Below are a series of postings from soc.culture.taiwan, an electronic bulletin board on internet's Usenet. Users around the world participate in an ongoing conversation on all topics pertaining to Taiwan. By the time of this writing there have already been over 36,000 messages left on this bboard. As these postings suggest, the 228 massacre is a frequent subject for debate. This selection begins in the middle of a thread on 2.28. After one person wrote that he had never heard of the incident, someone responded by posting a series of eye-witness reports by Western observers. After reading this series of testimonials about the massacre, we decided to direct the discussion about 228 toward its representation in City of Sadness. The response reveals some of the controversy the film has provoked.
The following note was from the original 1994 version, left here for nostalgia's sake: [For those unfamiliar with Usenet reading protocol, we offer the following notes. Every message starts with a heading much like an office memo, only it includes electronic addresses and the route the message took to the net. Writers often quote previous postings, generally preceding each line with a "greater than" mark to signal the extended quote. Because the internet is incapable of underlining or italics, you'll see asterisks and other methods of emphasis. This includes small graphic faces, such as :-) a sideways happy face. Note how the first author designates his displeasure at a previous writer's ignorance with a grimacing face. We have taken out e-mail addresses for posters' privacy.]
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Newsgroups: soc.culture.taiwan
Path:noose.ecn.purdue.edu!cello.ecn.purdue.edu!
From: Subject: Re: Would anyone provide me more about
Message-ID: <>
Sender: news@noose.ecn.purdue.edu (USENET news)
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network
References: <1juNbv4@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>
Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1993 20:44:07 GMT
@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (____) writes:
>the 228 masacre? I never heard of it at all! :(
--------------------------------------------------
March 29, 1947 - New York Times
--------------------------------------------------
by Tillman Durdin
Nanking, March 28, Foreigners who have just returned
to China from Formosa corroborate reports of wholesale
slaughter by Chinese troops and police during anti-Government
demonstrations a month ago.
These witnesses estimate that 10,000 Formosans were
killed by the Chinese armed forces. The killings were
described as "completely unjustified" in view of the nature
of the demonstrations.
The anti-Government demonstrations were said to have
been by unarmed persons whose intentions were peaceful.
Every foreign report to Nanking denies charges that
Communists or Japanese inspired organized the parades.
Foreigners who left Formosa a few days ago say that
an uneasy peace had been established almost everywhere, but
executions and arrests continued. Many Formosans were said
to have fled to the hills fearing they would be killed if
they returned to their homes.
****** Three Days of Slaughter ******
An American who had just arrived in China from
Taihoku [Taipei] said that troops from the mainland arrived
there March 7 and indulged in three days of indiscriminate
killing and looting. For a time everyone seen on the streets
was shot at, homes were broken into and occupants killed. In
the poorer sections the streets were said to have been
littered with dead.
There were instances of beheadings and mutilation of
bodies, and women were raped, the American said.
Two foreign women, who were near at Pingtung near
Takao, called the actions of the Chinese soldiers there a
"massacre." They said unarmed Formosans took over the
administration of the town peacefully on March 4 and used the
local radio station to caution against violence.
Chinese were well received and invited to lunch with
the Formosan leaders. Later a bigger group of soldiers came
and launched a sweep through the streets.
The people were machine gunned. Groups were rounded
up and executed. The man who had served as the town's
spokesman was killed. His body was left for a day in a park
and no one was permitted to remove it.
A Briton described similar events at Takao, where
unarmed Formosans had taken over the running of the city. He
said that after several days Chinese soldiers from an
outlying fort deployed through the streets killing hundreds
with machine-guns and rifles and raping and looting.
Formosan leaders were thrown into prison, many bound with
thin wire that cut deep into the flesh.
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Article 36454 (761 more) in soc.culture.taiwan:
From:
Subject: repost: 228 (part 3)
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1993 00:27:31 GMT
Lines: 40
If you have already read my articles about 228, please hit 'n' now.
