Chapter 9   The Feb. 28 Incident

Governor's Office and Garrison Command

       Based on the agreement at Potsdam Conference, Allied Forces occupied Japan.  On September 2, 1945, Japanese representatives signed a formal surrender document on the deck of U.S. battleship Missouri, anchored at Tokyo Bay.  On the same day, the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces issued General Order No.1, ordered Japanese forces in China and Formosa (except Manchuria), to "surrender to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek".  Based on this order, Chinese Army occupied Taiwan under Chiang Kai-shek's command.  Meantime, the domestic war between Kuomintang and Chinese Communist had already begun.  The Chinese Army under Chiang’s command was in reality Kuomintang troops.  

       Hiding in Chunking, Szechwan Province during the war, Chiang’s regime did not wait for Allied Supreme Command’s order, promulgated the “Organization Rules for the Governor's Office of Taiwan Province", and set up “Taiwan Provincial Governor's Office" and "Taiwan Provincial Garrison Command Headquarters”.  Chiang appointed General Chen Yi as the Governor concurrently the Garrison Commander, and Ger Ch'in-yin as the Secretary-General of Governor's Office.

       There was no international agreement to change the status of Taiwan; but Chiang Kai-shek swiftly renamed Taiwan as "Taiwan Province" of China.  On September 5, 1945, Chen Yi set up a temporary office at Chunking, and appointed himself as the chief executive of  “Taiwan Province”.  Furthermore, on September 29, he set up an "Advanced Command Post", a combined office of the Governor and Garrison Command Headquarters, and began preparing for occupation of Taiwan.  Meanwhile, some Taiwanese, who had joined Kuomintang in China, returned to Taiwan to spread propaganda about Kuomintang's "courageous deeds" in resisting the Japanese during the War, trying to induce an atmosphere of the "happy return to motherland".  In addition, Chiang also secretly dispatched an advance guard of Kuomintang's secret military police to pave the road for power transfer.  From the Secretary-General of Governor's Office down to the members of the advanced guard, 80 requisition personnel boarded on an American military plane, arrived at Taipei on October 5, 1945, and immediately relocated Advanced Command Post to Taipei.

       On October 17, 1945, two regiments of Kuomintang troops including 12,000 soldiers and some 200 officials, had been transported in 30 American vessels, escorted by American warplanes, landed at Keelung harbor, and marched towards Taipei the same day.  It was ironic that being a victor, Kuomintang was unable to occupy Taiwan without complete support by the Americans.  Meantime, the Taiwanese people, seeing with their own eyes low morale, miserable, and inferiorly equipped Kuomintang troops, were surprised that they were so much different from Japanese soldiers, and could not believe that Japan had been defeated by China.  Now they believed the rumor that "Japanese may have lost the war to the U.S., but not to China" was correct after all.  Surprised and disappointed by the Kuomintang troops, Taiwanese started to feel uneasy about "returning to motherland"; their original expectation and joy were overshadowed by a touch of anxiety.

Returning to Motherland

       On October 24, 1945, Chen Yi led the management teams of Governor's Office, Garrison Command, and arrived Taipei on an American military airplane from Shanghai.  Next day, on October 25, at 10 A.M., “Ceremony for accepting surrender in Taiwan region of China war zone" took place in Taipei Public Hall (present-day Chungshan Memorial Hall).  After the ceremony, Governor Chen Yi made an announcement in a radio broadcasting (summary) as follows: "From now on, Taiwan officially becomes the territory of China; all lands and residents are, therefore, under the jurisdiction of Nationalist Government, Republic of China (Kuomintang regime)".  This announcement not only changed the status of Taiwan, but also changed the nationality of the Taiwanese people from Japan to China without their consent.  This is considerably different compared to the time when Taiwan was seceded to Japan after the Sino-Japanese War, that Taiwan residents were given two years period to decide on the choice of their nationality.  Following the ceremony, a mass meeting celebrating the “retrocession" was held in the afternoon.  Thus Taiwan was returned to the “motherland"; from that day the nationality of Taiwanese was changed to the Republic of China, and they were called the "people of this province" to differentiate from the Chinese that arrived recently from China, who were called the "people from other provinces" (the Mainlanders).  Moreover, since then, October 25 was set as the "Retrocession Day" and has become a national holiday. 

