A television commercial made by supermarket chain Pxmart for the upcoming Ghost Festival — which falls on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, when people prepare food to honor the dead with traditional pudu (普渡) ceremonies — appears to portray White Terror victim Ting Yao-tiao (丁窈窕).
It is the second advertisement in recent days that critics have linked to the White Terror era. The first, which was on Tuesday withdrawn by the company, was believed to feature the likeness of activist Chen Wen-chen (陳文成).
Chen’s family said that he was killed in 1981 by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government for supporting the democracy movement.
Photo copied by Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
The White Terror era was a period of political persecution that took place during the nation’s Martial Law era, which lasted from May 19, 1949, to July 15, 1987.
Ting was executed in 1956 after being framed as a communist spy.
Transitional Justice Promotion Committee member Yang Tsui (楊翠), who researches feminist victims of political persecution, on Friday said that records of Ting’s execution show that her daughter was present at the time and that she pleaded with the authorities, saying: “My mother is not a bad person. Do not shoot her.”
In the latest Pxmart ad, a woman who appears to be Ting at the age of 29, just before she was executed, describes being pushed to the ground with great force. The woman in the commercial speaks Japanese and her daughter is shown trimming a bonsai tree.
Ting was educated during the Japanese colonial era and was pregnant with her daughter at the time of her arrest in 1954, Yang said, alluding to the similarities between Ting and the woman in the commercial.
Ting was arrested after the KMT authorities alleged she was connected with a communist group based in Tainan and taking instructions from Chinese Communist Party member Qian Jingzhi (錢靜芝), who was responsible for directing Taiwanese communist youth.
It was later discovered that Ting was framed by an informant who found a banned book in her desk. The informant had a grudge against her because she told a friend not to pursue a relationship with him.
After Ting was executed, her daughter would not stop crying no matter who held her, Yang said.
Only when the father was tracked down and he came to take her home did the daughter stop crying, she added.
After a tree on the National Tainan Girls’ Senior High School campus — where a detention facility once stood — was uprooted by a typhoon in 2015, workers found a metal cigarette tin that Ting had buried there. Inside it she had hidden a lock of her hair and a farewell letter to her friend and fellow inmate, Kuo Chen-chun (郭振純), because she was convinced she would be executed.
On Feb. 10 last year, the school’s affairs committee elected to remove the statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) that stood in front of the tree, which had been replanted.
The statue was moved to the grounds of a former military dependents’ village in Tainan’s Yongkang Park.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan’s armed forces have established response protocols for a wide range of sudden contingencies, including the “Wan Chun Plan” to protect the head of state, the Ministry of Defense (MND) said today. After US President Donald Trump on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, concerns have been raised as to whether China would launch a similar “decapitation strike” on Taiwan. The armed forces regularly coordinate with relevant agencies and practice drills to ensure preparedness for a wide range of scenarios, Vice Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) told reporters before a
RSS