In 1947, Taiwan’s Newspapermen Were All Assassinated. Do You Believe It Was Over a Crackdown on Contraband Cigarettes?

Old Chinese newspaper page with a bold vertical headline about seventeen counties/cities forming a committee, surrounded by dense vertical text columns and a red circular stamp in the top-right corner.

Taiwan Shin Sheng Daily News, report of March 5, 1947.

The era of 228 had no martial law and no “newspaper ban.” The people of Taiwan then were in step with modern citizens around the world: strikes and street protests were nothing unusual, and the people of Taiwan still enjoyed the freedom to publish newspapers — the People’s Herald, the Shin Sheng Daily News, the Min Pao, the Ta Ming Pao, and others. Yet in March 1947, these leading figures of the press were all assassinated at once! How could that be? Why? How could it be merely because of a “contraband cigarette” crackdown on Yanping North Road? What they demanded was plainly “political reform” — written in black and white in the newspapers of that year, was it not?

Black-and-white portrait of a graduate in cap and gown with glasses, seated and looking at the camera with a neutral expression.

Lin Mao-sheng (1887–1947): Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, National Taiwan University; founder of the Min Pao. Assassinated during 228.

Black-and-white portrait of a man in a suit and tie posed against a patterned backdrop.

Juan Chao-jih (1900–1947): General Manager, Taiwan Shin Sheng Daily News. Assassinated during 228.

Black-and-white portrait of a man in a suit and tie, wearing a lapel pin, facing the camera.

Sung Fei-ju (1903–1947): President, People’s Herald. Assassinated during 228.

Black-and-white portrait of a man in a suit and tie seated at a desk, looking at the camera.

Wu Chin-lien (assassinated 1947): Editor, Taiwan Shin Sheng Daily News.

They were by no means the “fools” killed “for no reason at all,” as the weeping and wailing of every 228 memorial day would have it. They were learned men — the conscience of the press, who put forward new ideas and proposals for the people and spoke to the government on the people’s behalf. They were brave resisters, resisting the corruption and graft of the Nationalist government since 1945 and the barbaric, undisciplined troops who oppressed a modernized people. They called for “appointing Taiwanese to office” and “popular election of county and city heads”; they demanded “basic human rights”…

Black-and-white scanned page with vertical Chinese text columns discussing basic human rights and freedoms.
Front page of an old Chinese newspaper with large vertical headlines; the bold title 中華日報 appears on the right, and a small circled area at the bottom right shows the date and issue number.
Vertical Chinese newspaper clipping announcing government reform: the office will be renamed to province-wide government and locals will be appointed; mayor sets July 1 for implementation.

If, to this day, those who rule still will not let the people — will not let us, the descendants of 228 — see clearly our ancestors’ “political demands,” their heroic sacrifice, the story of how they took to the streets without fear of death, went on strike, occupied government offices, took over police stations, and organized self-defense units to keep order, it is because every ruler dreams of ruling “docile subjects.” The White Terror killed many of the remaining resisters and imprisoned the youth, thoughts, and feelings of many more. But the greatest terror is the erasing of our memory: bullying our children with lies, teaching us to forget our ancestors’ courage and fearlessness in the face of death, and turning us into cowards who inform on one another.

 

We recover history in order to recover the courage to resist — to know again where we come from, and to become fully human again.

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