The Memorial Foundation of 228 yesterday launched three books documenting different aspects of the 228 Incident to mark the 73rd anniversary of the massacre.
The 228 Incident refers to a crackdown launched by the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime against civilian demonstrators following an incident in Taipei on Feb. 27, 1947.
About 18,000 to 28,000 people, many of them members of the intellectual elite, were killed during the subsequent government crackdown, which lasted into early May 1947.
Photo: CNA
The event also marked the beginning of the White Terror era that saw thousands of people arrested, imprisoned or executed.
The Puzzle of the 228 Incident (拼圖二 二 八), The Oral History of the Battle of Wuniulan (南投二 二 八口述歷史訪談錄) and Beyond 1947: A Non-daily Memoranda (1947之後：二 二 八 （非）日常備忘錄) were launched to cast light on the massacre from different perspectives.
The Puzzle of the 228 Incident, by Academia Historica President Chen Yi-shen (陳儀深), is a compilation of major research findings and theses pertaining to the Incident.
The Oral History of the Battle of Wuniulan is a collection of 27 interviews with eyewitnesses and descendants of victims, conducted by Lin Wei-sheng (林偉盛) and several other people. It focuses on the battle between revolutionaries and KMT troops in Wuniulan, today’s Ailan (愛蘭) in Nantou County, shortly after the massacre.
Speaking at a launch event at the National 228 Memorial Museum, Lin said he encountered difficulties when conducting the interviews, as many survivors and witnesses were still afraid to talk even 73 years after the massacre.
Some of the interviewees also spoke at the ceremony.
Liao Kuo-yang (廖國揚) said that he was born after his father was killed in the Battle of Wuniulan, and his uncle was named as his father in his birth certificate for fear of reprisals from the government.
Chang Yang-hao (張洋豪), another interviewee who also lost his father in the battle, said that he saw bodies piled up in the town square after clashes.
Beyond 1947: A Non-daily Memoranda is comprised of eight articles written by a team of history researchers to give a contemporary perspective on the incident, drawing on material from the national archives, oral history and academic research.
The books were published in Mandarin.
Chairman of the memorial foundation Hsueh Hua-yuan (薛化元) said at the event that the search for truth behind the incident would deepen the values of democracy and human rights in Taiwan, and give its people spiritual strength to deal with external threats.
The foundation would continue to collect and release the names of possible victims of the incident and hopes to achieve information breakthroughs with the aid of new technology, he said.
EXCUSES: Beijing is using government and research vessels as a pretext to harass the nation and enter its EEZ, and engage in ‘hegemonic expansion,’ the coast guard said The Coast Guard Administration yesterday said it drove away Chinese oceanographic research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 22 (向陽紅33) from restricted waters after warning it that it was in Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The Chinese vessel entered restricted waters off the coast of Yilan County’s Suao (蘇澳) at 11:35pm on Thursday, the coast guard said, adding that it dispatched the Lanyu patrol vessel and the boat PP-10077 to shadow the Chinese ship and issue radio warnings ordering it to leave. China has no sovereignty over waters off Taiwan’s east coast, Lanyu’s crew told Xiang Yang Hong 22 over the radio, and demanded
BAIT AND SWITCH: Allowing KMT-run counties to sell to China while the threat of abrupt cancelations hangs overhead is another form of coercion, officials said Beijing is using agricultural purchase offers announced during the Straits Forum to deepen Taiwan’s dependence on the Chinese market, a Taiwanese official said yesterday as they criticized the Taitung County commissioner’s participation in the initiative. During the Straits Forum held in Xiamen on Saturday, Chinese officials announced a sales and purchase agreement for agricultural products from some counties led by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Taitung County Commissioner Yao Ching-ling (饒慶鈴), who was barred from attending the event in person by the Mainland Affairs Council, participated via video. Under the agreement, China would purchase atemoyas, pomeloes, tea and grouper harvested in Taitung,
Four Taiwanese universities have been ranked among the world's top 200 institutions in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings for next year, the highest Taiwan has ever placed in the category, with National Taiwan University (NTU) achieving its best performance at 54th globally and 17th in Asia. The four Taiwanese institutions in the global top 200 are NTU (54th), National Tsing Hua University (142nd), National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (177th) and National Cheng Kung University (191st), the rankings showed. All four universities achieved their highest-ever global rankings this year, QS data showed. National Cheng Kung University entered the top 200 for
Tropical Storm Mekkhala is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon tomorrow and could come close enough to Taiwan later in the week to prompt a sea warning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2 pm, the storm was located 1,870 kilometers southeast of Taiwan's southern tip and moving west- northwest at 23 km per hour. CWA forecaster Cheng Chieh-jen (鄭傑仁) said Mekkhala is expected to continue moving west-northwest through Tuesday under the influence of the Pacific high- pressure system before gradually turning north toward waters east of Taiwan or south of the Ryukyu Islands. The timing and angle of the
RSS