In February 1959 when the Taiwan Garrison Command (
One year later on Sept. 4, 1960, Lei Chen (
PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE TAIWAN CULTURE AND HUMANITY RESEARCH STU
While most government documents regarding the infamous "Lei Chen incident" went mysteriously astray or were destroyed, some were miraculously found at an antique market and will soon make their public debut.
To share Lei's life and times with the public -- he died in 1979 of prostate cancer -- a photo exhibition will be held at the 228 Memorial Museum between Nov. 17 and Jan. 13.
The event is co-sponsored by Taipei City's Bureau of Cultural Affairs and the Taiwan Culture and Humanity Research Studio.
At the pre-exhibition press conference at the museum yesterday, Lung Ying-tai (
"As a forerunner of Taiwan's democratic development, Lei has had a tremendous impact on both Taipei and Beijing," she said. "The exhibition gives us an opportunity not only to examine ourselves, but also to understand the violence of an authoritarian government."
Exhibition curator Hsu Tsung-mao (徐宗懋) of the Taiwan Culture and Humanity Research Studio said that the organization is thrilled to share with the public Lei's official documents, which were classified as confidential and have been kept locked away for over four decades.
"They were nowhere to be found until a few months ago when we accidentally learned of their whereabouts," Hsu said. "As soon as we knew they ended up at an antique market, we rushed to the site and picked up eight boxes full of photos and documents."
Showing a 1959 handwritten report stamped as confidential, Hsu said that the document showed that the Taiwan Garrison Command proposed drastic measures to terminate publication of the Free China Journal.
"To take care of the problem once and for all, it should be like engaging in a war with the enemy. The most effective weapons are missiles," say the documents.
Chen Ku-ying (陳鼓應), a professor of philosophy at National Taiwan University and one of Lei's closest friends, also proffered his personal recollections on Lei and made public his own collection of Lei's photos.
"I remember there was always someone following him wherever he went, including when he came over to my place for dinner," Chen said.
He also read from the diary of a high-ranking military official which echoed the documents produced by Hsu yesterday.
"The diary said that the authorities were so furious about Lei's democracy-promoting articles that they were eager to arrest him and put him behind bars," Chen said.
Born in 1897 in China's Chechiang Province, Lei developed a close relationship with the KMT after returning from his four years of study in Japan.
After the KMT lost the civil war and withdrew from the mainland to Taiwan in 1949, Lei proposed that the KMT should conduct democratic reforms in a bid to compete with the communists.
The Free China Journal was established in Taipei in 1950 with the financial support of the KMT. In the beginning, the publication was must-read material for the armed forces. Lei was also appointed as one of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's advisors.
However, as Lei's pro-democracy stance became evident, the tension between Lei and Chiang gradually grew.
Lei was finally arrested for treason in 1960 when he tried to form an opposition party. He died in 1979 of prostate cancer.
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