A group of students at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) yesterday marked the 65th anniversary of the 228 Incident by staging an art installation on campus to symbolize a horrific event in Taiwanese history, in hopes that the public can learn from the nation’s past mistakes.
Members of the student organization 02 Group (零貳社) — whose name is a phonetic translation of “protest” in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) — in the morning hung up a paper board that read “1947-2012” on the statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) on campus, and around it placed the names of victims of the 228 Massacre.
The 228 Massacre refers to the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) bloody crackdown on demonstrators and the local elite under Chiang’s administration. On the evening of Feb. 27, 1947, a woman named Lin Chiang-mai (林江邁), who had been selling contraband cigarettes in Taipei, was beaten by agents from the Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, prompting an angry response from bystanders. Known as the 228 Incident, it sparked a nationwide uprising and KMT troops from China were ordered in early March to quell the disturbances and thousands were killed in the ensuing massacre.
Photo courtesy of the 02 Group at National Cheng Kung University
The massacre killed many of Taiwan’s academic elite, members of the student group said, while the shadow of the KMT’s totalitarian repression had yet to fully disappear.
Although a series of events has been held in recent years to commemorate the Incident and ensuing massacre, and the nation’s leaders have also publicly acknowledged the mistakes of the then-KMT government in the brutal crackdown, the massacre remained disregarded in the nation’s history curriculum, they said.
“That is why we are determined to launch a commemorative event this morning,” the students said.
School authorities said in a response that the students were entitled to freely express their opinions as long they could maintain order and did not harm others.
Translated by Stacy Hsu, staff writer
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
RSS