February 28th Incident

“It’s one of the biggest historical events in Taiwan after the Nationalist government arrived.”

The February 28 Incident is a collective nightmare for Taiwanese society. While the young generation of Taiwanese was pursuing the “Retrocession”, they would not expect the enforced silence for over 40 years. In 1945, World War II ended, and Taiwan escaped from the colonization of Japan. As Taiwanese people were looking forward to the arrival of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), contrary to their belief, a unexpected change in society, politics and language came about. Then, due to the eight year Resistance War between China, Japan, and Taiwan, the Chinese government’s overbearing attitude to Taiwanese became imaginable.

August 29, 1945, He appointed Ch’en Yi (Governor of Fukien/Fujian Province) as the Chief Executive of the administration on Taiwan.  Later, on Sep 1, he became Commander in Chief of the Taiwan Provincial Garrison.

August 29, 1945,  Chiang-Kai-shek appointed Ch’en Yi (Governor of Fukien/Fujian Province) as the Chief Executive of the administration on Taiwan. Then, on Sep 1,  he became Commander in Chief of the Taiwan Provincial Garrison.

  • Mainlanders
  • “Half mainlanders” took on political meanings: those Taiwanese who lived in mainland and had close connections with the Chinese Nationalist Party KMT, then, returned home during the Retrocession of Taiwan
  • These people played positive and negative roles. Some were said to have provided lists of leading figures in Taiwanese society during the bloody repression of Feb 28.
  • Monopoly Bureau (This is one out of two economy bureaus implemented by Ch’en Yi) (Managed Taiwanese domestic economy)
  • Feb 27, 1947, investigators from the Taipei branch of Monopoly Bureau investigated contraband tobacco in T’ai-p’ing.
  • They confiscated tobacco and money from Lin-Chiang Mai (40 yr old widow), but the dispute and commotion caused other people to get involved.  In an effort to control the situation, the investigator fired a warning shot but accidentally injured a a civilian who died the next day.
  • Crowds demanded that the gunman and partner be handed over and on the next day strikers demanded that the Monopoly bureau make authorities punish the guilty. This lead to soldiers being dispatched for defense, shots being fired and many deaths.
  • People broadcast others to rise up and rebel. Thus, rebellions that couldn’t be put down broke out and mainlanders were more often victims of attacks in the street.
  • March 8:  Soldiers began an island-wide bloody repression. Then the 2nd stage of “Pacification” and “Countryside Clean-up” continued on March 8- 15.

This Incident with the widower, investigation, and arousal of surrounding people became the chance event that became the start of the February 28th Incident.  

    • This chance incident lead Taiwanese citizens in Taipei to set up the Resolution Committee
    • They held talks and negotiations with Chen Yi who secretly, on March 2nd, asked Chiang Kai-shek for troops (to kill everyone and put down the rebellion) (He was just buying time.)
    • This committee was later declared an illegal group by Ch’en Yi
  • March 9th martial law had been declared on the island
  • Nationalist army entered Taipei and fired in the streets

Writers, artists, educators, industrialists, people working in the media, locally elected people’s representatives, doctors, judges, public prosecutors, lawyers, local gentry, the leading aboriginals, and many others

  • These are the elites who had so quickly disappeared from Taiwan.  In such a short period of time, these irreconcilable deaths became a generation that Taiwan lost forever.

 

The incident happened in less than three months. So there’s no doubt that it had an enormous impact. It “Demoralized” Taiwan, damaged it in spirit and morally emptied it.

    • The impact resulted in few elite who most likely fell silent or were traumatized and the children who were also traumatized will forever be connected to the people who were lost.  They are apart of this event and cannot erase it from their identity.

Cross-generational Conversations on the 288 Incident

She was 20 years old when she first heard about the 228 Incident. She got to know this event from within a “banned book.”

Ms. Xu, 50, Writer; Illustrator

He first heard of this when he was in 8th grade and the martial law was just lifted. He felt ridiculous because he thought he knew a lot about history, but he did not know about such an important event. Therefore, he wondered if there were more truths to be discovered.

Mr. Qiao, 45, Government Officer

“Under martial law, no one dared talk about it [228 Incident]”.  That period was called the “White Terror” and people who talked about this incident during that time were arrested or executed, which led to silence about it in children’s education.

Mr. Huang, 53, Professor

His father was lost in the incident. He had a dilemma as whether or not to save his friends because he didn’t discriminate between Taiwanese local residents and Mainlanders. To him, they were just “his friends.”

