Eye witness account of an assault team captain in the 27 Company

An eye witness of the 228 Incident, an assault team captain for the 27 Company formed by one of the 228 opposition leaders Shie Shue-Hong(謝雪紅), Chen Ming-Chong(陳明忠) related a personal story. He was attending a 228 symposium held in the US and gave his estimate that the dead and wounded totaled around 1000. A supporter of the Taiwan Independence Movement stood up and retorted, “That is garbage. In Gaoshiung(高雄) alone 300,000 died.”

Chen Ming-Chong replied, “The total population of Gaoshiung at the time was 150,000. If the entire city was butchered, how do you account for the death toll of the other 150,000?”

The Taiwan Independence supporter went from embarrassment to rage. He resorted to the standard accusation, “You are not a Taiwanese.”

Chen Ming-Chong replied, “I’ll tell you, when my ancestors first became Taiwanese, your ancestors were still Wai Sheng Ren (mainlanders, people from other provinces).”

Why? Because his ancestors arrived in Taiwan with General Cheng Cheng-Gong(鄭成功) in 1661.

The 228 Incident has always been a shadow hanging over the Nationalist Party (also known as KMT – Kuo Ming Tang 國民黨) and the mainlanders. It’s as if a man was held down by a nightmare, could not move, dared not open his eyes, and could only lie there paralyzed by fear. It is high time for us to open our eyes to examine the 228 Incident without fear and prejudice.

Einstein once said, “One hundred answers cannot compete against one well formed question.” To restore the truth of the 228 Incident, let us start by asking a few fundamental questions.

An accidental combination of time, place, and huge discontent

Question Number One: Why this particular time and place? At the time, the KMT government had been confiscating black market tobacco and alcohol. Robbery, corruption and depravity were rampant. Why did an ordinary act of law enforcement on February 27, 1947 at the Tian Ma Tea House(天馬茶房) on Nanjing West Road(南京西路) start off the 228 Incident? Was it a historically inevitable or an accidental event?

I have canvassed the neighborhood in Nanjing West Road and talked with many senior citizens living there. They provided an answer that is rather ordinary but illuminating – because this used to be the red light district with many bars.

Cigarette vendors have always tended to gather in front of bars to sell their ware. In addition there are usually bouncers, bodyguards and gang members hanging out in front of these establishments. On February 27, 1947 a woman by the name of Lin Jiang-Mai (林江邁) was selling cigarettes outside a bar. A prohibition agent came around and confiscated her cigarettes. She begged him not to, but he pistol whipped her and drew blood. The bouncers and gang members standing around thought it a disgrace and started to intervene. Ordinary citizens might have preferred minimum entanglement with the authority. But these were underworld people, more hot-blooded, with their own code of conduct. They started to harass the agent who fired off two warning shots and accidentally killed a bystander, Chen Wen-Shi (陳文溪). The mob turned ugly and chased the agent to a nearby police station where he escaped through the rear door. This was the start of six days of riot and eventual military suppression by the government. The time and place were incidental. The fact that there was general discontent among the ordinary citizens which was reaching a saturation point was the main reason for the 228 Incident.

Question Number Two: The incident happened in Taipei. How did it lead to riots all over Taiwan? As indicated in previous paragraphs, these confiscations were taking place all over Taiwan on a daily basis. Why did this particular incident explode into an out of control island wide rebellion?

According to a witness at the scene, a reporter named Chou Ching (周青) for the Chong-Wai Daily (中外日報), the key events happened the next day. Since the killer agent escaped, the mob was not satisfied. It regrouped equipped with drums and carts and paraded to the building housing the administrative magistrate (行政院) to demand justice. The crowd was estimated at around two thousand people (not the rumored ten thousand). Unfortunately the officers at the administrative building mishandled the event, set up a machine gun on the top floor and started shooting. Three or four people went down and the rest of the crowd scattered. However, the anger did not dissipate. They split up into groups, one going to the Bureau of Tobacco and Alcohol Monopoly to set fire to whatever was in their way, one going to the radio station located in the city park to take over the station by force and start broadcasting. This broadcasting spread the news of the Taipei riots leading to insurrections all over the island.

