‘UNCLE A-HUI’: People lined the streets of Taipei as a motorcade carrying the former president’s body went from the hospital to a church funeral to a crematorium

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 15, 2020
By: Chen Yun and Lee Hsin-fang / Staff reporters

Family members and close friends bade farewell to former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) at a private funeral service at Taipei’s Che-Lam Presbyterian Church yesterday morning, after which a funeral procession made a symbolic lap around the Presidential Office Building before winding its way to the Taipei City Second Funeral Parlor.

Lee, dubbed “Mr. Democracy” after he ended Taiwan’s autocratic rule in favor of free elections, died on July 30 at the age of 97.

Lee’s body was transported in a hearse, departing from Taipei Veterans General Hospital at 6:38am, where about 300 doctors and nurses lined the road to pay their respects.

“The medical staff came out of their own volition to send off the former president,” said Hwang Shinn-jang (黃信彰), the hospital’s deputy director and spokesman. “They wanted to express their gratitude and regret on the departure of a good friend, especially the medical team who cared for him over the past decade.”    [FULL  STORY]