Pro-democracy activists and women’s rights groups yesterday held outdoor performances to commemorate victims of the White Terror era, when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) suppressed political dissidents, and called for May 19 to be restored a national holiday.
The then-KMT government on May 19, 1949, declared martial law in Taiwan, which lasted until July 15, 1987.
More than 40 organizations, headed by the Koo Kwang-ming Foundation and the Tsai Jui-yueh Dance Foundation, yesterday gathered in front of Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei to hold cultural and artistic performances and demand that May 19 be designated as a national holiday named “White Terror Memorial Day.”
Photo: CNA
This year’s commemorative event focused on the courage and suffering of women during the White Terror era.
Actors performed the play Black-Face Action, which is about Pan Ying-hsueh (潘英雪), the daughter of famous Chiayi doctor Pan Mu-chih (潘木枝) who was executed by the KMT regime in the mass killings on Feb. 28, 1947. Pan Ying-hsueh covered her face in black paint to avoid being recognized by the authorities as she traveled to Taipei in search of her brother.
Following the execution of her father by the KMT regime, Pan Ying-hsueh was arrested and endured physical and mental hardship. She was later released and relocated to a mountain village in Nantou County.
Photo: Lo Kuo-chia, Taipei Times
Years later, she heard her brother was working in Taipei and left Nantou to find him, painting her face to avoid being recognized.
“Today’s performance aims to remind people of Pan Ying-hsueh and her family’s story during the 228 Massacre and White Terror era that followed it. Her story is a symbol of the courage and determination of female victims during terrible years under the KMT’s authoritarian rule,” the Tsai Jui-yueh Dance Foundation said in a statement.
Separately, the National Human Rights Museum held a ceremony yesterday, marking the 76th anniversary of the declaration of martial law in 1949.
Speaking at the event held at the Jing-mei White Terror Memorial Park in New Taipei City, Minister of Culture Li Yuan (李遠) said May 19 is a date that "must not be forgotten" by Taiwanese people.
Also speaking at the ceremony, Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Mark Mark Ho (何志偉) said the White Terror is "an inerasable memory in the democratic history of both Taiwan and the world."
Ho added that he regularly takes visiting foreign guests from the Presidential Office to the nearby Memorial to the Victims of the White Terror located in the northwest corner of Jieshou Park.
"The monument reminds everyone that history cannot be forgotten and must be protected and passed on by every generation," Ho said.
More than 100 people attended the ceremony, including family members of political victims.
At the end of the ceremony, guests laid flowers at the monument in tribute to the victims.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
The first tropical storm of the year in the western North Pacific, Wutip (蝴蝶), has formed over the South China Sea and is expected to move toward Hainan Island off southern China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. The agency said a tropical depression over waters near the Paracel and Zhongsha islands strengthened into a tropical storm this morning. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 64.8kph, with peak gusts reaching 90kph, it said. Winds at Beaufort scale level 7 — ranging from 50kph to 61.5kph — extended up to 80km from the center, it added. Forecaster Kuan Hsin-ping
RSS