Communist Underground Did Participate in the Insurgency

Question Number Three: If the crowd at each locality were congregating spontaneously, unorganized, how did it become a collective, organized insurrection?

We must understand, any mass movement, when first started, must gather fellow rebels to join the fight. There is also the logistic question of finding a leader. The Three People Principle Youth Regiment (三民主義青年團 advocating People’s ethnicity, or nationalism, People’s rights, or democracy, and People’s livelihood) was a natural choice. The regiment was composed mainly of members of the Cultural Society and the Farmers’ Group, both established during the Japanese Occupation. They had dared to protest the rule of the Japanese and gained certain prestige when Taiwan was first returned to China. The Cultural Society later developed a very strong Leftist leaning. The Framers’ Group also had close tie to the Taiwan Communist movement. One can easily imagine the “color” of their respective organization. This is a part of the 228 history that has been deliberately concealed – the history of the “Red 228”. The KMT at one time blamed the Communists for inciting the first riot. That is incorrect. That riot was an accidental occurrence. However, it would also be incorrect to claim that the Communists played no part in the 228 Incident. The people of Taiwan at that time were disappointed in KMT. KMT and Mao’s Communist Party were engaged in a civil war. It was only natural for the Communists to take advantage of the incident to start up another front. Because of the ongoing civil war, the KMT used the vague accusation of “a treacherous rebellion started by an evil party” to cover up the 228 Incident without ever publicizing what transpired. The Communist Party wanted to keep their underground organization in Taiwan under cover; they were loath to acknowledge any involvement. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), for political purpose, wanted to simplify the incident as one of the Taiwanese people rising up to fight the corrupt KMT mainlanders. They would also prefer to ignore any connections that existed between the insurgents and the Communist Party. This led to the obliteration of this important piece of history.

People who study the 228 Incident now mostly adopt the perspective of the 228 Commission. However, the Commission played a very small part of the 228 history. According to research performed by the historian, Professor Dai Guo-Hui (戴國煇), there were three factions in the Commission: the first included people who were the authorities and their Taiwanese subordinates; the second included people who had Leftist leaning and were eager for political reform; the third included conservative land owners and local gentries who leaned more to the right. The internal power structure was so complex it resulted in frequent dissensions and paralysis. Instead, the newly formed Communist Underground organization became the de facto leader.

Let us examine what was happening at the time. In Taipei, Wang Tian-Deng (王添燈), the propaganda team leader of the Commission) was surrounded by Su Shin(蘇新), Wu Ke-Tai(吳克泰), Tsai Chi-Ming(蔡子民) who were known party members of the Communist Underground. The famous “Thirty-Two Articles” (a list of 32 demands submitted to the government) was drafted by them. In the mean time, the people who actually participated in the mass movement were mostly very young, such as Chen Bing-Ji(陳炳基), who lacked the prestige and social status to become true leaders. Therefore, in Taipei, the organization was built on a weak foundation and ineffective. When the 21st Division arrived from China to put down the insurgency, the Taipei group suffered heavy casualty as a result.

In Taichung(台中), Shie Shue-Hong(謝雪紅) took over the command of the mass movement. She was a well known social reformist during the Japanese Occupation. She dared to speak out, to fight against the authorities. She was also very capable. She decisively arrested the Taichung County magistrate, formed the 27 Company, and called on the locals to join the 27 Company. Toward the end, she led the company in an organized retreat into Puli(埔里), changed the name of the company to “Taiwan Democracy Allied Forces”, fought a few small scale battles, and eventually dissolved the company when she realized the great disparity in the strength of the two forces.

In Chayi (嘉義), the battles were fiercer. Before the 228 Incident, Chang Chi-Chong(張志忠), the captain of the militant labor union of the Taiwan Communist Underground, along with the leader, Jian Ji, of the Farmers’ Group , had been very active in the Yunlin and Chayi region. Jian ji was reputed to be a person of moral conscience whose mission was to serve the farmers. He enjoyed a huge popularity and prestige among the farmers. When word of the 228 Incident spread south, they were able to get organized with amazing speed, and formed the “Southern Chayi Column” ( 嘉南縱隊 column is a term used often by the Communists to organize local troops) with Chen Tsuan-Di(陳纂地). Jian Ji (簡吉) served as the political commissar, Chang Chi-Chong served as the commander in chief, Chen Tsuan-Di served as the assistant commander in chief, together they commanded eight detachments such as Puzhi, Beigan, Shingan, etc. Chen Tsuan-Di was an eye doctor during the Japanese Occupation. He fought the Japanese, and was sent to the South Sea to serve as an army doctor. When the war ended, he joined Hu Chi-Ming’s army and fought guerilla warfare in Vietnam. He was probably one with the most battlefield experience during the 228 Incident. Under his guidance, they took the airport easily by using water as a weapon of attack.