       After Japan's surrender, the Governor’s Office of Taiwan Province replaced the colonial Governor’s Office, and Kuomintang Garrison Command occupied Taiwan (Japanese) Military Headquarters, while Kuomintang regime took over enemy properties (Japanese industries) one after another.  The new Governor's Office took over all government offices originally belonged to the colonial government, and Garrison Command took over all facilities originally belonged to Japanese Army.  Requisition Committees were set up in every prefecture, and took over all local government offices.  In addition, “Taiwan Provincial Requisition Committee” took over Japanese government enterprises and properties, while “Taiwan Provincial Japanese Property Management Committee” took over private enterprises and properties.  Up to the end of February 1947, with the exception of lands, the total properties taken over were: (1) Government organizations: items 593, amounting to 2,938,500,000 yens; (2) Private enterprises: items 1,295, amounting to 7,163,600,000 yens; (3) Private properties, 48,968 items, amounting to 888,800,000 yens; (4) Grand total 50,856 items, amounting to 10,990,900,000 yens.

       It was a tremendously big fortune, considering the value of currency in those days.  Using ruling structure of ex-colonial government as basis, Kuomintang regime was able to easily establish its ruling organizations in Taiwan, and assume complete control of Taiwan economy. In the processes of taking-over, many bureaucrats had also made great fortunes.

       The corruption of Kuomintang regime was too numerous to mention.  Officials’ embezzlements were so infested that there was no case of requisition without it.  Every Kuomintang official was busy building "surrender" or "restoration" fortunes.  Mainlander officials embezzled by altering properties lists, which the Japanese produced faithfully.  There was a true story that a requisition official, who saw "a hammer" (metal hammer) in the property lists, ordered the "hammer" be brought to him at once.  Because "metal" and "gold" share the same character in Japanese, he thought, it was a "gold hammer".  The Taiwanese people, who were permeated through Japanese education, and had grown as law-abiding citizens, were lost in wonder to see "motherland" officials corrupted in the way they did, mixing up public with private matters.  The creed: "To serve for public good unselfishly" under the wartime structure, had now turned into: "To hell with public good, be selfish" society.  Therefore, in the hearts of the Taiwanese, disappointment and contempt towards motherland and the Kuomintang regime began to sprout and swell day by day. 

Requisitioned Japanese Industries  

       Main public and private industries that had been requisitioned later became public industries under national or provincial control by Kuomintang regime. 

       Navy’s Sixth Fuel Plant, Japan Petroleum, Imperial Petroleum, Taitaku Chemical Industry, Taiwan Natural Gas Research Institute, etc. merged as China Petroleum Co.; Japan Aluminum became Taiwan Aluminum Co.; Taiwan Power became Taiwan Power Co.; Dainippon Sugar, Taiwan Sugar, Meiji Sugar, and Ensuiko sugar companies merged as Taiwan Sugar Corporation; Taiwan Electro-chemical, Taiwan Fertilizer and Taiwan Organic & Synthetic, etc. merged as Taiwan Fertilizer Co.;  South Nippon Chemical Industry, Shoen Soda and Asahi Electro-chemical Industry, etc. merged as Taiwan Alkali Industrial Co.;  Taiwan Salt Mfg., South Nippon Salt Industry, and Taiwan Salt Industry were merged as China Salt Industrial Co.; Taiwan Ship Dock's Keelung Shipyard became China Shipbuilding Co.; Taiwan Ironworks, Toko Industrial Company's Takao Factory, and Taiwan Ship Dock's Takao Factory, etc. merged as Taiwan Machinery Corp.  All above were nationally owned companies.

       Asano Cement, Taiwan Kasei, and Nanpo Cement Industry, etc. were merged as Taiwan Cement Corp.; Taiwan Pulp Industry, Ensuiko Pulp Industry, East Asia Paper Industry and Taiwan Paper Mfg., etc. were merged as Taiwan Paper Corp.  As for agriculture and forestry, 8 companies related to tea manufacturing, 6 companies related to pineapple processing, 9 companies related to marine products and 22 companies related to livestock, were all merged as Taiwan Agricultural and Forestry Co.  Furthermore, 24 mining companies, 31 machinery companies, 7 textile companies, 8 glass companies, 9 oils and fats companies, 12 chemical companies, 14 printing companies, 36 pottery companies, 5 electric companies, and 16 civil engineering companies were all merged as Taiwan Industrial & Mining Corp.  Beside these provincially owned companies, there were other industrial companies requisitioned in prefectures and cities.

       Owing to the "windfall" from occupying Taiwan, so to speak, the Kuomintang regime acquired tremendous amount of lands and properties.  It was a great benefit to the Kuomintang regime, more than what they needed when relocating to Taiwan, in so-called “Motherland’s flee to Taiwan" as pointed out by the Taiwanese.

