There is a pernicious myth that the benevolent Chiang Ching-kuo gifted democracy to the Taiwanese shortly before his death in 1988. Here he is announcing the end of martial law to Katharine Graham of the Washington Post. A young Ma Ying-jeou is in the background.
The truth is that the Taiwanese suffered and fought for their freedom. Here are two relatives of 228 victims holding pictures of their murdered loved ones.
After 228, came the long years of white terror recently dramatized in the movie Herstory. Those who survived lived out broken lives.
Graves of executed 228 victims in Liuzhangli, Taipei. Still there like this today.
White terror execution grounds in Xindian.
The translation of a Popeye cartoon that landed historian Bo Yang in jail for ten years. The handwritten note below explains that the cartoon insinuates that Chiang Kai-shel is Popeye and SWEE PEA is Chiang Ching-kuo. The desert island is Taiwan where they are exiled.
But starting in 1979, the Taiwanese people fought back despite the constant threat of prison sentences, secret police, and black lists. Here is Huang Hsin-chieh addressing protestors at CKS Memorial Hall. Huang spent seven years in prison for his role in the Kaohsiung Incident.
A defiant woman protests the black list that the KMT used to deny Taiwanese dissidents abroad entry to Taiwan.
Nylon Cheng proclaiming that ‘Taiwanese Independence is not a crime’. This was a seditious offense that carried a minimum sentence of seven years.
Here is Huang Hua in 1991 shouting ‘Long Live Taiwanese Independence’ after his fourth conviction for sedition. Huang spent 23 years in prison.
Nylon Cheng died by self-immolation in 1989 while resisting an arrest warrant for printing a proposal for a new constitution. The arresting officer was Hou You-yi, current New Taipei mayor and possible KMT presidential candidate. This is a replica of Cheng’s charred office.
Cheng’s wife and daughter seeing their husband and father for the last time. The banner draped on his coffin says ‘Movement for a New Nation’.
Activist breaks through police lines at Chiayi train station to pay respects to those publicly executed there in 1947. Public commemoration of 2-28 was strictly prohibited until early 1990s.
1977 uprising in Zhongli after election fraud by KMT.
Peter Huang in 1970 after attempted assassination of Chiang Ching-Kuo in New York. ‘Let me stand up like a Taiwanese’.
Sunflower Movement 2014 :)
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