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National Geographic : 1993 Nov
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city to turn the land into a squatters commu nity. Over the years Yin and the other squat ters turned their shanties into modest houses, paved the muddy lanes, planted trees, and opened tiny groceries. The place took on the charm of a quiet Chinese village. Then, a few years ago, authorities announced that they were reclaiming the land for the park it was meant to be - and bulldozing everything on it. Yin would lose his house. "Nothing can be done," Yin said. "I'll get compensation for my house and my army pen sion twice a year. But that doesn't amount to much. I'm a Nationalist, but the government doesn't care about me. There is nothing for me here except to walk the streets." What will you do? I asked. Yin's face brightened. "I'm going home!" he said. "I've got a son in Fengdu, my hometown in Sichuan Province, and he says my money will go a whole lot further there. Why, I'll be well-to-do in Fengdu! My son's the head of the Fengdu Communist Party!" son of Chiang Kai-shek and longtime head of the secret police, succeeded to the presidency. I attended the ceremonies, and as Chiang began his inaugural address in Taipei's great red draped Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, I won dered where this man, known to many by the initials CCK, might lead Taiwan. I was as surprised as anyone when, in July 1987, he ended martial law. "The party," he had declared earlier, "must accommodate itself to changing times." H. H. Michael Hsiao, a sociologist at NationalGeographic, November 1993
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