The New "Bumpkin Emperor"

       The Kuomintang regime not only inherited the Japanese organizations and properties, but also followed the former ruling system for a while.  According to the "General Organizing Principles of Taiwan Governor's Office", the Governor had the power to issue order and enact law in Taiwan.  Concurrently as Chief Commander of Garrison Command, he also had the power of administration and military command.  He was equivalent to the Military Governor in Japanese Era, gathering all the functions of legislation, administration, justice, and military in himself, nothing but a new "Bumpkin Emperor".

       Kuomintang Government also followed the former regional administration system for the most part, but changed the division of 5 Counties and 3 Regional Office to 8 Hsiens; 11 Cities under Regional Office to 9 Provincial Cities; and renamed County to “District”, Town to “Tseng”, Village to “Hsiang”, putting all these divisions under provincial jurisdiction.  Government Offices were established in each “Hsien” and Provincial City; and Public Offices were set up in each “District”, “Tseng”, and “Hsiang” respectively.  Taiwan Provincial Council replaced the former Council under colonial Governor’s Office, while “Hsien” and “District” Councils replaced the former County and City Councils, but they were only consultative and not decision-making bodies.       

       The “Bao-Jia” system, which was abolished during the latter period of Japanese control in 1944, revived and became an even more strict system than before.  The Bao-Jia system of the colonial Governor's Office was a system “involving ten households" with one "Jia" that consists of ten households, and one "Bao" consisted of ten “Jias”.  However, it was changed to a neighborhood system “involving five person" after revival.  In addition, the "five person involvement" system was enforced on public employees in the government offices as well.  The control over citizens became much severer than the Japanese rule. 

       Kuomintang is a political party similar to Lenin's "one party dictatorship" that "party overrules the country".  Upon occupying Taiwan, Kuomintang dispatched personnel to Taiwan to take upon establishing party organizations.  Kuomintang offices were set up on provincial and district levels such as “Hsien”, “County”, “Tseng”, and “Hsiang”, etc.  Full-time "party workers" were placed in every party office.  The duties of  “party worker” were to oversee and direct various levels of administrative organization.

       The Kuomintang regime utilized an intelligence organization, commonly called the Secret Police Force, as major government support.  Immediately after Japan was defeated, a bunch of secret agents were smuggled into Taiwan to set up a network of secret police organizations throughout the island.  Later, under the supervision of the Garrison Command, the secret police kept a close watch from Governor's Office, down to public organizations, schools, and public enterprises.

       Kuomintang regime had established a unique government structure that consisted of "Party" (Kuomintang), "Administration", "Military" and "Intelligence" long before relocating to Taiwan.  In order to maintain such complicated government structure, naturally the personnel of the Governor's Office swelled to about 43,000 as compared to 18,300 of the colonial days. This is merely an example, and the rest can be inferred.

       In the past, the Japanese did not promote Taiwanese for high level position, including the colonial Governor's Office, administrative organizations, and enterprises, but used many Taiwanese of superior abilities in lower level positions. Now that they have returned to the "Motherland", these Taiwanese expected to acquire active positions, but they were disappointed.  Almost all important posts and management positions were assigned exclusively to "Mainlanders" by the Kuomintang regime.  Besides, these "Mainlanders" were not only inferior in knowledge, but also lack of experience and ability.  Therefore, Taiwanese intensified their discontent.

Collapse of Economy and Social Disorder

       Upon occupying and taking over Taiwan, the Kuomintang regime cut off all relationships between Taiwan and Japan.  Since then, Taiwanese economy was linked to Chinese economy; whereas it had been dependent upon Japanese economy was now subject to Chinese economy.  The Chinese economy, which had been exhausted after the prolonged Sino-Japanese war followed by the civil war between Kuomintang and Chinese Communists, was on the verge of collapse.  As a matter of course, Taiwan was also affected.  Rice and sugar, which had been exported to Japan before, were rerouted to China, and from China, daily necessities and industrial products were imported.  Meantime, shortage of goods and inflation aggravated and prices rose with no ceiling in China, and in turn interlocked the prices of commodity exported to Taiwan, forced to push up prices in Taiwan.

       After occupying Taiwan, the Kuomintang regime replaced yen with “Yuan” as Taiwan currency, and use fixed rate between Taiwan Yuan and Chinese currency, excessively held down the value of Taiwan currency.  This resulted in further pushing up prices of imported goods.  By that time, the vicious inflation in China had already spread to Taiwan through the exchange of currency and trade, and the livelihood of Taiwanese was severely threatened by worsened economy.  In early 1946, less than six months after Chinese occupation, Taiwanese economy was already in a catastrophic situation.  Although fixed rate had been changed to floating rate later, the value of Taiwan Yuan remained under-valued.

