Taiwanese-Americans: Do You Know What 228 Is?

By John | Wednesday, February 28, 2007 | 3 Comments

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Today is February 28th, also abbreviated as 2/28 – but to Taiwanese around the world, it is better known as “228” and formally known as “Peace Memorial Day”

60 years ago today, February 28, 1947, a Chinese Nationalist (Kuomintang – KMT) soldiers beat a local Taiwanese woman for selling contraband cigarettes near the Taipei rail station. “The episode set off rioting throughout the island, which Nationalist reinforcements suppressed at the cost of thousands of lives. ” Native “elites” were also targeted as the Nationalists continued their stranglehold on the local population. Estimates of those killed range from 10,000 to 30,000.
For those not too familiar with Taiwanese history, at this time, the Nationalists were still fighting the Communists on Mainland China, before being fully defeated in 1949 and permanently escaping to Taiwan. The history of Taiwan is a complicated one. China (People’s Republic of China – PRC) maintains that Taiwan (Republic of China – ROC) is a renegade province. You can read more on Wikipedia about the “One China Policy.”

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Bonnie M

The 228 incident serves as a humbling reminder of Taiwanu00e2u0080u0099s troubled past. While the actual damage or the magnitude of violence remains unknown and unverified, there are politicians who fan this emotional fire to manufacture intra-ethnic prejudice solely for personal political gains. The only absolute fact is that both local residents and mainlanders were victimized and tragically murdered.

Available photographic evidence shows the local precinct being surrounded and burnt to the ground and there is a picture of a murder victim with has arms tied behind him. Many disappeared; some were taken away and others went into hiding to avoid persecution.

I feel the biggest tragedy of 228 is that all the victims regardless if they were Aborigine, local resident or mainlander were innocent of any actual crime. No matter how emotional the matter at hand is, to promote mob violence, coercion, cruelty, bigotry, or falsely accuse for personal political ideology violates the principles of common ethics and basic morality.

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8Asians.com » 61 years ago today - 2/28 - “228″: An Asian American/Asian Canadian Blog says:

February 28, 2008 at 5:27 pm

[...] I had written last year in “Taiwanese-Americans: Do You Know What 228 Is?,” today is the 61st anniversary of February, 28, 1947 – better known as “228.” [...]
8Asians.com » FAPA-YPG Sponsoring Facebook 2/28 Awareness Campaign says:

February 28, 2009 at 12:26 pm

[...] one of my earliest 8Asian blog postings, I asked Taiwanese Americans if they knew the significance February 28th; to raise awareness of 2/28 in a very web 2.0 way, the Formosan Association for Public Affairs [...]