--------------------------------------------------
Chief Medical Officer for United Nations Relief
Rehabilitation Administration
Boys were shot down from bicycles as they rode. One
man who was sitting in his home reading his evening newspaper
had his money, watch and a ring removed from his person by
soldiers who entered his home, and then shot him through the
back. The next morning as he was being carried in a strecher
to the hospital by his family, they were shot at, even as
they entered the front door of the hospital - a Canadian
Mission hospital . . . A working man returning home was
confronted by soldiers who had him raise his hands, then
searched his person. Not finding any money they ran a
bayonet through his leg; then as he fell to the ground they
demanded that he stand up, which he could not do. So they
him in the head and departed. But they only shot off his ear
and he was able to tell his experiences the next day in the
hospital ward. Governor Chen Yu announced over the radio
that everything was at peace again, and asked all Formosans
to open their shops and resume work [this broadcast was
played in City of Sadness in one of the hospital scenes] The
next morning a half-dozen Formosans were pushing a cart of
fish to market when Chinese troops opened fire on them from
the road side, killing some and wounding others.
In the city of Pintung where the inaugeration of the
brief people's rule was marked by the playing of the Star
Spangled Banner on phonographs, the entire group of about 45
Formosans who were carrying on various phases of local
government were taken out to a nearby airfield from which,
later, a series of shots were heard. A Formosan who,
representing the families of these people, went to the
military commander to intercede for their lives, was taken to
the public square and, after his wife and children had been
called to witness the event, he was beheaded as an example to
the rest of the people not to meddle in affairs which did not
concern them.
Letter from Ira D. Hirschy, M.D. (Chief Medical
Officer, UNRRA- Taiwan) to E.E. Paine (UNRRA Reports
Officer), n.d.
End of article 36454 (of 37214)--what next? [npq]
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Article 36455 (760 more) in soc.culture.taiwan:
From:
Subject: repost: 228 (part 4)
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1993 00:28:51 GMT
Lines: 35
If you have already read my articles about 228, please hit 'n' now.
--------------------------------------------------
Witness: United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
Accounts Officer Ms. Louise Tomsett
I did not get into Taipei until Tuesday . . . to the
Office, and then called at the MacKay Hospital . . .
Everywhere I was told tales of looting, shooting, murder and
rape, and [I saw] trucks loaded with heavily armed soldiery
and bearing mounted machine guns patrolling the city. Then
it was decided that it may become necessary to leave the
and I was asked to . . . see the British Consul, [Geoffrey
Tingle, at Tamsui] and find out if we could leave heavy
baggage in store there. Jim Woodruff drove me down . . .
That same evening Hokuto [Peitou] seemed to have been raided,
and heavy firing went on for thirty minutes, and afterwards
Chinese soldiers searched the roads and bush systematically
up past [the UNRRA hostel]. Large numbers of Taiwanese were
on the move up to the hills and on a few walks I took, I
many people living out in caves. One man explained that
soldiers had shot his father so he had brought his family up
to the relative safety away from town. Apparently the
soldiers did hunt some refugees out, as often -- especially
at night -- short bursts of firing could be heard.
Towards the end of the week I made one trip to
Keelung -- buildings had been damaged and Taiwanese I spoke
to told stories of wholesale shooting and looting. I did see
Chinese police drag in the bodies of two men who had been
shot, and Taiwanese standing about told me that very many
bodies had been taken from the Harbor over the past week.
--- Letter from Louise Tomsett (UNRRA - New
Zealand) to George H. Kerr, dated June 7, 1948
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Article 36456 (759 more) in soc.culture.taiwan:
From:
Subject: repost: 228 (part 5)
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1993 00:33:58 GMT
Lines: 60
If you have already read my articles about 228, than please hit 'n' now.
--------------------------------------------------
That evening after dinner we sat discussing with
friends the dread implications of the word from Keelung.
