Author: CHUNG Yoon Ngan
Date: 01-01-12 05:32
A story of Taiwan after World War2
The opening scene was in the city of Taipei, the provincial capital of the
province of Taiwan. In the evening of February 27th 1947, agents from the
Tobacco and Liquor Agency, as usual, went on the beat in the streets of
Taipei confiscating all contraband cigarettes and tobacco from the tobacconists.
In front of a tea house called Tian Ma (天馬茶房) the agents arrested a
widow called Lin Jiangmai (林江邁) for selling contraband cigarettes which
were eventually confiscated. Lin Jiangmai was a poor widow and she earned
her living by selling cigarettes. She knelt down begging the agents to return
her cigarettes. The agents not only refused to return her cigarettes but
used the butts of their weapons to beat her. She fell to the ground, unconscious
and bleeding from her head. People gathered and argued with the agents who
eventually opened fire killing a man called Chen Wenxi (陳文溪).
Seeing the agents who shot Chen Wenxi dead and had escaped the crowd marched
to the police station and asked for the arrest of the agents involved. However,
the policemen just ignored them. The crowd then went to the military police
station and asked the military policemen to arrest the killer. The military
police also gave no response.
Frustrated and angry, the crowd returned to the scene of incident and burned
the agents vehicles and the confiscated goods. The crowd then marched to
the police and military police stations again and surrounded them. More
and more people came and joined the crowd who laid siege to the stations
until the next morning.
Hearing no responses from the police and military police, the crowd, who
had laid siege to the police and military police stations, then went in
procession marching through the streets beating drums and gongs telling
the shopkeepers to go on strike. The shopkeepers responded and the whole
city of Taipei was paralyzed.
When the crowd marched near the Yanping Road (延平路) police station the
police fired on the crowd and a few people were wounded. The crowd was so
angry that they rushed inside the police station and beat up the policemen
and several of them were seriously wounded. The main target of the crowd
was the Tobacco and Liquor Agency which was by then guarded by armed policemen
who opened fire when the crowd forced themselves into the agency building.
Two people were killed and four seriously wounded by the policemen. All
the documents and the goods from the agency were removed out into the field
nearby and set on fire.
For the whole day of February 28th 1947 there were processions in the streets
of Taipei city. The crowd shouted "Arrest the perpetrators. Arrest the perpetrators.
" By then the crowd was increased to more than ten thousand strong who then
marched to the Governor's Residence. They gathered in the square in front
of the residence demanding the Governor, Chen Yi (陳儀) for a response.
The crowd could not see the Governor because the Residence was surrounded
by armed troops who were preventing them from entering. Filled with anger,
the crowd went amok and they rushed forward trying to enter the Governor's
Residence. But before they could reach the door the soldiers from upstairs
of the residence opened fire killing three people and seriously wounded
another three who died later. The crowd was forced to leave.
Actually, the crowd had no other intentions but wanting the authorities
to arrest the perpetrators who killed Chen Wenxi. Now it ended up with so
many people killed. The residents of Taipei were enraged. Within one hour
the city of Taipei, the capital of Taiwan Island, became a horrible city.
Thousands upon thousands of people came out to the streets. They bashed
anyone who happened to be a Wai Sheng Ren (外省人) or non-Taiwanese whom
they came across. Many innocent Wai Sheng Ren were beaten up. This action
spread all over Taiwan.
"Kill A Shan 打死阿山"
was heard throughout the city of Taipei. Blood was flowing in the streets.
Taiwanese hid those Wai Sheng Ren who had treated them well before the incident.
Yan Jiagan (嚴家淦), a Wai Sheng Ren and the director of the Transport
Department of Taiwan, escaped death by hiding in the cellar in Lin Xiantang's
(林獻堂) house in Taizhong (台中). Many none-Taiwanese police and military
police also went hiding in friendly Taiwanese houses.
The residents in Taipei converged to Zhongshan Park (中山公園) to hold a
citizen's meeting. In the meeting they swore to fight to the bitter end.
In the meantime, a group of people left the crowd and occupied the Taiwan
Radio Station and they began to broadcast to the people of Taiwan and the
world telling what was happening in Taiwan.
Posted to Overseas Chinese Forum at asiawind.com
By CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (鄭永元)
|
|
The Asiawind forums are provided to you by
InTechTra Inc.