       Just as Taiwan was regarded as a "granary" (great rice crop region), even at the end of the war, there were more than enough food reserves to cover the need for 160,000 plus Japanese soldiers for two years. In spite of this, by the end of November, 1945, Taiwan had fallen into island-wide acute shortage of rice. There was no other reason, but because rice was shipped from Taiwan to China in large quantities resulting in shortage and rapid price increase.  The price of rice increased 60 times from 33 cents per kilo, at the end of the war, to 20 Taiwan yen in November 1945.  Not only rice, but also various other products were shipped or smuggled to China at unreasonably low prices; Taiwanese suffered from both shortage of goods and vicious inflation as early as the beginning of 1946. Nevertheless, the Kuomintang regime dealt with the situation by issuing more paper money.  Bank of Taiwan’s printing machine kept on printing more and more Yuans.  The total currency issued in September 1945 was 1.93 billion Yuans, which increased to 29.43 billions in May 1946, to 53.3 billions at the end of same year, to 171.33 billions at the end of 1947, and to an astonishing figure of 1,420.4 billions at the end of 1948.  Finally, it was not quick enough to print money for the needs, and branches of all banks began to over-issue "bank notes" (checks payable to bank itself), resulted in overflow of paper currencies and bank notes in astronomical figures, and the economic situation became more and more deteriorated.

       In addition to deteriorating economy, social disorder due to sudden increase of unemployment also aggravated.  Since Japan was defeated, large number of students came back from Japan.  At the same time, soldiers, enlisted civilians, and laborers also returned from the front, but there were no jobs available for them.  Furthermore, there were factories destroyed by bombardment during the war, inoperative after the requisition, particularly because Kuomintang regime intentionally rejected the Taiwanese, employment opportunity was extremely decreased, resulted in over 300,000 unemployed Taiwanese crowding the streets.

       Law and order rapidly deteriorated.  The "lawful country" in the Japanese Era had now turned into a "lawless zone".  The situation was so bad that guards were hired to protect citizens in public transportation such as buses, passenger, and freight trains.

Criticism against the Governor's Office

       Some intellectuals had presented various demands to the Governor's Office, but none of their demands were taken up seriously.  The government avoided all responsibilities and hugger-muggered the matters, hence the people decided to take self-defense measures.  A "Committee for Defense of People's Freedom" was established in March 1946, and immediately spread all over Taiwan.  Lin Bo-seng, a professor of Taiwan University and the chief editor of "People's Daily", commented in his editorial: "We are now in a situation where we can no longer rely on the police for maintaining law and order in Taiwan.  Today, not long after the "retrocession", the people are forced to take necessary measures to protect themselves".  Governor Chen Yi and his cronies were not only impeached for incompetence and corruption, but also sternly criticized.  Later in May, during the session of Taiwan provincial assembly, Governor's Office was criticized for misgovernment and corruption, and rages toward Chen Yi exploded.  This time, the intellectual’s demands were mainly administrative reforms, local self-government, and purge of corrupted officials.  However, Governor's Office and Kuomintang Central in Nanking had no ears for the people’s complaints and sincere requests.  In January 1947, Governor Chen Yi declared that the Constitution of the Republic of China enacted in December 1946, which was to be enforced in Taiwan in within one year, was now postponed until two or three years later.  The reason was that after being occupied by Japan for a long period, the Taiwanese people were degenerated in political consciousness and lack the ability of self-government.  This aggravated the anger of the Taiwanese further more.

The February 28 Incident       

       In the evening of February 27, 1947, when the Taiwanese pent up their discontent, a trouble broke out in Da Dao Ting, a Taiwanese shopping street along Tamsui River in Taipei.  It started as an incident of brutal law enforcement on unauthorized cigarettes, and immediately developed into an island-wide uprising, known as the "Feb.28 Incident".  This was a happening only sixteen months after the Japanese surrender and Taiwan’s  "Retrocession" to China.  

