When friends of Liu Yueh-shan (劉玥珊), an employee of an electronics firm in Taichung, heard that she had just returned from a trip to Green Island (綠島), they were eager to find out if she had gone snorkeling or tried the hot springs on the island’s northeast coast.
“I would always tell them that ‘I wasn’t going there for fun,’” Liu wrote in her online journal. “I told them I was there to be in prison, to feel and experience the torture and sufferings that my grandfather had been through.”
Liu knew from her childhood that her grandfather was one of the victims of the 228 Incident and was executed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Government in Taipei. The 228 Incident took place in 1947 when Chinese Nationalist troops suppressed a Taiwanese uprising, leaving tens of thousands dead, missing or imprisoned.
Liu, however, was not motivated to take on this root-searching journey until she saw the name of her grandmother, Liu Wan-shan (劉萬山), carved on the 228 Monument in the Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall in March.
Liu was one of the 40 people who participated in the Prison Experience Camp last month, hosted by the Taiwan 21st Century Cultural Association. Participants stayed in prison cells at the Eastern Coastal Patrol Office on Green Island for two nights. Aside from spending the night in prison, the association took them to visit the Oasis Village (綠洲山莊), which is now known for once being the home of political prisoners.
Attendees also took part in a question-and-answer session with victims of the White Terror, who were addressed as “freshmen” (新生) back in those days.
The Oasis Village is no longer used as a jail. The history, however, has made Green Island a must-visit tourist attraction for those interested in the nation’s history.
The association’s chief secretary, Chen Yi-shan (陳億珊) said that young people learn many things through the event.
Facilities inside the village, such as the large hexagon prison that housed all the inmates and the administrative office, remain intact. Two years ago, the government decided to establish the Green Island Culture Park (綠島文化園區).
“The 13th Squadron,” (中隊), for example, was a title given to those who died on the island from sickness or accidents. Those of the 13th squadron were buried in a site near the village.
“Hell’s Gate” (鬼門關) is a giant rock near the seaside in the shape of an elephant’s nose. Every newcomer had to enter Oasis Village under the elephant’s nose. The rock was named Hell’s Gate because it led to the unpredictable path of life or death.
Built in 1999, the Human Rights Memorial Park near the Oasis Village has also become part of the culture park. Designed by Taiwanese architect Han Pao-teh (漢寶德), the Memorial Park is known for its Human Rights Monument, the first one in Asia.
On the monument is a verse written by poet Bo Yang (柏楊): “In that era, mothers cried night after night over their children imprisoned on this island.”
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a bill to enhance cooperation with Taiwan on drone development and to reduce reliance on supply chains linked to China. The proposed Blue Skies for Taiwan Act of 2026 was introduced by Republican US senators Ted Cruz and John Curtis, and Democratic US senators Jeff Merkley and Andy Kim. The legislation seeks to ease constraints on Taiwan-US cooperation in uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), including dependence on China-sourced components, limited access to capital and regulatory barriers under US export controls, a news release issued by Cruz on Wednesday said. The bill would establish a "Blue UAS
RSS