When the 21st Division arrived, they quickly withdrew into the mountains. They were planning to set up a military base in Shiaomei (小梅). They also renamed their column “Taiwan Autonomy Allied Forces” hoping to join up with Shie Shue-Hong’s force in Taichung. However, the vanguard troop led by Chang Rong-Chong(張榮宗) to set up the Shiaomei military base was ambushed and almost completely destroyed. Thus they gave up on the idea of the military base, dissolved the column and went underground.

Chen Yi (陳儀)’s Nephew Ding Ming-Nan(丁名楠) Saved the Tsenwen(曾文) District.

The Tsenwen district of Tainan(台南) was a very special case. The district head, Ding Ming-Nan, was the nephew of the then Administrator of Taiwan, Chen Yi. He had always taken good care of the people in his district; spent his own money to buy text books and story books for the local kids. The residents in the district revered him. When the 228 Incident broke out, the young people took to protect him. They promised him safety if he did not leave his residence. When the 21st Division arrived, he was very worried because he heard the soldiers started shooting people as soon as they landed. He asked the young troop members to give up their weapons and promised their safety. But they were in a high state of agitation and thought he was threatening them because of the imminent arrival of government troops. They raised their guns, switched off the safety, and were going to shoot him on the spot.

Ding Ming-Nan’s tears rolled down unbidden. He pointed at his own chest and said, “If you want to shoot, please go ahead. I mean well. You do not know the brutality of war. It is a horrific experience to kill people. I am just trying to spare you!”

These people who had undergone Japanese military training were moved by his words. Calling him an enemy worthy of respect, they let him go.

Later, Ding Ming-Nan kept his promise. When the army arrived, he assured them that there had been no conflict in the Tsenwen district, and they should move on. The locals suffered no casualty and were grateful to him. In other districts of Tainan and Gaoshiung counties, however, there were hastily formed 228 Commissions that lacked proper organization. There were many internal fighting and disputes on how to handle things. Nor were they aware of the potential horror of a military suppression. There were heavy casualties in these districts as a result.

Mixing up the 228 Incident with the White Terror

Question Number Four: How many people died during the 228 Incident?

This question cannot be answered accurately. According to published data by the 228 Foundation, those who actually applied and received compensation totaled around eight hundred plus people. Even among the eight hundred plus though, there were people who actually died during the White Terror, such as Jian Ji, Li You-Bang(李友邦), Guo Shu-Chong(郭秀琮), etc. This is a turning point in history. After the 228 Incident, many people became disillusioned by the “While Motherland” that took over the governing of Taiwan. They turned, in despair, to the “Red Revolution” and became victims during the ensuing White Terror.

The victims of the White Terror totaled around four to five thousand, far exceeding the death toll of the 228 Incident. Because White Terror followed in the foot step of the 228 Incident, the general population could not clearly distinguish the two. We should be reminded that the term White Terror was coined in the ‘90s. Before that time, the 228 Incident was a forbidden subject. There was no folk lore or special terminology to describe its history. Besides, many of the victims during the White Terror had been participants in the 228 Incident. They turned to the Red Revolution because of the 228 Incident and paid with their lives. As a result, all who died in the 228 Incident and the White Terror were labeled victims of the 228 Incident. 228 became a huge symbol to represent the age of terror, taboo, darkness and suppression.

