Tainan’s Chiaopanien Incident Memorial Park last week hosted a plaque-unveiling ceremony to commemorate the Chiaopanien Incident’s centennial anniversary.
The Chiaopaninien Incident, also known as the Tanani Incident, refers to an 1915 uprising against the Japanese colonial government by Yu Chin-fang’s (余清芳) armed religious movement, considered by historians to be the largest and bloodiest rebellion against Japanese rule.
The Japanese army defeated Yu and his followers in a battle in Tainan’s Yuching District (玉井) — then-known as Chiaopanien, inflicting heavy casualties, with more than 10,000 Taiwanese estimated to have died, including some by execution after the battle ended.
Photo: Lin Meng-ting, Taipei Times
The ceremony on Friday last week was attended by descendents of the incident’s victims, Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) and former national policy advisor Huang Kun-hu (黃崑虎), among others.
In commemoration of the incident’s 2,833 positively identified Taiwanese dead, the park’s 100m-long steel memorial installation the Voice of Silence contains 2,833 washed bricks, before which the event’s participants laid chrysanthemums.
Speakers at the event included Wen Fu-chu (溫福住), an 82-year-old retired teacher whose maternal grandfather and uncle were killed during the revolt.
“[After the Incident], my maternal grandmother would shake in terror if she heard any Japanese coming,” Wen said.
Choking back tears, he added that the Wen clan, including his mother who was 12 years old at the time, were traumatized and became impoverished as the result of the military crackdown.
His knowledge of the Chiaopanien Incident is drawn from stories told by his grandmother, Wen said.
“I felt keenly that a subjugated and colonized people have no human rights to speak of. Taiwanese have been treated unfairly. We must be masters of our own nation and claim sovereignty as Taiwanese people,” he said.
In his dedication, Lai said that “only remembrance of the painful past” could bring “reconciliation” and coexistence in the future, and the memorial park not only commemorates the “heroic spirits” of the Chiaopanien Incident, but is also an attempt to turn historical grievances to “understanding and tolerance,” and to bring “closure” to the descendents.
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