunmu Friendship Association", and asked Kong Lingjun to do it quickly.
In the design style of the hotel, Chiang Kai-shek believed that it should have traditional Chinese characteristics, and Song Meiling told Kong Lingjun what Chiang Kai-shek meant. Kong Lingjun originally wanted to build a European-style hotel, although she was very reluctant in her heart, but she did not dare not listen to her aunt's words.
Kong Lingjun is a master who does not play cards according to common sense, you say east, she prefers to the west. This matter made her very unhappy, but she was worried about pursuing her misappropriation of funds, so she simply messed up.
Don't you want traditional Chinese features? Okay, I'll just be traditional once.
She found a picture of the Zhengyang Gate in Beiping from the newspaper and ordered her men to build it according to this pattern. As for other styles, more dragons and phoenixes are used, as well as traditional Chinese totems. Anyway, how much on how much, do not have to look good, as long as the characteristics.
She did this, deliberately wanting to disgust Chiang Kai-shek, did not think, more than a year later, the hotel was built, the appearance of high-end atmosphere, full of traditional Chinese characteristics, and very ornamental value, eye-catching.
Of course, the hotel can be built so exquisitely, and the design and construction personnel are indispensable.
After Chiang Kai-shek inspected it, he was very satisfied with the hotel, which was the only time he had known Miss Kong Er for so many years that he had done a good job. Song Meiling took the opportunity to grasp the right to operate the hotel in her hands, in fact, in fact, Song Meiling managed in name, but in fact, Kong Lingjun was tossing.
Kong Lingjun changed the Taiwan Hotel into the Grand Hotel, and then asked his aunt to come forward and find the hereditary thirty-first generation of Yan Sheng Gong Kong Decheng to write a plaque.
Kong Decheng
Kong Decheng is a few years younger than Kong Lingjun, and according to the generations of the Kong family, Kong Lingjun and his father Kong Lingyi are of equal generation, and he is a nephew.
For this handsome and handsome nephew, Kong Lingjun has always looked at him differently. Kong Decheng once studied calligraphy with Zhuang Qilan, and although he was young, he had a deep foundation in calligraphy and had the style of a master.
Chiang Kai-shek Kong Lingjun lifted out Kong Decheng to prove his relationship with Confucius, and second, to cover the Yuanshan Hotel with a cloak of traditional elite culture.
Therefore, from the 1950s until the 1990s, Kong Lingjun was the actual ruler of the Grand Hotel. Although she moved to the United States with her aunt in the 1980s, she did not give up control of the Grand Hotel.
She transported food made at the Grand Hotel to the United States by air. It is said that every year on the eve of the Spring Festival, the Grand Hotel has to be busy for at least a month in order to catch up with the food she wants.
It is worth mentioning that in 1986, Chiang Ching-kuo was unwell, and seeing that the Chiang family's forces had no successor in Taiwan, a strange scene occurred, and on September 28 of that year, more than a dozen legislators and lawyers set up an organization after several hours of discussion in the Dunmu Hall of the Grand Hotel. Why did this organization choose to be founded at The Grand Hotel? Who is behind them? There is still no answer.