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National consciousness is very often a product of external rather
than internal factors. The invasion of the Manchus-ruled Ch'ing
Empire by the Britons and other West Europeans, during and after the
Opium War, for example, contributed to the growth of a Han (Chinese)
racial consciousness. Years after years of alien rule helped ferment
in the minds of the Taiwanese a Taiwanese consciousness against the
alien rulers. It is true that the three groups of Taiwanese people
have been slowly fusing into one national group, a continuous
process still developing today.
Anxious to resist the current ruler, the Taiwanese often associa-
ted with other alien groups, resulting in a lessening of the racial
distinction between themselves and these groups. For example, during
the period of Japanese rule (1895-1945), we find that the Taiwanese
identified themselves as the Taiwanese nation but yet failed to
distinguish themselves clearly from Chung-hua-min-chu (the Chinese
nation). During the Japanese rule, the Taiwanese people contrasted
themselves with the ruling Japanese nation, so much so that the
support from the Chinese Nation, which was not in control of Taiwan
in those days, was so much wished for that the Chinese nation was
looked upon as brethren.
Under Japanese rule, the Taiwanese, educated by the Japanese for
half a century and geographically isolated without contact from the
Chinese continent, developed a different centrifugal force to leave
China. However, some elements of the anti-Japanese movement, parti-
cularly the Taiwanese who joined the movement on the Chinese conti-
nent, regarded the Taiwanese nation as part of the Chinese nation.
The Taiwanese who joined the anti-Japanese resistance movement
on the Chinese continent made no contribution to freeing Taiwan
from the grip of imperialist Japan. This was done entirely by the
United States, but all the same, they shrewdly claimed Japan's
defeat as the Republic of China's victory and came marching into
Taiwan as "liberators."
Opportunists were rampant inside the island of Taiwan as well.
Japan's downfall helped little to intensify Taiwanese conscious-
ness. On the contrary, Taiwanese national consciousness withered
when the immediate target of resistance, the Japanese colonialists,
left the political stage of Taiwan. In general, the ruled challenge
the ruler, with the ruled peoples' nationalistic movements leading
to the founding of their own nation. However, in the case of Taiwan,
such a movement challenging the Republic of China, then one of the
five major powers of the world, meant a challenge without prospects
of success. The fragile nationalism of Taiwan thus turned round to
identify itself as part and parcel of the Chinese nation, the
Republic of China.
The Taiwanese, however, were to witness, under Chinese rule,
many inexplicable phenomena. Sovereign power in Taiwan was monopo-
lized by the Chinese government officials sent from the mainland to
take over the island; the "liberated" Taiwanese still had to remain
the "ruled." Economic strife and social disorder immediately after
the war aside, the lack of political integrity on the part of the
Chinese government officials, corrupt practices, discrimination
towards Taiwanese, Differences in values, poor quality of government
officials, all made the Taiwanese regret that they had ever identi-
fied themselves as part of the Republic of China.
A small incident that erupted on February 27, 1947, developed, on
the following day, into a wave of outrages during which the Chinese
Nationalist government offices in Taipei were besieged. The heatwave
of resistance quickly spread all across the island, as if to demons-
trate the extent of Taiwanese disillusionment towards China and its
people.
If the situation had cooled down then, there might not have been
the Taiwanese farewell to the Chinese nation. For, at that stage,
some Taiwanese who blamed Governor Chen Yi and the Chinese authori-
ties in control of Taiwan, hoped that Chiang Kai-shek and the auth-
orities of the central government of China would appreciate the
feelings of the Taiwanese people. They did not know then that such
hope was soon to be crushed into pieces at the hands of the Chinese
central government itself. On March 9th, two divisions of Chinese
troops sent by the central government landed in Taiwan. The atroci-
ties which followed were more than enough to convince the Taiwanese
of their own ignorance.
Even in the city of Taipei where the incident originated and
where the commotion was known to have been most furious, not more
than 33 Chinese officials were killed by the Taiwanese, with 7
missing and 866 injured over the period February 28-March 8.(1)
However, in the course of the suppression by the central government
troops beginning on March 9th, 10,000(2) at a conservative estimate,
or possibly 50,000 (3) at the highest estimate, of Taiwanese were
massacred. No exact data were taken in the midst of the chaos to
verify the total death toll. However, what is astounding is not so
much the total death toll as the atrocious manner in which the
Taiwanese victims were massacred. What atrocities to commit against
the brethren in Taiwan! The incident decisively and permanently
changed their previous identification as part of the Chinese nation.
