Remembering the tragedy of 1947 is not only an academic exercise. It has clear implications for the present, including for the Tai Ji Men case.
by Willy Fautré*
*Text of a video prepared for the 77th anniversary of the 228 Incident in Taiwan.
![The 228 Memorial Museum in Taipei. Credits.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Memorial-Museum.jpeg)
![The 228 Memorial Museum in Taipei. Credits.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Memorial-Museum.jpeg)
Two hundred twenty-eight. This is how my mind first read this succession of three digits 228, remaining incredulous and stunned about its strange signification.
9/11 also in three digits is known worldwide and will remain known as such across the world, including in history books without mentioning the year 2001 or any further explanation, because of the magnitude of a series of terrorist attacks and their repercussions across all the continents.
I do not know how the Taiwanese read the fateful date of February 28, 1947, in their language but it took me a few days, while in Taipei, to understand the meaning of it and its historical importance for them. This important date should be known and fully understood outside Taiwan as well.
24 million Taiwanese are invited today to remember what happened on February 28, 1947. Emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, many Taiwanese at that time were exuberant with joy, as if they had finally seen a ray of sunshine after a long period of rain, and they were excited about being freed from Japanese colonial rule.
However, soon riled by rampant corruption in the government, the people of Taiwan condemned the Chinese Nationalist Government’s “take-over” of Taiwan as “plundering” their island.
On February 28, 1947, government agents badly beat a 40-year-old widow while confiscating contraband cigarettes. This marked the beginning of the unrest that eventually spread across the entire island and acted as a catalyst behind the people’s repeated but ignored demands for political reform.
![On February 28, 1947, crowds gathered at the Taipei offices of the Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, whose agents had beaten the cigarette seller, and burned archives and records. Credits.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/crowds-gathered.jpeg)
![On February 28, 1947, crowds gathered at the Taipei offices of the Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, whose agents had beaten the cigarette seller, and burned archives and records. Credits.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/crowds-gathered.jpeg)
The repression was ferocious. It is not known with certainty how many people were killed in the aftermath of the popular uprising, but mainstream estimates range from 18,000 to 30,000. After the barbarity of World War II, the hydra of another barbarity was showing its head, the White Terror, which lasted for about forty years.
In these moments of remembrance and mourning, nothing must ever divide the Taiwanese people. Taiwan must remain united for itself and for others, but Taiwan must also shed the full light of truth on those dark pages of its history with serenity. History shows us that when there is no national catharsis, the monster of dictatorship is never far away. It plays dead but it not dead. It is just sleeping.
Taiwan is on the right path to democracy as the latest elections have shown and confirmed. Smooth political transitions are the mark of democracy, but transitions have not always been without reproach.
After the White Terror, it took time to put in place transitional justice and there were cases when transitional injustice persisted. The Tai Ji Men case was one of them.
While the Martial Law officially ended at mid-July 1987, it took time for all freedoms to be restored. In the wake of the 1996 presidential elections, the Justice Minister carried out a purge against religious movements that had refused to support the candidate of his party. Religious leaders were arrested and accused of fraud and tax evasion (although most of them eventually were found not guilty by the courts). Temples and spiritual centers were closed.
Tai Ji Men had remained neutral and had not taken any political stance but was also persecuted. Prosecutor Hou Kuan-Jen then raided 19 Tai Ji Men academies and private homes of dizi (disciples). Subsequently, Dr. Hong, his wife, and two dizi were detained for several months on charges of fraud and tax evasion. All assets of Dr. Hong and his wife were frozen, including those unrelated to the activities of Tai Ji Men.
Justice was very slow. It was only ten years later that Taiwan’s Supreme Court confirmed that Dr. Hong and his co-defendants were innocent of all charges, including tax evasion. However, the tax administration went on prosecuting Tai Ji Men. Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling, it went on illegally claiming the payment of taxes, finally confiscating Tai Ji Men’s land in August 2020.
![Tai Ji Men protests in Taipei.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Tai-Ji-Men-protests-1.jpeg)
![Tai Ji Men protests in Taipei.](https://bitterwinter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Tai-Ji-Men-protests-1.jpeg)
On the occasion of this day of remembrance, Human Rights Without Frontiers, the Brussels-based NGO I am the head of, urges the upcoming government resulting from the recent democratic parliamentary elections to examine possible solutions to the Tai Ji Men case and put an end to it.