228

On 28 February 1947, the people of Taipei started protesting the Chinese military's strict occupation of Taiwan. The army responded violently, killing more than a few people. The protests spread throughout Taiwan at an impressive speed, considering the communication systems of the day, with protesters retaliating along ethnic lines. Taiwanese protesters attacked people who were born in Japan and China. The Chinese military attacked people who were born in Taiwan. When the provincial government in Taipei declared martial law, the violence spiraled out of control.

Much like modern Hong Kong protests, the Taiwan protesters had no single agenda. Some groups wanted democratic elections, some groups wanted complete independence from China. Some simply wanted to be treated with common decency. The big difference was in all the different governments.

Today's Hong Kong protesters are mostly Chinese people who consider themselves Chinese and citizens of China. They want freedom and/or respect from the People's Republic of China government in Beijing. The Taiwan protesters in 1947 were mostly Taiwanese people who considered themselves Taiwanese and not necessarily citizens of China. The Republic of China controlled Beijing and was given control of Taiwan after World War II. While today's Hongkongers were mostly born Chinese citizens under British colonial occupation, most Taiwanese in 1947 were born Taiwanese citizens under Japanese colonial occupation. Ironically, most of the Taiwanese, who were mostly descendants of people who came from China over hundreds of years, were happier as a Japanese colony than a Chinese province.

When the Republic of China sent more soldiers to enforce martial law in Taiwan, it was open season on anyone who was too Taiwanese, then on anyone not Chinese enough, and finally on pretty much anyone any soldiers saw on the streets. It took about a month for the army to crush the protests, by which time anywhere between 18,000 and 30,000 civilians were killed. To this day, no one knows how many people died.

Not only did the Taiwanese protesters lose the battle, their lives were about to get even worse. When Chiang Kai Shek lost the Chinese Civil War to Mao Tse Tung, he retreated to Taipei and declared it the temporary capital of the Republic of China, which ruled over the Mainland and all of the islands, while Mao declared Beijing the capital of the People's Republic of China, which ruled over the Mainland and all of the islands, thus confusing people for decades to come. Chiang used the 228 massacre, and the civil war in general, as an excuse to continue martial law for the rest of his life. Taiwan – the Republic of China – was ruled by a single party – the Kuomintang – that did everything they could to make Taiwan less Taiwanese and more Chinese, including killing most of the Taiwanese leaders and intellectuals who opposed the KMT. Chiang wanted Taiwan to be a strong base of Chinese nationalists who could help him retake control of China, which never came even close to happening.

Martial law was lifted a decade after Chiang died, but the KMT still ruled Taiwan with as much malevolence as the CPC ruled China after Mao died. The funny thing about Chiang and Mao, as much as they hated each other and disagreed on every subject, they had pretty similar styles as brutal dictators. As older generations of patriots are replaced by younger generations with access to information, the people in both countries are starting to accept how horrible each was.

Most of today's adults in Taiwan never heard about the 228 massacre when they were children. It was never taught in schools and, much like Tiananmen Square, was not spoken of in public. The families of those who were executed without trial, shot on the streets or simply disappeared were not even allowed to talk about their relatives. After martial law was lifted and people started to learn more about what happened, it became a controversial subject. Too many people could not believe that their government did such a thing. When it was finally taught in schools in the 2000s, many parents objected. When the Taiwan government set up a fund to compensate families of victims, a little under 3,000 people filled out the forms. Only a few hundred Taiwanese have received any money from the government for the loss of a relative.

No one has been held accountable for the 228 massacre. The leaders responsible were all dead by the time anyone was allowed to discuss it. But at least one person got his comeuppance. Chen Yi, the governor in Taipei who originally declared martial law, was replaced a month after the massacre ended and appointed governor of Zhejiang, in eastern China. When he tried to defect to the Communist Party and surrender Zhejiang to Mao's forces, Chiang Kai Shek arrested Chen and had him executed. In Taipei.

When Taiwan finally had democratic elections in 1996, 20 years after Chiang's death, the people overwhelmingly voted for the KMT, the same party that had ruled over them for the past 50 years. In 2000, the people actually voted for a different party, the DPP, but then that president and his vice president were shot by a KMT agent one day before their reelection. They both survived and were reelected. When the KMT won the 2008 election, the DPP president was arrested for bribery, sentenced to life in prison and released in 2015. Since 2000, Taiwan has bounced back and forth between the KMT and DPP every eight years, currently on DPP and Taiwan's first female president. Whether she will be arrested when the KMT regains control remains to be seen.

Politically, Taiwan is an interesting place today. The ethnic divisions are not as obvious. China's constant threat to invade Taiwan for 50 years helped unify the people. It used to be that only those with a long ancestry in Taiwan called themselves Taiwanese. Now, there are people whose parents or grandparents were born in China that call themselves Taiwanese. And that is where the political divisions come out into the open. One side, the DPP, wants to sever connections to China and change the country's official name from the Republic of China to Taiwan. The other side, KMT, wants better relations with China, hoping to one day unify the two countries – assuming communism disappears. Everyone I have ever met from Taiwan takes one side or the other. You can call most of them Taiwanese, whether they are ethnically Taiwanese or not. But some of them are deeply offended if you call them Chinese, even though the vast majority of their ancestors came from China. In my experience, taxi drivers are especially forthcoming with their political opinions. Ask your driver where he stands and you will be at your destination before he finishes telling you.