A Study On Historical Memory Of The 228 Incident In Taiwan(1947～2017)

The 228 Incident that occurred in 1947 is a patriotic and democratic movement of the vast majority of Taiwan compatriots for opposing the autocratic rule of the Kuomintang authorities and pursuing democracy and autonomy in the early period of Taiwan’s Recovery.It is a part of the Chinese people’s struggle for liberation,which has had a profound impact on Taiwan’s politics,economy,culture,social psychology and cross-Straits relations.Over the past 70 years since the 228 incident occurred,major political forces in Taiwan,including the Kuomintang(KMT),the Democratic Progressive Party(DPP)and leftist pro-reunification political groups have played repeated games and fierce competitions over the memory and interpretation of the 228 Incident.It is just under the manipulation and competition of major political forces in Taiwan that the historical memory of the 228 Incident has gone through a historical process from fracture to recovery then to reconstruction in Taiwan society.The KMT’s memory and interpretation of the 228 Incident has undergone an intricate process of evolution under the profound influence of changes in the political environment on the island.After the outbreak of the incident,the KMT government characterized it as a “rebellion” or “riot” which was incited by the Communist Party(“traitor”)to subvert the government and split the country and found an excuse for military suppression.After its retreat in defeat to Taiwan,the KMT authorities used political means and enacted “martial law” to suppress the public opinion on the incident and forcibly “delete” the relevant historical memory of ordinary people.After the abolition of “martial law”,the KMT began to deal with the redress and aftermath of the228 Incident under public pressure,which objectively played a role in reconstructing the historical memory of the 228 Incident,soothing the trauma of the victims,and promoting social reconciliation.After losing power in 2000,the KMT,under the leadership of its party chairmen such as Ma Ying-jeou,gradually constructed a new discourse of the 228 Incident focusing on “misgovernment making the people rebel” and ethnic mutual assistance.After returning to power in 2008,although the KMT promoted the handling of the aftermath and memory construction of the 228 Incident with a more positive attitude,it did not launch a strong counterattack against the fallacies of the DPP’s 228 discourse.So the KMT missed a good opportunity to clarify the historical truth by the advantage of its ruling power,leading to its final failure in the fierce game of the 228 discourse and the construction of collective memory.The “Taiwan independence” forces represented by the DPP have always been treating the 228 Incident as an inexhaustible “political ATM”.On the one hand,the“Taiwan independence” forces have constantly stripped away the historical context,distorted historical facts and strived for the right to interpret history,and resorted various methods to commemorate,remember and interpret the 228 Incident so as to construct it as the “ethnic conflict” in which the KMT “foreign regime” suppressed the Taiwan people and the criminal behavior that the rulers abused “state violence” to suppress democracy and persecute human rights.On the other hand,they resorted to every conceivable means to manipulate and distort the historical memory of the 228 Incident and tried to reconstruct the relevant historical memory in line with the ideology of“Taiwan independence”.Under the Chen Shui-bian and Tsai Ing-wen administrations,they defeated the historical memory of the 228 Incident constructed by other political forces in the memory construction game and successfully reconstructed their collective memory of the 228 Incident in Taiwan society.Stuck in between the blue and green camps,the leftist pro-reunification political groups with weak political strength played a positive role in promoting the vindication and the handling of aftermath of the 228 Incident,conducting historical materials compilation and academic researches on the 228 Incident,refuting the 228 discourse presented by “Taiwan independence” forces and restoring the historical truth of the 228 Incident.The leftist pro-reunification political groups such as the Alliance for the Reunification of China,the Labor Party of Taiwan and the Cross-Straits Peaceful Development Forum analyzed and reflected on the 228 Incident from a more macroscopic historical background,revealing that the nature of the historical incident is“misgovernment making the people rebel” and class conflict and refuting the discourses such as “ethnic confrontation”,“origin of ‘Taiwan independence’” and “rebellion by the Kominka people”.So the discourse of the leftist pro-reunification political groups can be regarded as sound of silence in Taiwan society.The changes and reconstruction of the historical memory of the 228 Incident in Taiwan society is not only the result of contemporary Taiwan’s political changes,but also has an important impact on Taiwan’s political changes.They will be severe constraints for cross-Straits exchanges and interactions and even the prospect of national reunification.Insightful people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits should continue to strengthen the research of Taiwan’s history,especially Taiwan’s recovery and the 228 Incident,refute the 228 discourse presented by “Taiwan independence” forces and fallacies of the historical view of “Taiwan independence”,rectify the distorted historical memory of the 228 incident,restore the historical truth and build the collective memory of the 228 Incident shared by compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Straits.