228 Massacre rioting in 1947 Taipei Wiki Commons photo
Tensions around the '228 Massacre' show how deeply the tragic events of 1947 continue to haunt political life in Taiwan today.
On February 28, 1947, the KMT troops of the Republic of China began a repressive crackdown of a popular uprising on Formosa against the Chinese-imposed local government, which the United States permitted to rule following Japanese surrender at the end of World War II.
Four decades of martial law following the massacre kept the truth of the war crimes from being known. Now the anniversary of the start of the massacre is a solemn national holiday.
The actual number of victims will never be known as bodies were buried in mass graves and thrown out to sea but numbered, by almost all reports, in the tens of thousands. Because strong feelings on the island over the still painful trauma dominate discussion of the killings, it is helpful to look outside Taiwan for independent information.
Canadian scholar Craig Smith of the University of British Columbia has studied the 228 Massacre.
"The importance of the 228 Incident cannot be underestimated by politicians in Taiwan. In the divisive politics of the island, the symbolism of a massacre perpetrated by mainlanders against Taiwanese is of crucial importance. And the use of this massacre in Taiwanese politics and nationalism is a sacred and sensitive event that binds Taiwanese together and divides them from the mainlanders makes the incident an important topic for historians. It is strange then to see that it has been ignored by many."
"Violence against mainlanders spread across the island. As demonstrated in Hou Hsiao-hsien's iconic film (City of Sadness 1989) , Taiwanese would speak to strangers in Japanese, Taiwanese or Hakka to determine whether or not they were mainlanders. If they could not respond, the victims were beaten, often fatally. Many mainlanders were caught unaware and had no idea why they were being attacked, while others quickly fled the cities. In total, more than one thousand mainlanders were killed in violent attacks."
Chiang Kai-shek ordered KMT troops to the island to quell the uprising. By the time the soldiers arrived the violence had subsided but that didn't matter.
"Even before the troops reached the shore they began shooting. Once in the cities, the soldiers shot indiscriminately at anyone on the street. This was especially true in Keelung, Taipei, Chiayi, and Kaohsiung, where fighting was at its worst. This terrifying method of controlling rebellions was standard for the Kuomintang, who had been desperate in their fights on the mainland for many years. However, the policy went to new extremes in Taiwan as the battle-hardened troops were facing the frustration of a language barrier in their attempts to control the Taiwanese."
"When the Kuomintang forces arrived in Taiwan in 1945, they had been fighting against the Japanese for eight years. This war had drained their resources and their spirits. However, Taiwan had been under Japanese colonial rule since 1895 and great efforts had been made to assimilate the Taiwanese into Japanese culture. Therefore, in the eyes of the Kuomintang forces, the Taiwanese had been collaborating with the enemy, were tainted not to be trusted."
"The Kuomintang army then attacked with swift ferocity in order to secure the island quickly and enable the troops to continue the war on the mainland."
"Kuomintang official policy on the incident has since been that the uprising was a result of corruption among officials, and unruly soldiers and local officials were to blame for the ensuing violence."
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