Chung
I understand your point but Matthew has raises a vital point. His wifes family WERE impacted by this so that affects the family for generations to come. Just as my wifes family were affected by the KMT and white terror. It is all relative and you cant dismiss another persons suffering just cause it is ‘relatively’ small.
True is there were many many more “Taiwanese” victims, but there were repercussions against innocents on both sides, by “plenty” I mean too many (more than zero). Might seem insignificant to you, but not to them. the “native Taiwanese” weren’t the only people who suffered. I’m certainly not defending anyone, just reminding you that more went on and more innocents suffered than is fashionable to mention these days. And noone else has mentioned them yet.
I am always confused to why there has been no enquiry into the events of 228 - as in governmental enquiry???
Perhaps because until 4 years ago, the KMT controlled the Executive Yuan, and they still control the Legislative Yuan. Give Chen the Presidency again AND the legislature, and then hopefully a free hand will be there for exactly such an in depth inquiry.
[quote]Perhaps because until 4 years ago, the KMT controlled the Executive Yuan, and they still control the Legislative Yuan. Give Chen the Presidency again AND the legislature, and then hopefully a free hand will be there for exactly such an in depth inquiry.
[/quote]
It would be interesting to see if there would be an inquiry if CS Bian wins again. Also interesting to see if there was one, how many KMT people would flee the country to China or elsewhere.
[quote=“skeptic yank”]holidays are always good converation starters in class. in the past I always wuss out come 228. since I am a short timer this go round I have nothing to lose.
my sixth grade students are completely ignorant on what happened.
they could not even come to an agreement on who killed who. when asked, most opined “the Japanese killed Taiwanese.” also blamed were Americans, min jing dang (dpp) and waishengren (foreigners?).
when I said “kuo ming tang killed Taiwanese” it was like some one set off a bomb. even the most normally relaxed/passive kids were aflame “ben dan lao wai. women shir Taiwan ren! ni buzhidao Taiwan! bai chir!” the expletives rained down hard and fast. they refused to even consider that the KMT was the bad guy.
has anyone else had a similar revelation?[/quote]
That depends on where you are on the island. I’m assuming you are in Taipei - mainlander/KMT territory. I brought the incident up in a class of junior high students last week and mentioned that it was a day the Kuomintang killed many Taiwanese. No one lifted an eyebrow, because this is Tainan - the heartland of native Taiwanese, and serious DPP territory. That is the agreed history here.
bump
[quote=“cranky laowai”]It’s that time of year again.
With 2-28 approaching, anyone who hasn’t already read Formosa Betrayed should start now so as to learn why a day has been set aside in remembrance of the terrible events of 1947.
Those of you who don’t want to devote themselves now to reading the whole of Formosa Betrayed might prefer to start with a few chapters:
Chapter 11. On the Eve of Disaster
Chapter 12. The February Incident, 1947
Chapter 14. The March Massacre
From Chapter 14:
[quote]Suddenly the night silence was shattered. The rattle of gunfire could be heard not far away on the boulevard leading into the city from the north. Soon thereafter -a matter of minutes - Nationalist Army trucks rolled slowly along the road before our house, and from them a hail of machine-gun fire was directed at random into the darkness, ripping through windows and walls and ricocheting in the black alleyways.
The crack of rifle-fire and the chatter of machine guns could be heard throughout the night, across the town. The troops had come in from Keelung.
This was to be the Government’s answer to proposals for reform. Dawn on that Sunday opened a week of naked terror for the Formosan people.
During a lull in the action on our boulevard, we made our way to the Mackaye Mission Hospital close by, to join there the Director of the USIS, his wife and baby, and other foreigners who realized that the large walled mission compound might offer some security from random gunfire in the streets.
From an upper window we watched Nationalist soldiers in action in the alleys across the way. We saw Formosans bayoneted in the street without provocation. A man was robbed before our eyes - and then cut down and run through. Another ran into the street in pursuit of soldiers dragging a girl away from his house and we saw him, too, cut down.