Suddenly the night silence was shattered. The rattle of
gunfire could be heard not far away on the boulevard leading
into the city from the north.
The crack of rifle-fire and the chatter of machine
guns could be heard throughout the night, across the town.
The troops had come from Keelung.
******************
During a lull in the action on our boulevard, we made
our way to the Mackaye Mission Hospital close by, to join
there the Director of the United States Information Service,
his wife and baby, and other foreigners who realized that the
large walled mission compound might offer some security from
random gunfire in the streets.
From an upper window we watched Nationalist soldiers
in action in the alleys across the way. We saw Formosans
bayoneted in the street without provocation. A man was
robbed before our eyes -- and then cut down and run through.
Another ran into the street in pursuit of soldiers dragging a
girl away from his house and we saw him too, cut down.
The sickening spectacle was only the smallest sample
of the slaughter then taking place throughout the city, only
what could be seen from one window on the upper floor of one
rather isolated house. The city was full of troops.
At one moment from our vantage point we saw the
Canadien nurse in charge of the hospital (Ms. Hildur
Hermanson) run out accompanied by two Formosan nurses and
three assistants with strechers. They boldly crossed the
boulevard to enter a warren of alleys beyond. Soon they
returned, carrying a desparately wounded man. As they
entered the hospital building soldiers leveled fire from the
street, just missed the nurses, merely knocking chunks from
the cornice just under a large Canadien flag. This time
there were no official news broadcasts to tell of Nationalist
troops attacking a Canadian Mission hospital.
Throughout that grim Sunday patients were brought
into the mission compound, some shot, some literally hacked
to pieces. A well-known Formosan teacher had been shot in
the back while trying to reach her home and had been robbed
as she lay in the street before someone managed to bring her
into the hospital nearby.
----------------------- Formosa Betrayed - p. 293
by George H. Kerr - Vice Consul of the American Consulate 1945-1947
End of article 36456 (of 37214)--what next? [npq]
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Article 36457 (758 more) in soc.culture.taiwan:
From:
Subject: repost: 228 (part 6)
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1993 00:35:14 GMT
Lines: 36
If you have already read my articles about 228, please hit 'n' now.
--------------------------------------------------
The "whitewash" after the massacre :
------------------------------------------
United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
Chief Medical Officer
I try my best in spreading the news and persuading the people
that U.N. Trusteeship is possible. But under the present
situation it is almost impossible to spread it wide enough.
And it is very difficult to persuade the people that U.N.
will take the problem because people think Taiwan is too
small.
Several hundred are still in the mountains, but they are in
difficult situation because food is very short there and some
influential aborigines who were bribed by the Government do
cooperate with the Formosans.
Secret organization is going on very slowly, but
increasingly. Majority of people become very timid after the
"blood bath". I hope they will quickly forget it. But the
hatred is 100%.
If a plebiscite is held I am quite sure that U.N. Trusteeship
(especially U.S.A.) will get 100% support . . .
So-called "Purge of Towns and Villages" is practised and
people are imposed with joint liability, if one wicked person
is found, all the people will be punished. Such a wicked
system as the Dark Ages!
----------------------------
Letter to Dr. Ira D. Hirschy
(Chief Medical Officer, UNRRA)
dated Taipei, April 14, 1947
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Article 36458 (757 more) in soc.culture.taiwan:
From:
Subject: repost: 228 (part 7)
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1993 00:36:24 GMT
Lines: 27
If you have already read my articles about 228, please hit 'n' now.