       Outline of how the trouble in Taiping Street started was as follows:

       On the evening of February 27, six investigators from the Monopoly Bureau, including Fu Hsueh-tung (a Cantonese), seized not only illegal cigarettes but also her funds from Lin Kan-mai, a middle-aged Taiwanese widow.  Lin knelt and begged to return her the cash, but Investigator Fu stroke her head with pistol and she fell to the ground bleeding.  Angry crowd started to attack the investigators, and the investigators fired upon the crowd as they fled, killing one on-looker.  This infuriated the crowd all the more.  Seeing that the investigators ran into the nearby police station and military police headquarters, the crowd immediately siege both places and demanded that the investigators be handed over to them, but was refused.

       Next day, in the morning of February 28, an angry crowd went Taipei Branch of the Monopoly Bureau to protest, beaten up the branch manager and three employees, and burned the Bureau's documents and furnitures.  In the afternoon, the crowd gathered in front of Governor's Office to protest and demand political reforms, but military police fired at the crowd with machine gun from the roof, and dozens of men have been killed or wounded.  By then, the situation was so tense that all the stores in Taipei were closed, factories and schools were shut down, and thousands of citizens joined in protest and there were public unrest everywhere in the city.  Garrison Command declared martial law, but the people occupied radio station, and through broadcast told whole Taiwan what had happened.  By March 1, the incident has extended to the whole island.  Disturbances occurred not only in large cities, but also in local regions, where indignant citizens attacked government offices and police stations, beaten up Mainlanders, venting their pent-up anger on the Kuomintang regime.  The soldiers and police opened fire trying to suppress demonstrators, but the situation was uncontrollable and went from bad to worse.  On that day, "People's Daily" had a critical comments onthe Kuomintang regime, pointing out that the "undisciplined, tyrannical and greedy government officials and soldiers" were the causes of this incident. 

       On March 1, a committee was organized by representatives from Provincial and City Councils to investigate the bloody incident, and a delegation was sent to Governor Chen Yi requesting that "February 28 Incident Settlement Committee" be established and Chen agreed.  In the afternoon, Governor Chen Yi promised: (1) Suspend the martial law; (2) Immediately release all people that were detained; (3) Order the soldiers and police not to fire; (4) Establish a committee with government and popular representatives to investigate the incident, and make public broadcast.  Next day on March 2, the Settlement Committee convened at Chungshan Auditorium with delegates mainly from Provincial and City Councils and five officials from Governor's Office.  Because there was a report of shooting during the meeting, the Settlement Committee demanded to disband the police brigade that fired the shots, but was refused.

      On March 3, Settlement Committee resolved to request Governor's Office: (1) To expand Settlement Committee and set up branches in various regions; (2) To restrict soldiers’ activities on the streets, and prohibit government personnel to carry gun when shopping; (3) To recover transportation services; (4) To broadcast to local and international communities that Taiwanese people have no intention other than political reforms.  In the afternoon of March 5, Settlement Committee formally adopted the "Principles for Organizing Settlement Committee”, in which the object to “reform Taiwan Provincial administration” was stipulated.  The essential points were: (1) To hire native Taiwanese for at least half of government positions, such as General Secretary, heads of Civil, Finance, Industry and Mining, Agriculture and Forestry, Educational departments, Police Administrations and Members of Legislation Committee; (2) To entrust Taiwanese to manage public enterprises; (3) To popularly elect mayors and prefecture governors; (4) To reform the government's monopolized distributing systems and abolish the propaganda committee; (5) To guarantee the freedom of speech, publication and assembly; (6) To guarantee the safety of people's lives and properties, etc.  The Settlement Committee that started as a mean for settling the incident had now become a driving force for political reform. 

       On March 6, Settlement Committee published a "Letter to fellow countrymen", saying, "Through this incident, our object is to sweep away corrupted officials and to realize political reform in Taiwan.  We do not reject the Mainlander, but rather welcome them to take part in the political reform”.  Next day on March 7, under a confused situation, Settlement Committee adopted an "Outline of Settlements" which consisted of thirty-two articles.  Furthermore, an additional ten articles submitted by fiery Committee members covering abolition of Garrison Command, control of weapons and ammunitions, and to allot native Taiwanese for army and navy officers, etc. was adopted.  The "Outline of Settlements" consisting 42 articles were immediately announced through radio broadcast.  However, in the afternoon of March 8, when the Kuomintang army reinforcements landed from Keelung and Kaohsiung harbors, Taiwan suddenly turned into a living hell.

       From the beginning of the incident until the arrival of Kuomintang reinforcements, Governor’s Office controlled only a limited circumference of military compound while the Settlement Committee actually maintained the administrative and peacekeeping functions.  In large cities and various regions, students, youths and repatriated Taiwanese soldiers, formed temporary organizations.  They clashed with the troops and police repeatedly trying to get hold of weapons and ammunitions, but failed because they were hastily organized and not decently armed.  Among them, there was the "27 Corps", led by Chung Yit-jen from Taichung, which had been somewhat equipped with fighting capacity, and developed a real combat in the assault and defense of Tsui-siong Airport near Chia-yi.

