Beloved Elephant Lin Wang Passes Away

If a vote had been held to determine visitors' favorite current or former inhabitant of Taipei's Mucha Zoo, which animal would win? Without a doubt it would be the elephant Lin Wang. This can be surmised from the series of birthday celebrations that children and adults organized for Lin Wang in years past.

And in fact ever since voting for "favorite animal" commenced in Taipei's old Yuanshan Zoo in 1986, Lin Wang won resounding victories, earning the enthusiastic support of Taiwan's citizens year after year.

Experiencing many twists of fate, Lin Wang led a life that would make a good movie. An Indian elephant born in Burma, Lin Wang was forced by the Japanese to pull artillery and supplies through the mountains during World War II. He ended up being captured by the expeditionary force under the command of General Sun Li-jen. After China defeated Japan, Lin Wang marched with Sun's forces up the Burma Road through Kunming, Guizhou, Guangxi and Nanjing, before finally arriving in Guangzhou.

In 1947 Sun was dispatched to Taiwan to train new forces, and Lin Wang boarded the ship Haiji to cross the strait to Taiwan. In Taiwan he first lived at the Fengshan Military Training Department, which has now become a military academy. On October 30, 1954, with the renowned Wu San-lien acting as matchmaker, Lin Wang was moved to the zoo to marry the four-year-old Malan, who already resided there. Thereafter, his birthday was celebrated at the zoo on October 30.

The zoo hoped that this union would result in offspring, so that the zoo could gain their progeny. Unfortunately, Lin Wang and Malan had an age difference of 30 years-less than ideal for successful coupling. What with their cramped quarters at the old Yuanshan Zoo, and the jets landing and taking off at nearby Songshan Airport leaving them with hardly a moment of peace and quiet, it's no wonder they had difficulty procreating.

In 1983, when Lin Wang was 66, various groups organized a birthday celebration for him, and at the same time they searched for his old friends, with newspaper and television reports bringing word of these touching moments into every household. From then on various groups would sponsor birthday celebrations for Lin Wang every year.

An old soldier captured during the confusion of war, his age and original name were unknown. Then a general brought him across the strait when the ROC government moved to Taiwan. This intriguing story, like something out of a book, is what attracted people to Lin Wang. The zoo, moreover, kept coming up with new ways to promote and maintain his celebrity, keeping the media highly interested in him. They turned him into a "superstar" and he fully took hold of his duties as a display elephant, bearing the varying moods of his visitors without complaint. He was a silent friend to all who beheld him, and also part of Taiwan's collective memory.

"The mountains are home to the clouds, the sea home to the setting sun, ponds home to the rain. When the sun shines during rainfall the sky is home to rainbows. But where, oh where, is our Ah-wang's home?" On the day that Lin Wang passed away "Ah-Wang's Home," a song by Chu Tien-wen, resounded from the zoo's loudspeakers, pulling the heavy heartstrings of those who had learned of his death early on and gone to the zoo to catch another glimpse of "Ah-Wang's Home"!

"I always thought that Lin Wang was the zoo, that he would always be here to welcome us," one grown woman said. "I never expected him to depart suddenly so that I wouldn't even have one last opportunity to see him." "I first met Lin Wang when I was in kindergarten," another said, "and whenever I went to the zoo after that time, I would never go home without seeing him. I've always thought of him as a good old friend."

On the first day of the "Requiem for Lin Wang," the zoo was packed with visitors from near and far, carrying fresh flowers, cards and hearts full of sadness at his passing. By the end of the day, those who had come to pay their respects numbered more than 74,000. Although the owner of the "White House" (as the elephant compound was known) had departed, the people were reluctant to leave and wanted to convey their good wishes to their eternal friend one last time.

Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou specially conferred "honorary citizenship" upon this eternal Taipei-er, which was accepted on Lin Wang's behalf by Chen Chung-ping, his keeper of many years. "Lin Wang is part of the collective memory of four generations of Taipei residents," said Ma, hitting the nail on the head. "We've seen him grow old and he's seen us grow up; it's been a warm and moving process of interaction."

"Grandpa Lin Wang, good-bye! Thanks for keeping us company for half a century." Ma spoke for countless city residents, grateful for the countless memories and unending joy that Lin Wang gave to the citizens of Taiwan.

p.065

Every year during Chinese New Year, crowds would come to the zoo to visit Lin Wang. This was the scene at the Yuanshan Zoo in 1978. (courtesy of Chang Meng-jui)

p.067

On the third day after Lin Wang died, countless friends, both the young and the old, put their recollections of Lin Wang on this bulletin board. (photo by Chang Meng-jui)