Victims’ families in Keelung and Badu recount the horrors they witnessed during the 228 Massacre and the 308 Massacre.

By Yang Pi-chuan (楊碧川)

Photography by Pan Hsiao-hsia (潘小俠)

This piece originally appeared in the Reporter and is translated with permission of the authors and publisher.

On February 28th 1947, the uprising that started in Taipei spread to the rest of Taiwan. At 8:00pm, Keelung residents ransacked the City's First Police Precinct, and took the guns; officers from the Keelung Fort Command were ambushed after leaving headquarters; and a crowd in Xizhi intercepted six military vehicles.

On March the 1st, nine officers from Keelung Fort Command boarded a train to Keelung at Aodi Station (now Fulong Station); they clashed with passengers boarding at Ruifang Station, eventually coming to blows. When the train arrived at Badu, the fight spilled out into the station, with the crowd seriously injuring seven soldiers and leaving one missing (later confirmed dead).

Meanwhile, at an ad hoc Keelung City Council meeting that day, deputy speaker Yang Yuan-ting (楊元丁) loudly condemned Taiwan Chief Executive Chen Yi (陳儀)'s government for corruption, and advocated for provincial reform and Taiwanese self-governance. On March the 4th, Yang worked with others to establish a local branch of the 228 Incident Settlement Committee in Keelung.

Rumours began circulating on the 6th that Chen had called in troop reinforcements from China. As the 21st Division 438th Regiment made landfall in Keelung on the 9th, soldiers casually fired machine guns from the decks of the ship. Once the troops disembarked, they "tracked down rioters" and shot indiscriminately into the streets of Keelung.

A day later, Yang Yuan-ting's body was discovered floating in Keelung harbour. On the 11th, the Army announced it had restored order. But deputy speaker Yang wasn't the only reported casualty in Keelung.

Dr. Kuo Shou-yi (郭守義), a prominent Keelung physician and friend of Yang Yuan-ting was executed on March 22nd.

Chou Jin-po (周金波) and Yang Kuo-jen (楊國仁) — the sons of renowned doctor Yang A-shou (楊阿壽) — were arrested on March 9th. Their corpses were later found floating in the ocean.

Telecommunications bureau worker Lin Han-chiang (林漢強) was visiting Keelung from Taoyuan for work on March 8th. A few days later, his body was found floating in Keelung harbour.

Kao Mien (高勉) was killed by a stray bullet while cooking.

Customs agent Chen Kuo-ming (陳國銘) was badly injured by gunfire while buying vegetables at the market. Barge crew member Chen Chuan-hao (陳傳浩) was shot in the foot by a stray bullet at the train station.

25-year-old Hsiao Lai-fu (蕭來福) and his family owned a variety store in Keelung, but after constant harassment by soldiers, Hsiao and his family — including his 17-year-old brother Hsiao Ping-huang (蕭炳煌) — took an Okinawa-bound ferry to seek refuge on Yonaguni island. They were never heard from again.

In retaliation for soldiers clashing with passengers at Badu Station, the Keelung Fort Command orders two armoured vehicles to surround the station, and arrested 13 individuals, including Li Tan-hsiu (李丹修), Chang Shui-lien (張水連) and Su Shui-mu (蘇水木). They were never heard from again.

Keelung residents saw trucks filled with people, many with their palms pierced with railway wire, and tied together in a line. They were thrown all together into Keelung harbour.

Editor’s note: There is some debate among 228 scholars about the exact date of the 21st Division’s arrival in Keelung. Eyewitnesses say they saw a boat arrive on the evening of the 7th or the morning of the 8th. Others note that it was an ROC Military Police boat carrying two units from Fuzhou that arrived on the 8th, not the 21st Division. There are also reports that it was the Keelung Fort Command that fired wildly into the streets of Keelung on the 8th. Regardless of whether the 21st Division arrived on the 8th or the 9th, the slaughter of Keelung residents began on the 8th. Keelung City Hall holds its 228 Massacre memorial every year on March 8th.

Keelung