 Massacre and Purge

        Governor Chen Yi never intended to negotiate with the Taiwanese in good faith, but tried to buy time by pretending to accept their demands.  He secretly requested the Kuomintang Central to dispatch reinforcement troops from the Mainland, and made lists of Taiwanese dissidents preparing for a grand purge.

      In the afternoon of March 8, 1947, 2,000 troops of 5th Military Police Corps and 11,000 troops of 21st Army Division landed from Keelung and Kaohsiung, and began firing at the Taiwanese on the streets.  Unlike the former requisition troops, these were modernized troops with U.S. aid equipments and were no match for the unarmed Taiwanese.

      Learning about the reinforcement troops’ arrival, Chen Yi immediately denounced the Settlement Committees as illegal organization and ordered it to be abolished.  The change was so abrupt that the negotiations before seemed a series of plausible lies.  Indiscriminate killing of Taiwanese began in Keelung and Kaohsiung, went on to Taipei, Pintong, the eastern coast, and extended to entire Taiwan Island in two weeks.  As a result, the resistance of Taiwanese was completely suppressed.  The methods of killing used by the Chinese soldiers were extremely cruel.  Besides using machine guns, victims' noses and ears were sliced off, men were tied together in groups by piercing through their palms with steel wires, or packed in jute bags and thrown into ocean and river.  Before execution, the victims were dragged through the city, and after execution, their bodies were left unburied for many days to set examples to the residents.  It was unbelievable that civilized people in the twentieth century could do such barbarous deed, and definitely not what "Motherland" or "Compatriots" could have done.

       While slaughtering the citizens, Garrison Command declared on March 14 that “the entire island had been suppressed by March 13, and purge will now begin", and sweeping searches and arrests immediately began under the pretext of investigating family registry.  The "purge" not only included people directly involved in the incident, but many leaders in the society and numerous intellectuals such as councilmen, professors, lawyers, doctors, journalists, and teachers had also been arrested.  It looked like Governor Chen Yi wanted to completely wipe out the intellectuals who had received Japanese education.  Professor Lin Bo-seng, lawyer Tang Tek-chong, Dr. Chang Chit-long and his sons (both M.D.), typical Taiwanese intellectuals in those days, were victimized at that time.

       Lin Bo-seng, born in 1887, in a devout Christian family, graduated from Department of Literature, Imperial Tokyo University in 1916, after Third Senior High School in Kyoto.  He went to the United States to study in Columbia University as a research student jointly sponsored by colonial Taiwan Governor's Office and Ministry of Education of Japan, and was awarded Ph.D. degree in 1929.  After the war, he was appointed as professor in the faculty of literature in Taiwan University, and at the time of "Feb.28 incident", he was not only the head of Department of Literature, but was also  as the president of Newspaper "Min Pao" (People's Daily) as well.  He incurred the displeasure of Governor Chen Yi for bitterly criticizing the corrupted Kuomintang regime, and was taken away from his home on the night of March 9.  Since then, he had been missing.  However, according to investigation done by his family and people concerned, Lin was executed immediately after the arrest, and his body was stuffed in a jute bag and thrown into Tamsui River.

       Tan Tek-chong, born in Tainan in 1907, was a son between a Japanese police officer and a Taiwanese woman.  After quitting Tainan Normal School, he became a policeman and served as police inspector before resigning due to conflict with his superior in dealing with a trouble incurred by Japanese.  He went to study in Central University with help from the parents of his father, who died while he was young.  After graduation, he passed the judicial examination and started to practice law in Tainan.  After the war, he remained in Taiwan, became one of the leading figures in Tainan, and served as chairman of the Tainan Citizen's Freedom Defense Committee.  When "Feb.28 Incident" spread to Tainan, a branch of "Settlement Committee" was established in Tainan and Tan was appointed to head the Peacekeeping Department.  With approval from Governor Chen Yi, the leaders of various circles recommended three candidates for mayor of Tainan, and Tan, being one of the candidates, was arrested when the Kuomintang reinforcement assaulted Tainan on March 11.  When Tan was besieged in his home, he tried to gain time by resisting arrest and burned all documents related with the Iincident.  Many lives of whom concerned with the Incident in Tainan were saved because of his action.  Tan was tortured for one night and executed on March 12, after being dragged through the city.  Tan refused the soldier's order to kneel, and firmly met his death standing with a smile.  Although Taiwan Supreme Court declared him not guilty, rather a long time after the execution, it is indicative of how careless all arrests, executions and judgments had been. 

