Memorial events will be held around the country today to mark the 66th anniversary of the 228 Massacre, an anti-government uprising that was brutally suppressed.
This year, the government-launched Memorial Foundation of 228 will hold its annual memorial ceremony in Yilan County for the first time, foundation chief executive Liao Chi-pin (廖繼斌) said.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will attend the event and present a “reputation-restoring certificate” to officially clear the name of a local newspaper that was forced to close down during the incident, Liao said.
Another of the certificates will be given to the family of 228 victim Chiang Shih-chin (蔣時欽), a native of Yilan and son of Chiang Wei-shui (蔣渭水), an important figure in Taiwan’s resistance against Japanese colonial rule, Liao said.
The foundation will also stage a memorial concert and play that day, as well as a human rights film festival that will run through April 28, at the National 228 Memorial Museum in Taipei, to commemorate the tragic event, Liao added.
“We hope to use the museum to further promote human rights education,” said Liao, who is the director of the museum.
Tens of thousands of Taiwanese, many of them among the intellectual elite, are estimated to have been killed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) forces in the brutal crackdown that began on Feb. 27, 1947, 16 months after Japanese colonial rule of Taiwan ended. The incident led to nearly four decades of martial law in Taiwan.
The Taiwan 228 Care Association has organized a procession today that will pass a teahouse that was the original scene of the incident.
A concert will also be held this evening at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall to mark the anniversary, while other memorial events will be held around the nation.
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