228

History can be learned through textbooks that are often times bias, however history is culture, and with culture being an overall performance of life it can best be learned while living somewhere. This was the case for Taiwan a country I knew little about yet gained a plethora of knowledge about in only a short stay. 228 Peace Park was the perfect place for such a journey through time.

Outside the 228 museum were transparent photos of hundreds of slain individuals, bringing my thoughts back to past experiences in places such as the Rwanda genocide memorial, Cambodia genocide memorial, Nagasaki, Pearl Harbor and countless other sites of atrocities of man against man. I could do nothing but ponder the many scenarios being played through my head as to why these people may have died.

When the museum finally opened in the morning hours, and although mostly in Chinese, the images, dates and displays provided me a wealth of knowledge. Known as the 228 incident, two years after the close of WWII, it resulted from a clear cultural barrier between the Taiwanese and the Chinese Nationalist government. The outbreak of violence erupted when a cigarette smuggler was shot dead on February 27, 1947 and the people of Taipei sent out radio messages across the nation calling for protests. These protests led to the execution of thousands of elites by soldiers trying to repress the protests and leading to a long period of Marshall Law and eventual independence from mainland China.

The 228 Peace Park containing the museum and monument remembering not only the move towards independence but the hundreds of lives lost in the wake of the fight for freedom, now stands as a symbol of remembering the past yet forgiveness of those committing such atrocities. It is a symbol to the world that Taiwan is a progressive national not dwelling on the past but focused on the future. It turns bitter hatred into a striving nation!