Ying Huei (Vicky) Lay
4/20/09
Essay 2
Memorialization of 228 (Taiwanese White Terror) In Taiwan Compare to the WWI in England
Significant events are mostly remembered or recalled by their importances to the society and to the people. During the World War I, a large number of soldiers were killed, many families lost their important ones. Great Britain (England) had Remembrance Day and built tombstone for the unidentified soldiers that were scarified in the war. 228 was an unforgetful event happened in Taiwan's history. A park, a museum and a memorial day were named after the event.
After U.S. dropped atomic bombs in Japan, Japan lost the war and left Taiwan. China sent the Chinese Nationalist Party(Kuomintang) to take over Taiwan after Japanese left. While Taiwan was still under Japan's control, almost every Taiwanese speak only Taiwanese (Hokkien) and Japanese. There was problems with the language when Chinese came to take over Taiwan since they could only spoke Mandarin. In February 27, 1947, a group of people was trading cigarettes unauthorized, because the language was a problem, the officer was end up using violence to take aways all the cigarettes. The officer was trying to scare people always by using his gun, a man stood next to them was accidentally shot. Later many angry Taiwanese people were gather together in Taipei City to rebel the next day. Taiwanese people were mad because Chinese was trying the make profit out of Taiwan's sources. “The new Chinese Governor Chen Yi found the raid-battered Formosans docile. He promptly put his nephew in charge of the Taiwan Co., which bought coal at 200 yen a ton and sold it at 4,000. Black-market gold sold at 300,000 Chinese dollars an ounce, against $180,000 in Shanghai. Even in fertile Formosa, mass starvation threatened,” from Time News.4 To compare the Chinese government and Japanese Government, Chinese soldiers often took money away, ate with paying, used volience, and raped women. Japanese government had strong policy and laws while Taiwan was under controlled by Japan. Because of the differences between Chinese and Japanese, Taiwanese people were mad and looked down on Chinese.5 After seeing all the Taiwanese were out of control, Chen Yi asked for an army from China to help keep everything under control without telling the reason of what made all the Taiwanese mad. The army came, many Taiwanese were killed. Approximately between 150,000 to 280,000 Taiwanese were killed. 228 was the most significant event happened, Many articles, books, videos and images can be found about 228 and WWI.
There are many quotes can be found and were said by the country, family or people who were influenced by the event. In Great Britain, the government tried to tell people that men did not waste their lives. Because of their sacrifice, the country was saved and stayed united. From Ben's power point, “Mark 8: 35-6-- “Fpr whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” and “1 John 2: 2-- “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” Both quotes described honors and respects from us to the soldiers that sacrificed for the country. Writing is a way to keep records of history and feeling. Anything that were written during World War I would consider as history and feelings to express in literature. There were quotes said to tell their thoughts about 228.
In the Time News in June 10, 1946, “Last week "Down with the Governor!" posters appeared all over the island. In two towns, hungry natives burned sugar godowns. Formosans greeted the few visiting Americans with: "You were kind to the Japanese, you dropped the atom on them. You dropped the Chinese on us!"7 This quote was a little funny the first time reading it, but it told the truth of how Taiwanese felt. Some Chinese started to agree with the Formosan, "Fundamentally speaking, China was not qualified to take over . . . she lacks the men . . . technique . . . commodities . . . capital. She governs, but is inefficient. She takes, but she does not give. This is the government's shame."said by Ta Rung Pao, China's counterpart of the New York Times.7 In this quote, supports were given from other Chinese. It was an important step to help Taiwanese stop this mess. Aftermath of WWI and 228, there is a memorial day to remember the importance of the event and plenty of articles, videos and images are available for people to view. For example, the memorial foundation of 228 and the museum of 228 both have websites for people to click in and find update for activities.8
In England, there is a tombstone built for unidentified soldiers , and families of unidentified soldiers would go to the tombstone to remember their be loved family. Also British wears Poppy Flower on the Remembrance Day to show their respect. In Taiwan, a park named after 228 event, 228 Memorial Park (was Taipei New Park). Also a museum was opened in 2008 that keeps records of documents used and pictures taken of 228 event.9 What would happen if we do not have anything to remember events like those?
History teaches us things that we should not repeat and things we should keep for our own good. We do not want people died for nothing. They scarified their lives to save their countries and teach other a lesson. In WWI, if British did not have a Remembrance Day and tombstone built, families of dead soldier would not be satisfied the reason of men losing their lives. If Taiwanese did not have a 228 Memorial Day, park and museum for the event, the government and the people will still in an endless bloody fight. And because of what happened and lives scarified, that created the countries and the world today. It is important to keep memorialization to remember the events because without the events and wars in the past, we won't be what we are today.
Bibiolography:
1. Poppy Flower. BHK FORUM. 27 Oct. 2008. 18 Apr. 2009
2. Remembrance Day. Wikipeida 18 Apr. 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_Day#United_Kingdom
3. Taiwan Under Japanese Rule. Wikipedia. 18 Apr. 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan_under_Japanese_rule
4. This Is The Shame 10 June 1946. Time News. 18 Apr. 2009
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,792979,00.html
5. 228 Events. Wikipeida. 18 Apr. 2009 http://zh.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%E4%BA%8C%E4%BA%8C%E5%85%AB%E4%BA%8B%E4%BB%B6&variant=zh-tw
7. Memorial Foundation of 228. 18 Apr. 2009 http://www.228.org.tw/
8. Taipei 228 Memorial Museum. 18 Apr. 2009 http://228.culture.gov.tw/web/index.asp
2 comments:
Vicky, you said that history teaches us what we should avoid repeating; but, during the 1940s, wouldn't the Chinese and Japanese already realize that colonies were a poor investment?
It could be argued that in order to become a world power, Japan wanted to show the Allies its strength, especially after they were practically excluded from the sharing of WWI's winnings. But, after the Japanese fell, the Chinese should have been wary. After all, with a massive culture and government shift, they should have been more careful. Even more so as the USA was a former colony of Europe, one that threw off it's mother country and to form its own, inciting a bloody revolution.
I guess it's my point to wonder if these Asian powers worried over losing power by creating colonies while trying to mimic European empires.
You brought up some interesting points, which brings up some of my own. It seems as if we only memorialize crisis and mass killings nationally. What memorializations do we create that are not associated with tragedy and disaster?
- boring hook...remember that not every reader will have ANY context for this essay, so you need to set it up for him/ her.
- Verb tense is still problematic.
- I am so lost in the jumble of WWI, Taiwan, 228...I have no idea what you are saying. That's especially bad when there is no thesis/ focus.
- us, we, our...do not include the reader in YOUR argument. Just make your point.
- Like Shelby, I think the last paragraph is quite interesting. It certainly poses the most cogent/ interesting questions here. So I wonder how you would respond to Shelby's questions?
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