To the younger generation, the 228 Incident may seem distant and difficult to understand. Fortunately, many victims and their family members kept photographs and oral testimonies, allowing future generations to gain access to this foundational bit of modern Taiwanese history.
The Deng Nan-jung Liberty Museum (鄭南榕自由紀念館) currently has a photo exhibition that showcases portraits of women affected by the 228 Incident. Shot by Liu Chen-hsiang (劉振祥), these portraits of the wives and daughters accompany the short blurbs about the incident’s influence on their life. Through these portraits, Liu provides these women a platform to tell their stories about losing their fathers or husbands.
In addition to the exhibition, the museum invites audiences to join them tomorrow from 2pm to 4pm for a chat with Chen Ming-cheng (陳銘城), a culture and history worker, Lin Li-tsai (林黎彩), the Director of the 228 Incident Memorial Foundation and Yang Tsui(楊翠), an associate professor from the Department of Chinese Studies at Dong Hwa University.
Photo Courtesy of Deng Nan-jung Liberty Museum
On the exhibition’s last day, July 21, the museum will again invite visitors to participate in a closing discussion on oral history from 2pm to 4pm. Attending experts include Hsueh Hua-yuan (薛化元), a professor of history from the Chengchi University, Chang Wen-yi (張文義), a historian, and Shen Hsiu-hua (沈秀華), an associate professor at Tsing Hua University.
The talks are in Chinese.
■ Deng Nan-jung Liberty Museum (鄭南榕自由紀念館), 11, Lane 3, Alley 106, Mingquan E Rd, Taipei City (台北市民權東路三段106巷3弄11號3樓); open from 10AM to 5PM;
■ Until July 21. Admission is free; registration is required for tomorrow’s talk. Register at: goo.gl/forms/7m86TMAAy6FY7aVd2
Last week Joseph Nye, the well-known China scholar, wrote on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s website about how war over Taiwan might be averted. He noted that years ago he was on a team that met with then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), “whose previous ‘unofficial’ visit to the US had caused a crisis in which China fired missiles into the sea and the US deployed carriers off the coast of Taiwan.” Yes, that’s right, mighty Chen caused that crisis all by himself. Neither the US nor the People’s Republic of China (PRC) exercised any agency. Nye then nostalgically invoked the comical specter
Relations between Taiwan and the Czech Republic have flourished in recent years. However, not everyone is pleased about the growing friendship between the two countries. Last month, an incident involving a Chinese diplomat tailing the car of vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) in Prague, drew public attention to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) operations to undermine Taiwan overseas. The trip was not Hsiao’s first visit to the Central European country. It was meant to be low-key, a chance to meet with local academics and politicians, until her police escort noticed a car was tailing her through the Czech capital. The
April 15 to April 21 Yang Kui (楊逵) was horrified as he drove past trucks, oxcarts and trolleys loaded with coffins on his way to Tuntzechiao (屯子腳), which he heard had been completely destroyed. The friend he came to check on was safe, but most residents were suffering in the town hit the hardest by the 7.1-magnitude Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake on April 21, 1935. It remains the deadliest in Taiwan’s recorded history, claiming around 3,300 lives and injuring nearly 12,000. The disaster completely flattened roughly 18,000 houses and damaged countless more. The social activist and
Over the course of former President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 11-day trip to China that included a meeting with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping (習近平) a surprising number of people commented that the former president was now “irrelevant.” Upon reflection, it became apparent that these comments were coming from pro-Taiwan, pan-green supporters and they were expressing what they hoped was the case, rather than the reality. Ma’s ideology is so pro-China (read: deep blue) and controversial that many in his own Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hope he retires quickly, or at least refrains from speaking on some subjects. Regardless