This sickening spectacle was only the smallest sample of the slaughter then taking place throughout the city, only what could be seen from one window on the upper floor of one rather isolated house. The city was full of troops. [/quote][/quote]
There are two report about the movie 悲情城市 or city of sadness , the Golden Lion Award winner at the 1989 Venice Film Festiva
the director " 侯孝賢 " and script editor " 吳念真 " talk about their intensions of producing the famous film.
if you can read some chinese, I think you can find another point of view about 228 massacure
If you’re interested about what they teach on this in schools here’s something:
I asked a class of elementary students what 228 is a holiday for. I have 5 4th graders and 2 6th graders. The 4th graders didn’t know but the 6th graders dfid.
Sarah thouhgt that it had to do with the Japanese, and knew that it started the ‘white terror’ although she didn’t seem to have much idea what this was.
Jacky seemed to have a good grasp of what happened, telling me about the cigarette-selling incident. But he put things in terms of the police and the people, without mentioneing the KMT or waishengrenbenshengren.
Well, at least it’s good to hear that they teach kids about this, some time in 5th or 6th grade (the 2 kids were from different schools btw).
Brian
I asked a teacher friend to send her students home with an assignment to interview their grandparents or other elder figures in regard to their recollections of 228. The results were chilling as several students reported on family members who had either been attacked or seen someone attacked, including one boy who told the class that his great uncle still had a blood stained volunteer police uniform. Another boy told of how his grandfather was sent to Taiwan to “catch bandits” in 1947.
Some more misc/interesting tidbits…
The 2-28 incident did not happen in the peace park as one poster mentioned, it happened near the intersection of Yenping N. Road and Nanking W. Road. There stands today a marker you can read. (past the traffic circle, just before the intersection of YengPing).
I agree reading Formosa Betrayed gives a great viewpoint on the facts of the incident. It also offers some very interesting background on how the KMT treated the American military that was stationed here at the time, the fact that the KMT considered slaughtering the 300K Japanese troops/civilians that were still in Taiwan, how the American embassy was set up (I made a post on the culture thread a while back relating to this), the scumbag Chen Yi and the interests he represented, etc.
As others have mentioned, Sterling Seagraves book, The Soong Dynasty is a must read for anyone that has any interest in Taiwan/KMT History. In addition to this, if you have time, you should read Seagrave’s other book, The Lord of the Rim. (specifically chapter 17 “The fall of the house of Chiang”) available at Cave bookstore i think. It is a short chapter that starts on page 287. In this chapter it goes more in depth about the power struggle of CCK and Soong Mailing, CCKs kids and why they did not reach power, Ray Cline, the misinformed CIA chief, etc. very interesting.
The problem I see with Sterling Seagrave is that the locals do not like to hear this guys opinion because they think it is one sided. The truth is the locals, especially the blues, do not want to face the truth about their history (including 2-28) I find even if you read many books on Taiwan, speak ok Chinese, and have lived here for many years, you still don
I want to thank you, cranky laowai, for not only always bumping this post up to remind us just what 228 stands for, but also the great resourcses you present. I used to think I knew a fair amount about 228 and the White Terror, but actually was fairly ignorant. WTF is James Soong still doing alive, let alone free to be a politician??
The most sombering thought I have, however, is that my knowledge of 228 and related events is a thousand times greater than the typical Taiwanese here in Taipei (excluding those who lived through it). It is so sad, and while I do not like to make inappropriate comparisons such as these, reminds me of today’s Cambodia.
Ignorance most certainly is bliss.
What was James Soong’s role in 2-28? I didn’t think he was that old.
James Soong was 4 years old as of Febuary 1947 and wasn’t even on Taiwan at the time but rather the mainland. A murderous toddler if I’ve evern known one. I think the more accurate grievance is his involvement with the KMT in the late 70’s and 80’s as director of the government information office responsible for heavy handed censorship and repression.
What was James Soong’s role in 2-28? I didn’t think he was that old.[/quote]
Read carefully now, I was talking about White Terror and what cmdjing (thanks for the description) said.
The confusion hear is over the term ‘White Terror’.
