The nation’s first monument to the 228 Incident, near Chiayi’s Bajhang Creek (八掌溪), is to be moved next month to the 228 Peace Memorial Park in Taipei and, in the process, reveal a Bible buried under its base.
The monument in Chiayi was built in 1989 after its creator and advocates overcame a multitude of difficulties and harassment, and is widely considered to have been the first act in breaking the taboo of commemorating the 228 Incident.
The 228 Incident refers to the crackdown launched by the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime against civilian demonstrations following an incident in Taipei on Feb. 27, 1947. The event marked the beginning of what is known as the 228 Massacre and led to the White Terror era, which saw thousands of Taiwanese arrested, imprisoned and executed.
Photo: CNA
The Chiayi City Government last year decided to move the monument after Mituo Road, where the monument is located, was widened.
The city government said it has taken out insurance for its protection during transit.
The monument not only commemorates the victims of the 228 Incident and the White Terror era, but also symbolizes the struggles of those who first spoke up about those historic events, the city said.
Its designer, Chan San-yuan (詹三原), was jailed — ostensibly for other reasons — over its creation.
The original plan was to build a monument in front of Chiayi Railway Station where renowned artist Chen Cheng-po (陳澄波) and former city councilors Pan Mu-chih (潘木枝), Lu Ping-chin (盧炳欽) and Ko Lin (柯麟) were executed during the massacre.
In 1989, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chapter in Chiayi City proposed replacing a statue of Wu Feng (吳鳳) — who is said to have sacrificed his life to “correct” the head-hunting custom of Tsou Aborigines — at the station with a 228 Incident monument.
Supporters initially placed a wooden monument with a peace dove and the numbers “228,” based on Chan’s proposed design, over the statue of Wu.
The KMT government at the time saw this as interference by the opposition party and worked with Lion’s Clubs International to install a large peace bell at the base of the statue, apparently to forestall the erection of a 228 Incident monument.
Then-Chiayi mayor Chang Po-ya (張博雅) sought to appease protesters with the promise to build a 228 Incident monument near a Buddhist temple on Mituo Road.
Residents responded with donations in symbolic amounts of NT$228, NT$1,280 and NT$2,280 to assist with the monument’s construction.
During construction, the monument was vandalized several times before the builders decided to post people at the construction site 24 hours a day and store some of the building materials at the Chiayi Presbyterian Church.
People associated with the project also reportedly suffered harassment and surveillance by police, while Chan was imprisoned for a year and a half.
The Presbyterian church’s pastor at the time buried a Bible under the ground where the monument was to be erected, saying it was to allow the spirits of the 228 Incident’s martyrs to rest in peace.
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