       Chang Chit-long was born in Hsinchu in 1888.  Graduated from governor-sponsored medical school in 1915 and after serving in governor-sponsored Keelung Hospital, he started practicing medicine in Fonglin, Hualien in 1921.  He was elected the chairman of Hualien Prefecture Council in March 1946, and was a member of delegation for enacting the Constitution of the Republic of China in October.  He went to Nanking to attend the Constitution Enactment Meeting in December, and fell sick immediately after returning to Fonglin in early 1947.  Essentially, he was only recommended as the candidate for Hualien Prefecture Governor and had nothing to do with "Feb.28 incident", but when the reinforcement troops arrived in Fonglin on April 1, Chang Chit-long was arrested in the afternoon of April 4.  Moreover, his sons, Chang Chong-jin (eldest son) and Chang Ko-jin (third son), who were both physicians, were summoned for soldier's sudden illness and were arrested.  The father and sons were shot at the public cemetery in Fonglin suburb that night.  Garrison Command told their bereaved family later “Chang Chit-long, Chang Chong-jin, and Chang Ko-jin were traitors to the Party and country, they were shot for organizing assassination group and resisting arrests”.  Of course, the family did not accept this explanation, judging from the circumstances of the arrest and the condition of bodies collected.  The wife of Chang Chit-long demanded the authorities to reveal the truth, and deplored in her appeal that "although Japanese rule was dictatorial, yet hostile parties could live together; there had been no unlawful arrest or execution. Today, under the pretext of democracy, there is no guarantee of life; the authorities do anything as they please.  If the government does not respect law and discipline, how could the people be expected to obey the rules?  How sorrowful that my husband and sons did not die before the "retrocession", and where is justice to bring disgrace on such men of integrity!  Not only did they die after the "retrocession", but also take the blame for false accusations”.  The carving on the headstone of Chang’s graves: "Accompanied by two beloved sons, all his hot blood shed on the field" vividly describes the sorrow, anger, and mortification of the bereaved family. 

       The tragedy of the Taiwanese people started when they euphorically expected from the Kuomintang regime the same spirit of “Constitutional State” and “Rule by Law” which they experienced under Japanese rule.  Most of the intellectuals had experienced the "Police Law Violation Iincident" (1923), in which they criticized and resisted the colonial government, and were tried and punished by law, even though it was a bad law.  However, there is not a speck of "law” in the "Motherland".  Those who dare to criticize or resist are mercilessly “judged by guns”.

       Excessive suppression and killing of the Taiwanese by Kuomintang regime incurred condemnation from the international community, especially severe criticism from the United States.  Mr. Steward, the U.S. Ambassador to China, handed a "Memorandum in regard to the situation in Taiwan" to Chiang Kai-shek, strongly protesting the Kuomintang troops’ inhuman violence in Taiwan.  By that time, the Kuomintang regime had increasingly shown signs of defeat in the civil war with the Chinese Communists, and was in desperate need of American aid.  Unable to disregard the opinion of the U.S., Chiang Kai-shek dismissed Chen Yi from his post on April 22, and summoned him to Nanking on May 1.  Incidentally, Chen Yi was appointed Governor of Chekiang Province later. Then he was arrested in February 1950, for collaborating with the Chinese Communists during the civil war.  At a court martial in Taiwan, Chen Yi was found guilty of high treason and executed on June 18, 1950.

The aftermath of February 28 Incident

       The massacre and purge had a chilling effect on the Taiwanese, who through years afterward spent their days extremely terrified.  Following the “purge operation” by Garrison Command, the Governor's Office began the “country sweeping operation”.  Chen Yi published a “Letter to the public with regards to country sweeping”, in which he said: “In order to protect the good people, maintain the peace and thoroughly purge the villains, the government will carry out the country sweeping operation so as to eliminate a few rebels in hiding”.  He furthered: “Our main objects are weapons and villains, so all weapons and villains should be voluntarily surrendered to the government and the matter will be dealt with reasonably and legally”.  The so-called “villains” were nothing but persons discontent with the Kuomintang regime.  Through the five-person- involvement system and secret informers, a thorough “man-hunt” and “weapon-search” had begun.  Many Taiwanese had also been arrested at this time, and most of them were condemned without public trial.  Furthermore, large sums of bribery called "atonement money" were demanded from the families of the arrested.  In 1949, the Kuomintang regime mitigated arresting of persons involved in the Feb.28 incident.  However, arresting and surveillance of so-called "dangerous characters" had been continued for a long period.