As mentioned in another thread, it is often used to mean the whole era of KMT colonisation, up until the end of martial law, including the time of the Gaoxiong incident (which Soong was up to his neck in).
But, strictly speaking, White Terror refers to the slaguhter and extreme repression in the years immediately following 228.
So, Soong was involved in KMT repression, but not White Terror, thus the misunderstanding between the last few posters.
Brian
I sometimes think 228 is an overblown political tool used by the DPP and pan-Greens for anti Blue purposes.
You don’t see a holiday memorializing the various unsuccessful rebellions against Japan on Taiwan.
[quote]
gio.gov.tw/info/festival_c/228_e/228_e.htm#
On March 21, 1947, the “Relief and Compensation for Government and School Employees Due to the 228 Incident” was announced. Compensation amounts were set at NT$200,000 for each death; NT$50,000 for seriously injured; NT$5,000 for light injury; and up to NT$60,000 for material loss. This compensation was only awarded to a special compensation fund.
In 1995, families of those killed or missing as a result of the February 28 Incident became eligible for compensation of NT$6 million, in accordance with the "Regulation on Compensation and Administration of the 229 Incident. "People incarcerated for over 20 years because of the incident may receive NT$5 million. Others who have suffered or whose reputations have been harmed are also eligible for reparation. The government has approved compensation for 1,300 victims. [/quote]
Even by the government’s own admission and fact finding only 1,300 victims or descendent of victims qualify. About 900 BSR deaths. Since WSR death during the time left no descendents.
So if the fact, that the pan-Green propagate is true, tens of thousand of people died because of 228, that would mean about 10 WSR died for every 1 BSR on 228.
In fact, I’ve never seen a somber occasion like 2/28 be a celebratory holiday anywhere except in Taiwan. Everybody (well, except for the actual victims’ families) was all happy and shit. WTF? Obviously 2/28 has been used for political purposes.
What with songs, raves, and smiling friends of Abian, it might as well be called pep rally day.
The other thing is, how many people (WSR) died at the hands of vigilante groups? They often left no descendents and with family in the mainland, nobody knew of their death at all. Why does nobody care? Perhaps because it would detract from the “justice” of the rebels and the political ideology that requires WSR to be “colonizers” and to bear the original sin of 2/28. The BSR (old guys)/TI (G Kerr) version of 2/28 is certainly one version of the story, but nowadays it’s an equally politicized one. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is something to hide here just like the KMT version had something to hide.
From reading serveral sources, it sounds to me like this: The Taiwanese were highly Japanized by the time of handover, and Taiwanese basically thought the mainlanders were too inferior for them while CKS/his administrators thought Taiwanese to be brainwashed Japanese holdovers (the educated ones) and hicks (the ones in the countryside) unfit for government posts. Add to that inflation due to the civil war, and returning Taiwanese conscripts in their Japanese uniforms and samurai swords wandering around with no jobs/up to no good, and mainlander refugees streaming in, and you’ve got a bunch of people who hated each others’ guts. Some little spark by a soldier or whatever and BSR basically had enough and took to the streets rioting, and the guys with samurai swords took the chance to kill any WSR they could find, basically to take it out on them. Chaos ensued, anarchy reigned. WSR sought refuge with troops, BSR formed militia, captured arms, and attacked government personnel and property and fought stationed troops. Local population backed them. Riot turned into rebellion. CKS wasn’t going to let this ruin his little crib so sent some divisions over and quickly cracked-down like Fallujah. Basically, that’s 2/28 in a nutshell.
Later on the educated BSR demanding rights as well as dissident WSR got on CKS’s nerves for political reasons and being the dictator that he was, dealt with it through a series of red cleansing campaigns, but that for sure wasn’t targeted toward BSR and really was not (from CKS’s view) a continuation of 2/28.
Shouldn’t Taiwan have a “White Terror” holiday as well, so not to confuse people.
See, just like CSB is a political idiot, the Taidu’s are PR idiots. Their intentional conflations of events, peoples, and motivations only make them completely untrustworthy.