--------------------------------------------------
On March 10 the Acting Director of United Nations
Relief and Rehabilitaion Administration (a Frenchman, M. Paul
Clement) went on business to the Nationalist Army
at Taipei and there in the inner courtyards counted fifteen
well-dressed Formosans, bound, kneeling, and with necks
bared, awaiting execution. At the other end of the island
Mr. Allen Shackleton of New Zealand went to the local
Garrison Headquarters at Kaohsiung to try to negotiate a
of some sort in the midst of most atrocious acts of revenge
and retaliation. General Peng Meng-chi was the Garrison
Commander. In the grounds of the Headquarters Shackleton
recognized a Formosan friend -- a moderate leader who had
done all that he could to prevent the outbreak of trouble
between local Formosans and mainland Chinese, but now held as
"rebel." His crime, of course was the fact that he was a
prominent local leader who carried influence in the Kaohsiung
community. Shackleton and his interpreter saw that he was
cruelly trussed up. Sharp wires were twisted about his neck
that his head had to be held at an excruciating angle; when
he tried to move, he was clipped under the nose by the
bayonet of his guard. Obviously he was doomed.
-------------------------------
Formosa Betrayed - p. 302 - 303
by George H. Kerr - Vice-Consul of the American Consulate from 1945-47
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Article 38297 (413 more) in soc.culture.taiwan:
From: Abe Mark Nornes
Subject: City of Sadness
Date: 8 Apr 1993 14:46:44 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Lines: 21
NNTP-Posting-Host: aludra.usc.edu
Because current politics and the legasy of repression of past
political events like the 228 incident are central to
soc.culture.taiwan, I was surprised more people didn't pick
up the topic of "City of Sadness." This is especially true
since among the Taiwanese I know, there is no shortage of
strong opinions on the success or failure of the film.
Personally, I was pretty impressed with the way that it
treated such a delicate subject. Most filmmakers in most
countries would have blown the relationships among the family
members into high melodrama, and the violence would have been
over the top (and thus distracting). I mean, seriously, could
you imagine John Woo or Zhang Yi-mou making "City of
Sadness"? Much as I like those directors, their version of
would be either a blood fest or Gong Li (spelling?) suffering
beautifully. Both would trivialize history in
their own ways. I thought Hou's approach was powerful. I've
heard people criticize it for not showing the massacre
itself...and showing mostly Taiwanese beating up
Chinese...but you have to admit that when the film was made
Hou probably couldn't approach the massacre too directly and
get away with it. Being an American I am, of course, on the
outside looking in, but I can't imagine a much more powerful
treatment than the one in "C of S." Any thoughts?
---Abe Mark Nornes
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Article 38338 (414 more) in soc.culture.taiwan:
From:
Subject: Re: City of Sadness
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Date: Fri, 9 Apr 1993 23:15:55 GMT
Lines: 51
I would agree with you on the most of your points. I watched
the film and I liked it. Actually I was quite surprised that
Hou would produce a film like that compared to his previous
films. His previous films were typical low-budget, and
therefore was quite limited to *image-catching*. "The City of
Sadness" perhaps because of more affluent budget on hand had
more quality work in the every aspect of a film including
sound engineering, editing, background music, and etc.
However, the main theme in Hou's style was pretty the same--
typical low-key without extra excess of emotion and
intentionally(?) weak in story-telling( sometimes it become
bored to watch his films ;-) ).
From the perspective of a movie, "C of S" will be an
important one in Taiwan's movie history. But it got somewhat
involved in a debate because the very heavy topic of 228 that
it tried to portrait. Like you said Hou couldn't approach the
massacre too directly two or three years ago due to the
political environment that time in Taiwan (Actually, were it
not that it received honor internationally, it was quite
possible that a very abridged version would have to be shown
on theatre). But the question is couple years later when
people have a more deep and truthfully understanding of the
228 massacre, and when they have a chance to watch that film,
are they going to feel less powerful and touched from the
film than we are/were? Couldn't we be more convinced and
thankful 10 or 20 years later if Hou could dealt with the
subject more directly and more truthfully?( By that I mean
even Hou himself probably had not yet a clear whole picture
of how the event happened since 288 was only began to unveil
itself during that time after 40 years). Of course I am
asking for quite possibly A+ when it already got an A. ;-)
End of article 38338 (of 38625)--what next? [npq]
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Article 38361 (414 more) in soc.culture.taiwan:
From:
Subject: Re: City of Sadness
Date: 11 Apr 1993 02:40:16 -0700
Organization: Duke University
Lines: 52
Reading your thoughts on City of Sadness, I was shocked by
your remarks on how the film is an excellent representation
of history of Taiwan and felt no strange that such an
inadequate reading of the film would come up from someone who
really stands "outside" of both the "imaginary" and "real"
space of Taiwan's history. Anyone who has the least idea of
the history and "reality" happened during the period from
1945 to 1949 in Taiwan would immediately find out that City
of Sadness is simply a fictional representation of
a political incident. Hence, to say how great the film is in
regard to "history" is over-exaggerated and vulgarly dimisses
the most traumatic tragedy in the modern history of Taiwan.