The Mainlanders Executed Under the Papaya Trees

Sadly those venerated victims of the 228 Incident did not include the many mainlanders who died during the 228 riots or were executed during the White Terror. These mainlanders followed the KMT government (in many instances drafted by force) in its retreat to Taiwan. They had no family and friends in Taiwan to question what had happen to them. They often died with no proper burial. According to a retired mainland army official stationed in southern Taiwan during the White Terror, the mainlander soldiers who were executed on suspicion of communist activities were buried under a row of papaya trees in a remote corner of an army barrack. No one dared to claim their bodies. No one dared to speak up for them. Next year, that row of papaya trees had an exceptional bumper crop. The trees were laden with clusters of golden plump papayas. No soldiers in the barrack wanted to pick the fruit. Outside the barrack wall though, the civilians, not knowing the reason for the rich harvest, clamored to reach the papayas with long bamboo hooks … Imagine this picture, the bright brilliant sun of southern Taiwan, the plumb papayas hanging high on the tall straight trees, their orange yellow color shining lusciously golden having taken their nutrient from the blood, flesh and bones of countless young victims who to this day remained nameless … How eerie. How ghastly.

It was a time of the civil war between the Nationalist and the Communist Parties, a time of fighting and wholesale eradication of the communists in Taiwan.

Intellectuals Turned Toward the Red Revolution

Question Number Five: If we think of 228 as a movement of opposition, when did it end? Did it end in suppression? The intellectuals and the ordinary civilians who were suppressed by the military, did they reconcile themselves? Don’t forget, at the time, the Three People Principle Youth Regiment had the support of the general populace. Could the intellectuals nourishing a huge discontent keep silent and do nothing?

The 228 Incident, as an accidental riot, ended in military suppression in March of 1947. But the rebellious spirit brought out by the 228 Incident did not end. It turned into a long term revolution. It was combined with the civil war going on in mainland China at the time and became another link in the history of the Nationalist and Communist civil war.

Chen Ming-Chong (陳明忠) made the statement, “228 is the extension of the Nationalist and Communist civil war.” It shows a true understanding of the 228 Incident and its aftermath. It is more historically accurate. Otherwise, it would be difficult to explain how military suppression could be so effective in cleaning up the riots taking place all over Taiwan and leaving no trace. Could the Taiwanese people settle for suppression and accept it? If one claims that the 228 Incident ended with the military suppression, one does not fully understand the hot blooded young revolutionaries at the time. The suppression awakened their desire for freedom. They continued the rebellious spirit and turned toward the red revolution.

Seeking an Answer from the Perspectives of War and Colonial History

Question Number Six: This is a question I have asked often but could not find any answer. How many mainlanders died during the 228 Incident? Why have we not heard any voices raised by the mainlanders who went through the 228 Incident?

There seems to be only one voice today among the researchers of the 228 Incident. They chose to forget that it was the Taiwanese who started the riots. The Taiwanese were also the persecutors who took their revenge on the mainlanders during the six days before the arrival of the government troop. During the 228 Incident, Taiwanese and mainlanders were both victimized. If we selectively study only certain aspects of the incident, how can we expect to find the truth? For the two groups to reconcile, we need to go through the process of listening to each other and understanding each other. It cannot be a one way street.

In addition to the six basic questions I mentioned, we should also explore the 228 Incident from a broader perspective. For example, China had just come out of a bloody eight year war against Japanese invasion. Here we had a government that had not had an opportunity to modernize in a hundred years. It was given the job of managing Taiwan which had just started to undergo modernization. This was a sure recipe for creating conflicts and disasters. On the other hand, the Taiwanese people had just been liberated from Japan under whose rule they have been second class citizens. They were eager to gain self respect and self rule. They were eager for a life lived with dignity. But they were met with a regime that was backward and corrupt … Yet, it was not the will of the Nationalist Party to play the suppressor. It was the inevitable result of China’s history in the last one hundred years – one of being invaded, being colonized, and being destroyed by endless wars. There were many other uprisings in China at the time. They were similarly suppressed and put down. This was the clashing of two societies at different degrees of development. This was a tragedy of history. But whether it be Taiwanese or mainlander Chinese, they have both suffered grievous injury during the first half of the 20th century. Why can we not show each other some understanding and some compassion?

Let us start anew to study and research the 228 Incident without prejudice. Let us attempt to understand each other with a genuine heart. If the 228 Incident can teach us anything, it should be to teach us to communicate our understanding, to share our wisdom, and mercy.

Translated by K. C. Lu