Hsieh I-cheng (謝一誠), a 228 Incident victim, said that a certificate he is to receive today to restore his reputation cannot erase the pain and torture he experienced during his imprisonment.
Hsieh, 93, grew up in Taichung’s Beitun District (北屯) and was drafted to the transport unit of the Japanese military in Taichung when he was 19, where he became familiar with Taichung’s arsenal, he said.
On Feb. 28, 1947, the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government violently suppressed a nationwide uprising against it and a series of bloody purges against civilians ensued in subsequent months. The event marked the beginning of the White Terror era that saw tens of thousands of people arrested, imprisoned and executed.
Photo: Chang Hsuan-che, Taipei Times
Hsieh said when he heard the crackdown had spread, he transported firearms and ammunition left behind by the Japanese military in an ammunition depot in Taichung’s Dakeng (大坑) to the downtown area to assist the militia.
On March 16, 1947, Hsieh was charged with theft and sentenced to death.
He spent more than two years in a jail in a military camp in Taichung’s Gancheng Borough (干城), he said.
“Those two years were a living nightmare,” he said.
Hsieh said that he shared a cell with 47 people and that they slept in shifts.
They were given a bowl of rice and two dishes per day and did not have enough water to drink, Hsieh said, adding that to survive the men drank each other’s urine.
During the night they were beaten with gunstocks and iron burns, given electric shocks and had buckets of cold water poured over their heads and forced into their mouths with hoses, Hsieh said.
Several times he feared that his stomach would explode, he said.
Hsieh said he was only dragged back to the cell after losing consciousness.
After two years and eight months, Hsieh was transferred to Taichung Prison, where he took his first shower since his imprisonment, he said.
After three-and-a-half years, Hsieh’s sentence was reduced and he was released, he said.
As his national identification card was marked with the Chinese characters for “228” (二 二 八) in red, he was required to report to the police every month, he said, adding that he had trouble finding a job until a relative working at the Household Registration Office told him to destroy his old national identification card and request a new one.
Originally named Hsien Yan-shan (謝炎山), Hsieh said he changed his name in the hope of starting a new life.
Hsieh said the Incident had a huge effect on his life
He took pain medication for decades after the torture, which lead to side effects, he said.
When he passes Dakeng today, he often thinks of the ammunition depot, he said.
He chose the numbers “228” as the last three digits of his cellphone number to remind himself of what had happened, he said.
This overdue certificate means nothing, Hsieh said, adding that he did what he did during the Incident because he loved Taiwan.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard