Thread by @wordsfromtaiwan

For 2+ yrs, Shih Shui-huan's morning routine consisted of making 2 bento boxes replete w/ the flavors of her hometown, #Tainan. Oddly enough, the bachelorette lived alone in employee lodgings as a Taipei postal worker. She was also severely malnourished—weighing 38kg upon arrest.

Shih, who was secretly sheltering her wanted brother, evaded suspicion by buying single-household groceries. He spent daytime in the ceiling, and slept below the wood floors at night, according to accounts theorizing the KMT soldiers had little knowledge of Japanese architecture.

But a spurred admirer repeatedly tried to get her friend in trouble. Ting Yao-tiao cautioned Shih re her suitor's unsavory character, and in return, he reported Ting's book collection — but his letters were intercepted by Ting's friend Wu Li-shui, who worked at the postal office.

But when Wu was implicated himself, he admitted to burning those letters and surrendered Shih and Ting's names upon being tortured. They were imprisoned from 1954 to 1956 at Qingdao E. Road (today's Taipei #Sheraton)—Ting gave birth behind bars (the prison had a #daycare center).

Both women were gunned down at Wanhua's Machangding execution grounds on July 24, 1956. Their fabricated crimes were attempting to overthrow the KMT gov through recruitment + sheltering dissidents. Many have stated that their membership were to a fictitious org that never existed

Ting was able to leave a letter and lock of hair to ex-flame Kuo Chen-chun who was also arrested. She told him when + where to find a certain cigarette box. Kuo spent 22 yrs as a prisoner before release; he buried Ting's hair under a tree at her school, Tainan Girls' Senior High.

Shih wrote 68 letters to her sister and mother in Tainan when she wasn't working at the prison's sewing factory. Her last letter delivered 2 days before their execution didn't read like a will; she asked for two yards of patterned fabric so she could make Ting's kid a new dress.

Her brother was never found. It is said that Shih Chih-cheng (1st row, 1st right) froze in the ceiling while the secret police came to take his sister away (she had a pre-arrangement w/ colleague to find him an escape car). He was last seen walking down Taipei's Zhongshan N. Road

This #WhiteTerror feature is based on: hef.org.tw/tastedemocracy…

Read the de-classified military documents from #Taiwan's Transitional Justice Commission, another gem of a #TaiwanResources: aa.archives.gov.tw/ELK/SearchDeta…

Thanks everyone! I've filed the story on Medium with source links and proper credits ^^/

wordsfromtaiwan.medium.com/portraits-of-w…