Tens of thousands Formosans died during '228 Massacre' by Chinese troops

February 20, 8:24 PMBoston Progressive ExaminerMichael Richardson

Previous Next

1 comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Boston Progressive Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Woodcut of 228 Massacre by Li Jun   Wiki Commons photo

The approach of February 28th signals a solemn time for Taiwanese as they contemplate the '228 Massacre' in `1947 that killed tens of thousand Formosa residents. An incident of violence against a street vendor the day before triggered a protest, turned uprising, against the Republic of China forces controlling the island. The weeks that followed were filled with bloodshed as ROC troops roamed the island.

American diplomat George Kerr was stationed in Taipei and was an eyewitness to the carnage. In 1965 Kerr wrote a book, Formosa Betrayed, which described the 228 Massacre. Kerr's account follows.

"While the indiscriminate slaughter was at its height in Taipei….The roadways, the riverbanks and the harbor shores were strewn with bodies."

"One foreigner saw a youngster riding his bike at breakneck speed through the streets, evidently trying to reach home, or perhaps speeding to his grandparents home with messages. He was knocked off his bicycle. He was then forced to hold out his hands which were cruelly slashed, after which the Nationalist soldiers made off with the machine, leaving the boy bleeding and helpless in the street."

"Looting began immediately. The soldiers made it a practice to beat upon closed doors, and then cut down whoever chanced to open them."

"The Government undertook an intensive search for members of the Settlement Committee, and for all editors, lawyers, doctors or businessmen who had taken an active part in preparing the reform program. Some were killed with great brutality."

"After three days of random shooting and bayonetting in the Taipei streets the Government forces began to push out into suburban and rural areas. Machine-gun squads, mounted on trucks, were driven along the highroads for fifteen or twenty miles, shooting at random in villages streets."

"One prominent person, visibly moved, told me he had witnessed the 'Rape of Nanking' by the Japanese in 1937, but that this surpassed it."

"We saw students, tied together, being driven to the execution grounds, usually along the river banks and ditches about Taipei, or at the waterfront in Keelung. One foreigner counted more than thirty young bodies--in student uniforms--lying along the roadside east of Taipei; they had their noses and ears slit or hacked off, and many had been castrated. Two students were beheaded near my front gate. Bodies lay unclaimed on the roadside embankment near the Mission compound."

"For days the dead continued to be washed up in Keelung Harbor. The wharves and narrow beaches were a favored execution ground….Foreigners observed small boats searching the harbor, towing bodies in where grief-stricken families waited to search for missing sons and brothers."

"At Kaohsiung there were incidents in which the victim's families were forced to witness cruel executions in the public streets. The nights in Taipei were made grim with the sounds of shooting, of screams, and occasionally pleas for mercy."

"I shall not forget the wordless appeal in the eyes of four well-dressed young men who passed my gate and protective American flag at midday on March 13. They were tied together by ropes attached to wires twisted about their necks, their arms were bound, and they were being hurried along toward the execution place on the banks of the Keelung River nearby. The ragged Nationalist soldier prodding them along at bayonet point saw the American flag on my jeep, and gave me the smartest salute he could manage. Here was the betrayal in its simplest terms; the Formosans looked to us for help, we armed and financed the Nationalists, and the Nationalists were making sure, if they could, that there would be no more appeals to the United States and 'Democracy'."