       According to information released by the Kuomintang regime later, about 28,000 people were slaughtered over a month in relation to the "Feb.28 incident".  It was equivalent to one victim in two hundred Taiwanese based on the population of that time, and equaled to the number of Taiwanese killed due to armed resistance during fifty years of Japanese rule.  It has been difficult to investigate how many had been arrested and imprisoned for definite or indefinite terms, but undoubtedly the number is enormous.  Because intellectuals were targeted in the purge, nearly all Taiwanese leaders were either killed or arrested under the name of "villain cleanup" and imprisoned for long time.  Since then, there had been a leadership vacuum in the Taiwanese community for a long time.   

       In addition, under the enforcement of martial law and white terrorism, the Taiwanese people were compelled to keep political silence.  The Kuomintang regime refused political reform requested by the Taiwanese, shutting them off with purge and persecution.  This caused further hostility between native Taiwanese and the Mainlanders. 

       Hundreds of Taiwanese intellectuals, who fled the island seeking refuge from the arrests and killings, organized the "Alliance for Taiwan Re-liberation" under the leadership of Dr. Liao Bun-gei (born 1910 in Yunlin, Taiwan, a doctor of engineering, Ohio University).  On September 1, 1948, Liao sent a petition to the United Nations, appealing that Taiwan be put under trusteeship of the United Nations, and let the natives of Taiwan decide their reversion or independence in a referendum.  Partially due to the sudden change of situation in China, the object of this petition had been accepted by part of the international community.  Liao arrived in Japan in February 1950, organized the "Taiwan Democratic Independence Party" in Kyoto, and became the President of the Party.  In February 1956, a "Provisional Government of the Republic of Taiwan" was established in Tokyo, with Liao as the Provisional President of Taiwan.  Although Liao's "submission" to the Kuomintang regime in February of 1965 gave a severe blow to the Taiwan independent movement, the role he played as the pioneer of independent movement is not ignorable.  Since Liao “submitted” to the Kuomintang regime, the "Provisional Government of the Republic of Taiwan" collapsed and the “Young Formosan Association”, a group of Taiwanese students who came to Japan after the war, assumed the Taiwan independence movement in Japan.  In February 1960, the first issue of "Taiwan Seinen" (Young Formosan Monthly) was published, and since then, it has been published for nearly 40 years without interruption.  Not only it is the official publication of the Taiwan independent movement, but because it covers the state of affairs related to Taiwan, domestic or foreign, and provides most accurate analysis, the "Young Formosan" Monthly has been highly valued by the international community.

       By the 1960's, Taiwanese students studying abroad, especially in the United States, had rapidly increased.  Organizations of Taiwan independence movement were formed one after another, and these organizations have been carrying on effective work and lobby towards the U.S. government and Congress for democratization and Taiwan independence.  Because of this, the center of overseas Taiwan independence movement moved from Japan to the United States, and in January 1970, "Taiwan Independence Alliance" (later, "Alliance for Taiwan Independence and State Foundation") was formed with headquarters in New York.  This organization has become a worldwide scale with an underground Taiwan branch in Taipei, an American branch in Los Angeles, a Japan branch in Tokyo, a European branch in Paris, and a South American branch in San Paulo.

       Together with the development of oversea Taiwanese independence movement, the Taiwanese communities in various countries including Japan have been commemorating the "Feb.28 Incident" every year since the a950's.  Many Taiwanese call this horrible day "the Memorial Day of National Tragedy".  For decades, the Kuomintang regime put it under a taboo to refer the "Feb.28 Incident", forbidding writing or talking about the incident.  In February 1087, forty years after the incident, by ignoring Kuomintang regime's ban, the Taiwanese organized the "Feb.28 Peace Promotion Society" in Taiwan at last, with the object to inquire the truth about the incident, to forgive the criminals who slaughtered the Taiwanese people, and to set the date February 28 as "Memorial Day".  Twenty-two meetings were held, from February 14 to March 7 of that year, in memory of the victims.  Although it was too late to mourn the victims, but memorial services have been held annually in various places of Taiwan since then.  In February of 1989, a memorial tower was erected in Chiayi and a silent prayer for the souls of the "Feb.28 Incident" victims was offered for the first time in Legislative Yuan (Taiwan Congress) in February 1990.       

　Last Chapter   Next Chapter