As we all know film is just fiction, and any attempt to
claim that film would help us understand history or reality
is really absurd as well as idiotic. Not only City of
Sadness is just a reflection of Hou Xiaoxian's idiocyncratic,
neoconservative, male-chauvinistic self-indulged obsession
with the "natural" order of life in history, it is also a
sufficient evidence of his "selling out"--to international
high art film circuits as well as KMT's neoconservative
cultural politics. Also, to say that Hou's artistic
expression is how appealing to those who are capable (and
afford to) of appreciating high art is rather elitist and
condescending to those who just don't really understand what
happens during the two and a half hours' film. Hou's high
modernist approach to the history of Taiwan merely cannot
reach to the mass audience, not to mention to evoke their
political consciousness or increase their historical
knowledge. I think in order to avoid such a terrible
misreading of "other" country's film, you should really do
some homework. Taiwan is not just another exotic or erotic
wonderland for you to exercise your humanistic or
intellectual sympathy. To celebrate a ideologically
problematic film such as " City of Sadness" is a serious
insult to the people who live in that land.
End of article 38361 (of 38625)--what next? [npq]
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Article 38383 (39 more) in soc.culture.taiwan:
From:
Subject: Re: City of Sadness
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Date: 12 April 1993 01:15
I do not agree with you that AMN was just exercising his
humanistic or intellectual sympathy. You have to have
sufficient evidences to accuse any other human being., be he
a native or a foreigner. Sometimes you can have better
understanding of something when you stand outside. Further
more, it's not a news for us Taiwanese that in or der to
study Taiwan' s history, you have to come to US to find those
literature that you need.
But certainly, it will not be fair to ask a several hours
film to give you a complete picture of an incident for over
than 4 years (or maybe 40 years). Let art be art, let
history be history, and let politcs be politics. I have to
admit that C of S' is the motive tha tI came to be concerned
about 228'. There's a very touching scene in this film: the
father was executed in the jail, his friend brought the
belongings to the mother and the kid, all of them three were
firstly calm (his friend is a mute) and quite, then the
mother unfolded a piece of lcoth, on which the executed
father wrtoe Live with dignity'. Then the mother burst out
crying, in a very self-controlled tone.
Being an artistic work, I think C of S' is a success, but
if you ask it to give you a satified answer to your political
or historical need, I think it might be a failure.
End of article 38383 (of 38789)--what next? [npq]
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Date: Wed, April 12 93 17:52:26 PST
From:
Message-Id: <>
In-Reply-To: nornes@aludra.usc.edu's message of 16 Mar 1993 17:40:55
-0800
Subject: City of Sadness
Status: R
I have watched that movie _many_ times. It's a very moving
picture. As far as what this movie's place in the "cinematic
treatment of Taiwanese history", well, I would say, it's an
important picture because it is the first movie that gives
the massacre a treatment on the movie screen. it is just a
movie, but it opens up a debate on the massacre and for this
it did a good job. I say this based on what I read as a
reasonable side to the event.
cheers,
End of article 38395 (of 38789)--what next? [npq]