228 Incident - Uprising and Crackdown

Uprising and Crackdown

On the evening of February 27, 1947, Tobacco Monopoly Bureau enforcement team in Taipei went to a neighborhood on present-day Nanjing West Road, where they confiscated contraband cigarettes from a 40 year old widow named Lin Jiang-mai at the Tianma teahouse (天馬茶房)(25°03′14″N 121°30′44″E / 25.0540029°N 121.5123282°E / 25.0540029; 121.5123282). They took her life savings of the non-taxed (illegal) cigarettes. She begged for their return, but one of the agents hit Lin's head with a pistol, prompting the surrounding Taiwanese crowd to challenge the Tobacco Monopoly agents. As they fled one agent fired his gun into the crowd, killing one bystander. The crowd, which had already been harboring many feelings of frustration from unemployment, inflation and corruption of the Nationalist Government, reached its breaking point. The crowd protested to both the police and the gendarmes, but was mostly ignored.

Violence flared the following morning on February 28. Security forces at the Governor-General's Office, armed with swords(?), tried to disperse the crowd. Some fired on the protesters who were calling for the arrest and trial of the agents involved in the previous day's shooting, resulting in several deaths. Formosans took over the administration of the town and military bases on March 4 and forced their way into local radio station to protest. By evening, martial law had been declared and curfews were enforced by the arrest or shooting of anyone who violated curfew.

For several weeks after the February 28 Incident, the Taiwanese civilians controlled much of Taiwan. The initial riots, similar to the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, were spontaneous and somewhat violent. Within a few days the Taiwanese were generally coordinated and organized, and public order in Taiwanese-held areas was upheld by volunteer civilians organized by students, and unemployed former Japanese army soldiers. Local leaders formed a Settlement Committee, which presented the government with a list of 32 Demands for reform of the provincial administration. They demanded, among other things, greater autonomy, free elections, surrender of the ROC Army to the Settlement Committee, and an end to governmental corruption. Motivations among the various Taiwanese groups varied; some demanded greater autonomy within the ROC, while others wanted UN trusteeship or full independence. The Taiwanese also demanded representation in the forthcoming peace treaty negotiations with Japan, hoping to secure a plebiscite to determine the island's political future.

Outside of Taipei, it was less peaceful. Mainland Chinese also got beat up. Public places like banks and post offices were looted. Some had to flee to Military Police for protection. A few smaller groups formed, including the Communist inspired "27 Brigade" (二七部隊). They looted 3 machine guns, 300 rifles, hand grenades from military arsenals in Taichung and Pingtung. The armed Taiwanese shot or injured ~200 Nationalist Army soldiers which quickly precipitated the house arrest or execution of those who participated in the rebellion.

The Nationalists authorities under Chen Yi stalled for time while assembling a large military force in China in Fujian province. Upon arrival on March 8, the ROC troops launched a crackdown. According to the New York Times on March 29, 1947: "An American who had just arrived in China from Taihoku said that troops from China arrived there on March 7 and indulged in three days of killing. For a time anyone seen on the streets breaking the curfew could be shot at. Homes were broken into and occupants got arrested for questioning. In more isolated sections, such as the Racing Track or Botanical Garden, execution shots were heard.

By the end of March, Chen Yi had ordered the imprisonment or execution of the leading Taiwanese organizers he could identify. His troops reportedly executed (according to a Taiwanese delegation in Nanjing) between 3,000-4,000 people throughout the island. The exact number is still undetermined as only 300 Taiwanese families applied for another compensation as recently as 1990. Some of the killings were random, while others were systematic. Taiwanese elites were among those targeted, and many of the Taiwanese who had formed self governing groups during the reign of the Japanese were also victims of the 228 Incident. A disproportionate number of the victims were Taiwanese high school students. Many had recently served in the Japanese Army, having volunteered to serve to maintain order. Mainland Chinese civilians who fled often got beat up if not killed by Taiwanese.

The initial 228 purge was followed by repression of "communists" under one-party rule, in what was termed "White Terror", which lasted until the end of 1987. This time coincided with anti-communist fervor in the United States. Thousands of people, including both Mainland Chinese and Taiwanese, were imprisoned or executed for their real or perceived dissent,leaving the Taiwanese victims among them with a deep-seated bitterness towards what they term the Nationalist regime, and by extension, all Chinese not born in Taiwan or anyone supporting the KMT or CCP.