Today is a national holiday - Peace Memorial Day, founded to commemorate the 2-28 Massacre that started on February 28, 1947 and continued into the period known as the White Terror, during which up to 30,000 dissidents were killed or disappeared in Taiwan.
After WW2, the UN removed Japanese control of Taiwan (then Formosa) and placed it in the hands of the Kuomintang (KMT) government, (then part of the pre-revolution Republic of China, but later being better know as the party of General Chiang Kai-shek, who formed a government/dictatorship in exile in Taiwan after being defeated by the communists in the mainland Chinese civil war.)
During the first 2 years of KMT rule under governer-general Chen Yi, they became renowned for corruption, mismanagement and nepotism. Inflation soared, causing widespread discontent especially amongst native Taiwanese. A flash point incident occurred when police confronted an elderly Taiwanese lady who was allegedly selling counterfeit cigarettes. When she resisted arrest, the police pistol-whipped her, sparking a flood of angry onlookers. When a stray warning shot killed a protester the rage spilled over into full scale riots, and the shooting of several unarmed protesters. The movement spread across the country and at their hight the anti-KMT movement took control of administrative centres and formed local community policing to keep civil order. Petitions were made to the UN to allow democracy, reduce corruption and even full Taiwanese independence.
The KMT, under Chen Yi, stalled in the negotiations, and in the meantime gathered a large army on the mainland. They arrived back in Taiwan on the 8th March and by the end of the month had killed 3000-4000 leaders of the rebels. There were reports of indiscriminate shooting of high-school boys, since they had formed the basis of the community police during the uprising.
The initial purge lead to a long period of single-party oppression, known as the White Terror, which lasted until the end of martial law in 1987, and during which time many thousands more Taiwanese were imprisoned, executed or disappeared for their political beliefs.
No mention of the massacre appeared in history books here until the progressive KMT president Lee Teng-hui publicly apologised in 1992, after which many memorials were built and this national holiday founded.
Now, the 2-28 incident is still a hot political issue, with the "pan-green" DPP (democratic) party often using it to vilify the KMT (reminiscent of GW Bush bringing up 9-11 whenever possible), while the "pan-blue" KMT (nationalist) coalition accuse their opponents of "hate speech" against mainland Chinese in Taiwan. Often relatives of 228 massacre victims are used in political publicity stunts, especially around election time (like now), often without due respect for their dignity and loss.
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