Students remember historic Taiwanese tragedy

After 50 years of silence and uncertainty, the people of Taiwan can celebrate 228 Peace Memorial Day, a day set aside to recognize the estimated 18,000 to 30,000 people who died during the 228 Incident in Taiwan on Feb. 28, 1947.

University students of the Taiwanese-American Student Club commemorated the historic tragedy with a dinner last night at Peking Garden Chinese Restaurant, 452 E. College Ave. Several students also traveled to Columbia University this weekend for a 228 commemoration conference and performance.

"Eighteen thousand to 30,000 people might have died and we don't really know much about it," said Delphine Lee, co-founder of the Taiwanese-American Club.

Lee explained that the Taiwanese people during the time leading up to the 228 Incident were ruled by Chiang Kai-Shek's Kuomintang (KMT) regime in China. The people were oppressed, she said, and the tension kept rising until Feb. 27, 1947, when a Taiwanese woman was beaten to death by a KMT policeman. The Taiwanese people gathered in demonstration against the actions of the KMT, and by the next day martial law was declared.

"There was killing everywhere," Lee said. "They would string rope through people's hands and let them drown in the harbor."

Killing, raping and pillaging made this time a nightmare for the Taiwanese people, Lee said. In terror, the Taiwanese were forced to take on a Chinese identity during the 40 years of martial law in Taiwan.

It is only now that the KMT publicly admitting the incident.

"There's a kind of a 'this never happened' mentality, so no one really knows what happened," Lee said.

But, with the establishment of the national holiday and the acknowledgment of the 228 incident, she said, the truth is slowly becoming known and Taiwanese people can begin re-establishing an identity.

"A lot of people who are from Taiwan call themselves Chinese and they don't really know why," Lee said. "There is still an idea that you don't call yourself Taiwanese or you'll get killed."

Lee's parents, who are from Taiwan, never speak of the incident, she said. They also have discouraged her from going into politics because they fear for her life.

Alvin Wang, adviser for the club, attended the remembrance conference at Columbia University. The performance was powerful and the information -- which before now has been scarce and vague -- was available to the hundreds of attendants, he said.

"It's one thing to talk about people getting dragged into the streets and shot in the head -- it's another thing to see it," Wang said. "It brings out a reality to behold."

With the national recognition of the 228 Peace Memorial Day, public awareness, especially among the Taiwanese, is growing. A monument was erected in Taipei in 1995, but the inscription was left blank, Wang said.

"The government tried to whitewash the massacre to make it seem acceptable, so the plaque was left blank," Wang said. "Finally, on Feb. 28, 1997, the inscription was finished."

Both Wang and Lee expressed a great need for further education on the 228 Incident, especially in developing a bond among Taiwanese people, which was the spirit of last night's dinner.

"We often push away our heritage," Lee said. "What we need to do is recognize the 228 Incident and from there look back to see how it has impacted our identity in order to reform and establish an identity."