As Feb. 28 next year is to be the 70th anniversary of the 228 Incident, commemorative organizations said they are planning expanded activities, including a large concert to be attended by the president.
The Incident refers to a massacre on Feb. 28, 1947, that was carried out by troops of the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government to quell a popular uprising that erupted the previous day. It marked the beginning of the White Terror era. The number of people who were killed or went missing remains unknown, but some historians have put the figure in the tens of thousands.
To mark the 70th anniversary of the Incident, the government-funded Memorial Foundation of 228 said it would work with other organizations to stage a memorial exhibition, an international seminar and a music festival among other activities commemorating the event, and celebrating peace and social justice.
The Taiwan Nation Alliance said it would hold a large music festival as part of the event and would invite President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝).
It added that music by late Taiwanese composer Tyzen Hsiao (蕭泰然), composed to commemorate the Incident, would be performed at the concert.
The foundation said its expanded commemorative activities would comprise three events to be held over the course of next year — an exhibit held in cooperation with the Nylon Cheng Liberty Foundation to celebrate 30 years of peacefully commemorating the Incident, the publication on July 15 of a new book revisiting the end of the Martial Law era and an international conference to be held in cooperation with Academia Sinica that would investigate the Incident in depth.
Liao Chie-ping (廖繼斌), chief executive of the 228 Memorial Foundation, said that after discussing next year’s anniversary of the Incident with the Nylon Cheng Foundation, the two decided to stage an expanded exhibit at the National 228 Memorial Museum, which would run for three years.
Liao said the foundations are compiling accounts of those who participated in the first commemoration of the Incident after martial law was lifted, which they are to release as a book on the anniversary of the lifting of martial law on July 15.
The international conference is to be held on Feb. 24 and Feb. 25.
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