The blow was especially great because so many of the Taiwanese
massacred by the Chinese Nationalists were leaders of the Taiwanese
community at that time. The incident was a tragedy the like of which
has never been found before in the history of Taiwan. Alien inva-
sions, oppression by foreign races, massacres by the ruler - all are
nightmares no one wishes to recall. Such nightmares, however, leave
behind poems for resistance and moral courage in the minds of the
ruled, be they nation, race, or individual. The February 28th
Incident and massacres which followed left behind just that. The
Taiwanese were made to realize that there could be no dignity for
themselves without a final, permanent departure from China, and from
identity as Chinese.
February 28 incident & Taiwan's independence
During the time when the internal strife in China was yet to
fully erupt, although the Nationalists and Communists were already
frequently clashing, the February 28th Incident was naturally welcome
to the Chinese communists. There might have been Chinese communists
who were directly involved in the incident or perhaps some Taiwanese
who might have intervened under the guidance of Chinese communists.
Nevertheless, their involvement in the incident was limited; there-
fore, the underlying theme was the feud between the Taiwanese and
the Chinese, Between the ruled population of Taiwan and the ruling
Chinese. Recent remarks from the People's Republic of China in
"commemoration" of the February 28th Revolution amount to a distor-
tion of history, where the incident is interpreted as an indication
of the Taiwanese leaning towards the Chinese Communist Party. But
the truth is quite different. Even the pro-Chinese Communist Party
activist, Hsieh Shue-hong, was, in the course of the incident, strug-
gling for the independence of Taiwan.(4) It was only after she
entered China to seek the protection of the People's Republic of
China that Hsieh Shue-hong came to support the Chinese Communist
Party's rule of Taiwan - neither she nor her followers had any such
idea at the time of the February 28th Revolution. A convert to the
People's Republic of China, Hsieh Shue-hong wrote for the New China
Monthly in Support of the liberation of Taiwan by the People's
Republic of China. But the time had to come when she would have to
be liquidated, which happened in 1958, with the accusation of local
Taiwanese nationalism! Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that
the Chinese Communist Party played no role in the February 28th
Revolution.
On the other hand, the Chiang regime, which was the target of
the Taiwanese Resistance movement and whose hands are smeared
with the blood of the Taiwanese victims of the great massacre,
suppresses every truth concerning the February 28th Incident and
bans any attempt to recall the incident, taking full advantage of
the Taiwanese antipathy to the Chinese Communist Party and the
People's Republic of China by blaming the Chinese Communist Party
for having agitated the February 28th Incident, which, in turn, has
the effect of endorsing the propaganda from the People's Republic
of China. Taiwanese must be aware of these distortions of history,
and keep on record all the facts concerning the February 28th
Incident.
The post-war independence movement in Taiwan aims at attaining
independence from the Republic of China, and, further in the future,
resisting the imperialism of the People's Republic of China.
Here at this juncture we must be aware that the Taiwanese nation
does not comprise only the Taiwanese who have been living in Taiwan
since before World War II. Those who regard themselves as Chinese
cannot be called Taiwanese unless they subjectively identify them-
selves as Taiwanese. In other words, the Taiwanese or the Taiwanese
nation should comprise all people, whatever the place of birth, who
identify themselves as Taiwanese, as part and parcel of the Taiwanese
nation. It follows then that the Taiwanese national consciousness
awakened by the February 28th Incident and the massacres which fol-
lowed is a milestone for a resurgence of the Taiwanese nation. For
this reason, the February 28th Incident is a memorable event in the
history of revolution in Taiwan. This must be remembered for ages
eternal by every Taiwanese throughout the world.
FOOTNOTES:
(1) Based on the enclosed survey statistics. Chinyu, The Truth and
Inside Story of the Taiwanese Incident, Shanghai; Chien-se-shu-
tian, 1947, p.48. It may be noted in passing that Chien-se-shu-
tian is an alias for Taiwan Garrison Command.
(2) U.S. State Department, United States Relations with China, with
Special Reference to the Period 1944-1949 (G.P.O., 1949), pp.
926-928.
(3) Monthly Taiwan Youth, No. 6, February, 1961.
(4) According to the source from the Taiwan Garrison Command, Hsien
Shue-Hong and others are said to have attempted to disarm the
Chinese troops, send the Chinese in Taiwan back to the mainland
and found a new nation in the island. They designed a national
flag with seven stars, symbolizing the seven prefectures then
in Taiwan, placed around the "rising sun" of the Japanese flag.
Op.Cit., Taiwan Incident, pp. 68-69.
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