Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE 2-28 INCIDENT
In the postwar years, the KMT (Kuomintang) government under Chen Yi continued
and even expanded the monopoly system begun under the Japanese. However, a
combination of graft and mismanagement led to the creation of a large black mar-
ket of goods, of which tobacco was no small part. On 27 February, 1947, agents
from the Tobacco Monopoly Bureau in Taipei seized contraband cigarettes and
money from a middle-aged widow and pistol-whipped her into unconsciousness.
Angry crowds formed and attacked the officers, one of whom responded by shoot-
ing into the crowd, killing an innocent bystander.
The next morning businesses closed in protest, and crowds gathered outside the
Taipei branch of the Monopoly Bureau, attacking employees and setting the offices
on fire. This was followed by an afternoon protest outside the governor-general's
office. Here, security forces again fired into the crowds, killing a number of protest-
ors. Violent protests now erupted all over Taiwan and for several days the island
was in chaos.
Order was restored by the Taiwanese themselves, and on 2 March local leaders
established a Settlement Committee with a list of 32 Demands, which included an
end to government corruption and free elections. Chen Yi stalled. He promised to
meet and discuss the demands, but in secret he waited for the Nationalist troop re-
inforcements he had requested from Chiang Kai-shek.
The troops arrived on 8 March, and according to witnesses, began a three-day
massacre of civilians. This was followed in the coming weeks by the round-up and
summary execution of protest leaders, intellectuals, high-school students and any-
one else held suspect by the government. An estimated 18,000 to 28,000 people
were killed during this period. Taiwan lost nearly its entire native elite.
Until the lifting of martial law in 1987, there was little open discussion of the
event. In 1992 President Lee Teng-hui made a public apology to victims on behalf of
the government. Three years later he declared 28 February (2-28) a public holiday,
and created a memorial foundation to deal with compensation. Taipei Park was
also renamed 2-28 Peace Memorial Park, and a 2-28 Memorial Museum was
opened in the former radio station that had been taken over following the initial
February protests. The museum exhibits were redone in 2010 in response to com-
plaints that under KMT Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (now president) the museum had
whitewashed the KMT's, and especially Chiang Kai-shek's, involvement in the mas-
sacre.
Meanwhile, in China, Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist regime was engaged in a civil
war with the Communist Party for control of China: and they were losing badly. On 1
October, 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the creation of the People's Republic of China
(PRC). Two months later on 10 December, Chiang fled to Taiwan, followed by two milli-
