supervised by full-time drillmasters, were treated as military barracks with everything, including the bed, in order. To students like Hwa-Wei, whose family income was on the low end, one big advantage of this military training was free uniforms and shoes. Under the military system, students had to stay on campus during part of their summer school breaks to undergo basic military training in drill and marksmanship.
One educational outcome was the increasingly high patriotic sentiment across the campus concerning the Republic of China. Many times the institution sent the school’s drama troupe and its dance club to the offshore island of Kinmen to perform for soldiers staying on the front line. Other students also helped illiterate soldiers, who comprised a large portion of the troops, in writing letters to their families.
Hwa-Wei remembers the entrenchment in Kinmen as rather complex and concealed, spreading in all directions while also being hardly visible from the outside. He once entered an auditorium that was built just inside an excavated mountain, truly an eye-opening experience to Hwa-Wei, who had been interested in civil engineering. He was amazed at the creativity of its engineers.
Actually, Kinmen is a very small island lacking favorable geography for shelters and concealments. The best way for the Nationalist army to build structures for hidden military facilities was to excavate inside mountains. A cave airbase could be used easily for aircraft taking off and landing when its gate was opened. The Nationalist army was quite confident in the sheltering structure. One slogan stated that the Communist army would be defeated right on the beach, if they dared to come. The Communist army did not attack Kinmen in the end. Hwa-Wei wonders what those military facilities look like today as the relations between the two sides have greatly improved.
In Taiwan, every adult man had an obligation to serve in the army. The duration of service as a soldier had been two years for a new high school graduate and thirteen months for a fresh college graduate at a reserve officer rank. After that, one had to go back to the service one month each year for a consecutive five-year term. This conscription system is still proving effective.
After graduating from NTNU in 1954, Hwa-Wei received his reserve officer training at the Army Officers Academy for six months and at the Political Cadre School for another seven months. The Army Officers Academy was located at Kaohsiung, a port city in southern Taiwan. The first six months there featured strict and intensive Initial-Entry Training (IET) for all new reserve officers regardless of their subject background. The training included all basic military combat skills. The reservists also participated in actual military maneuvers using real guns and bullets, and they were exposed to dangers as if they were authentic soldiers in true battles. It was rumored that there were indeed accidental injuries and deaths.
Immediately following the six-month IET came specialized training, determined by a reserve officer’s college major. For instance, an engineering graduate was most likely to be sent to the Artillery School, whereas an education major, like Hwa-Wei, was sent to the Political Cadre School, established to train future political and ideological instructors.
In the Communist army system, every company or higher unit has a designated political and ideological instructor. The Nationalist army also adopted a similar structure during the Chiang Ching-Kuo (Ching-Kuo Chiang) era, primarily due to Chiang’s Soviet background. Compared to his father, Chiang Kai-Shek, Chiang Ching-Kuo did a better job of connecting with the general public and accomplished many reforms that earned him nationwide acclaim and ultimately stabilized the rule of the Nationalist Party.
Prior to his college graduation, Hwa-Wei had already thought about his near future and made four specific plans. These included becoming a high school principal, getting assigned to a teaching job, studying abroad, and pursuing a graduate-level education. For each of the four plans, he needed to prepare for either a qualification test or an entrance exam.
Hwa-Wei’s original career plan was to become a high school principal, which required a candidate to pass an advanced civil service examination. To succeed at his second plan he needed to pass the government’s employment qualification test for job placement.
In 1953, Hwa-Wei (front) participated in summer military training, and was the head of the Naval Combat Team.
While in training, Hwa-Wei participated in naval combat exercises, 1953.
In 1953, Hwa-Wei successfully completed his naval combat training.
His third plan, to continue his effort to study abroad, was proving difficult: Hwa-Wei failed three times in earlier English-language proficiency tests for foreign studies. He seemed to have no choice but to keep trying, as his aunt in the United States, Phyllis Hsiao-Chu Wang, was trying to help him earn admission to a graduate program in education at the University of Pittsburgh with, possibly, a tuition scholarship. Meanwhile, it was not a bad idea to have an alternative plan for further education just in case his efforts in preparing to study abroad were in vain.
This led to his fourth choice: to take the entrance exam for graduate school in Taiwan. The entrance exam was very competitive. For instance, only five new students each year were admitted to NTNU’s Department of Education. Indeed, Hwa-Wei took the fourth choice most seriously and gave it the largest amount of time in preparation during his spare time and during military training.
The strict and rigid military training provided no opportunities for Hwa-Wei to spend time and effort in extracurricular activities as he had done in college. Thus, Hwa-Wei was able, fortunately, to concentrate on exam/test preparations. He buried himself in studying every evening in the classroom during regular self-study hours (from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m.). That proved to be effective because he passed all four tests and exams soon after the completion of his ROTC training.
Among his four goals, passing the entrance exam for graduate studies at NTNU was the most difficult. Admission was truly meant for top students, as reflected by the limited student enrollment quota. Hwa-Wei had to work very hard for a much-improved performance on his college academic scores. On his written test, his scores were ideal, the fifth in rank, which qualified him for the next round of oral exams.
The oral exam committee was composed of three faculty members: Prof. Kang-Chen Sun, department chair of Education; Prof. Pei-Lin Tien, dean of the Education College; and Prof. Pang-Cheng Sun. Hwa-Wei was extremely nervous in front of the three well-respected scholars.
Dean Tien started the exam saying, “Hwa-Wei Lee, you have done a good job in the written exam. However, you know we only need five new students. And we want top students who will commit their time to serious research, which is quite different from undergraduate education in this regard. Are you sure you want to head toward that direction instead of spending time in extracurricular activities?”
Hwa-Wei quickly responded, “Professor Tien, you are right. I did immerse myself too much in extracurricular activities. I will definitely focus on academic work if I am admitted.” Likely, Dean Tien and the other two committee members were touched by Hwa Wei’s sincere attitude, or impressed by the young man’s much-improved performance in the written test, because Hwa-Wei was admitted.
Hwa-Wei (third row, fourth from left) participated in the university-wide student visit to the military base on Kinmen Island.
Hwa-Wei (second