The event affected him later in ways such as people say that he was the “son of a Commie spy.” Even his younger siblings had to deal with the bullying.

Mr. Gao is just one example of someone dealing with the effects of a traumatic experience even though they were not directly involved. 

Mr. Gao, 77

He explains the differences between Taiwanese and Mainlanders.

Typically, people were identified as “Taiwanese local residents” or “Mainlanders” by whether they came to Taiwan before the defeat of Japan (1945) or after.

Those who came before were identified as Taiwanese and those who came after were identified as “Mainlanders.”

Mr. Ou, 77, Retired

History records the event in general. However, stories record various individuals in the event. The girl says that stories have “warmth” making people, in a closer way, understand and feel for the individuals of the incident. The event becomes real.

“That’s when you realize this thing really happened”

 To make sure this never happens again, she says it’s important that citizens need to be aware. 

“Don’t be apathetic about politics. Your silence is violence!”

(Girl)

Mr. Yang, 53, a professor
As a second-generation Mainlander, he is in an awkward position. He was not a “perpetrator” but had to bear the effect it had for being an ancestor to them.

The event, for him, didn’t leave a great “impression” because he didn’t it to.  He wanted to avoid the event and since he wasn’t involved, he didn’t want to become a part of it.

Mr. Yang, 53, Professor

Originally, the Peace Memorial day did not exist, but people fought for the day to commemorate the “elites who were shot dead for no reason.”

Ms. Fu, 75

The first president Chiang Kai-shek is not familiar to him. He is shocked to learn of him because the February 28 Incident is not discussed.

To some extent, it could reflect the weakness of today’s education when mentioning sensitive events of the past.

(Boy)

"The Peach Blossom Spring" and "The Old Capital"

“You walked along, following the landmark map in your head, to Dihua Street, where you had stopped for all kinds of things for the three major holidays of the year.”

Like the fisherman, the narrator is walking and following the marks left for the purpose of finding a place that, now, only exists in their memories.  The fisherman will never be able to return to the time when his wandering mind guided him to the peach blossom spring. Whereas the narrator can never return to the time when her younger self and mind wandered more freely.  

“So you were forced to enter from Lane 49, one side of which was taken up by food stalls packed with dinners who looked up from their four-herb soup or oyster pancakes to stare at you.”

Entering from Lane 49 → Entering the cave

The stalls packed with food… → The rice paddy on the other side of the cave

“But you were not holding a map and your clothes were rather ordinary, so why were they ‘shocked to see the fisherman?’”

The fisherman was an outsider when he first entered and the correlation to the narrator is that she (a Taiwanese) is in Taiwan, but the Taiwanese see her as different and not truly Taiwanese.

“You continued on through the forest, and where it entered at a source of water, there was an empty warehouse-like building.”

Here, as the narrator continues walking she does not find her peach blossom spring.

Fisherman rowing upstream and heading toward peach trees →  Narrator risking her life crossing Huanhe Road

Light coming through a small opening in the mountain; fisherman went through the cave and found a plain on the other side You find the Dadaocheng Pier and head towards a riverbank with no “mulberry, bamboo… no criss-cross paths skirting the fields, no sounds of cocks crowing and dogs barking…” (Contrasting to the “Peach Blossom Spring,” the narrator instead sees Chinese hibiscusses and banyan trees with a basketball court and skating rink.)

“When They caught sight of the fisherman” → They knew the narrator was a foreigner in spite of her losing her colonial map.

Conclusion 1

“not caring if she was invited to go to their house, where she would be served wine while they killed someone for a feast.

Above, is a mix of the narrator’s words and the words from the “Peach Blossom Spring.”

The narrator has pointed out that, in comparison to the fisherman, she has received the opposing treatment.  Both the fisherman and her are outsiders, but he is met warmly with a feast whereas she is feels uncomfortable and still quite like an outsider.

Conclusion 2

For both the “Peach Blossom Spring” and “The Old Capital,” the story ends with a similar feeling of never reaching the utopia.  In the “Peach Blossom Spring,” the utopia is forgotten and this makes it an unreachable place. But from another interpretation, the peach blossom spring is not a real place but only exist in the fisherman’s dream. So, based on this interpretation, “The Old Capital” and “Peach Blossom Spring” both express a sense of desperation for a lost memory that is either the non-existent utopia or the reality that will never be again.