The son of a New Zealander donated his father's manuscript titled Formosa Calling, Chronicle of Taiwan's 2-28 Incident, to the 228 Memorial Museum in Taipei yesterday, on the eve of the 53rd anniversary of the 1947 massacre.
"It's a great pleasure to donate this manuscript to the people of Taiwan. If my father were here today, I am sure he would be greatly honored," said 63-year-old Colin Shackleton at a ceremony held in the 228 Memorial Museum.
Also donated to the museum were his father's photos taken during his stay in Taiwan from 1946 to 1947, and the typewriter he used to produce the manuscript.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
At the ceremony, Lap Phok-bun (
"It's a very moving moment," said Colin Shackleton.
Allan James Shackleton wrote the manuscript about his post-war experiences in Taiwan as a UN rehabilitation officer. A portion of the manuscript focuses on his eye witness accounts of the 1947 tragedy, detailing atrocities that took place in southern Taiwan.
"He was concerned about the unfortunate things that took place at that time. But unfortunately nobody would publish the book, so the manuscript was simply a family file for almost 50 years," Colin Shackleton said.
It was not until 1998 that the original English version was published. Last June, the Mandarin version of the book was published in Taiwan. Wu Mi-cha (吳密察), a historian on Taiwan history at the National Taiwan University, said Shackleton's account of the massacre was of great value to researchers.
"Shackleton's book is a precious historic record made by a foreigner, a third party who wrote about what he saw merely out of conscience, an account that had nothing to do with his personal interest," Wu said.
The 228 Incident refers to the KMT's bloody crackdown on civilian demonstrations in 1947 that followed an incident in Taipei on Feb. 28 of that year. KMT-Led troops, who had retreated to Taiwan from China two years before after losing the Chinese Civil War, carried out a crackdown which led to the slaughter of tens of thousands of Taiwanese. The massacre is said to have wiped out almost all of Taiwan's intellectual middle class.
Stanley Liao (
"Through the Internet, I had been told of this manuscript. So I telephoned everyone with the surname Shackleton throughout New Zealand," Liao said.
The museum will hold a series of events and activities to commemorate the tragedy. For more information, please call the museum at (02) 2389-7228 or search the Internet at http://www.t228.gov.tw.
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A Vietnamese migrant worker yesterday won NT$12 million (US$379,627) on a Lunar New Year scratch card in Kaohsiung as part of Taiwan Lottery Co’s (台灣彩券) “NT$12 Million Grand Fortune” (1200萬大吉利) game. The man was the first top-prize winner of the new game launched on Jan. 6 to mark the Lunar New Year. Three Vietnamese migrant workers visited a Taiwan Lottery shop on Xinyue Street in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (崗山), a store representative said. The player bought multiple tickets and, after winning nothing, held the final lottery ticket in one hand and rubbed the store’s statue of the Maitreya Buddha’s belly with the other,
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
CLASSIFIED BRIEFING: The ministry said the special budget focuses on building a comprehensive defense system and strengthening the domestic defense industry The Ministry of National Defense yesterday released information on seven categories of weapons systems to be procured under a stalled NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.57 billion) special defense budget, including precision artillery, long-range missiles, air defense anti-tank missiles and more than 200,000 uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs). The Executive Yuan approved a draft version of the budget on Nov. 27 last year and submitted it to the legislature for review. The legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee yesterday invited Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to deliver a classified briefing and answer questions at a closed-door session. Koo said he hoped to provide lawmakers
RSS