The families of 228 Massacre victims in Chiayi recount the losing battle of the local militias and the senseless violence that came afterwards.

By Yang Bi-chuan (楊碧川)

Photos: Pan Hsiao-hsia (潘小俠)

Translation by Harrison Chen

This piece originally appeared in the Reporter in Traditional Chinese and is reprinted with permission of the author and publisher.

On the afternoon of March 2nd 1947, a few dozen youths from Changhua and Taichung stood in front of the fountain at the Chiayi train station, and called upon their fellow citizens to set fire to the mayor’s residence. The mayor quickly jumped the residence walls, and fled to the military police for help.

Word of the February 28 uprising in Taipei — and the subsequent formation of the 228 Incident Settlement Committee to negotiate the demands of the Taiwanese to the Chinese Nationalists (KMT) — had reached Chiayi.

On March 3rd, the Chiayi branch of the Settlement Committee was established. Tan Hok-tsi (陳復志), the local chapter leader of the KMT-affiliated Three Principles Youth Group, was appointed commanding officer of the local militia. Local militias were forming all over central Taiwan, including some from the Tsou in Alishan, and they decided to meet in Chiayi to coordinate an attack on the military police.

But the KMT was well equipped to fend off an attack. On the 4th, the mayor and the military police retreated to an encampment in Chiayi’s Sanzaiding neighbourhood. From there, the KMT bombarded the city center from the hills, leading to many civilian casualties. Not long after, the mayor and other Mainlanders retreated to Tsui-siong Airport (水上機場 present-day Chiayi Airport) on Hongmaopi (紅毛埤) Mountain.

The Chiayi militias captured a KMT ammunitions depot on Hongmaopi on the 7th, but there were few guns and ammo left for them to use. They needed to capture Tsui-siong Airport to stem the flow of KMT soldiers coming into Chiayi. On March 9th, KMT soldiers at Chiayi received an airdrop from Taipei, and the militia’s plan to capture Tsui-siong was not successful.

Emboldened with new supplies and ammo, soldiers stormed nearby Liucuo Village (劉厝里) from the airport, killing three people on the way there, and ten more people on the way back.

On March 11th, a battalion from the 21st Division arrived at the airport and the reinforcements pressed on into Chiayi. The next day, another regiment and the Southern Defense Command led by Peng Meng-chi (彭孟緝) touched down at the airport.

That night, the Settlement Committee asked Tan Hok-tsi, Tan Ting-pho (陳澄波), Phuan Bok-tsi (潘木枝) and Kho Lin (柯麟) to go the airport to negotiate with the KMT. Upon entering the airport premises, they were arrested, and only the three female members of the Settlement Committee were allowed to leave.

On March 25th, Tan Ting-pho, Phuan Bok-tsi, Kho Lin and Lu Bin-chin were executed.

Chiayi saw some of the worst civilian casualties of the 228 Massacre:

On March 18th, Tan Hok-tsi was paraded through the streets and executed at gunpoint in front of the train station.

Painter Tan Ting-pho’s disciple Ouyang Wen (歐陽文) was arrested in Tainan in 1950 and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

On a night in early March, Png Nai-biao (方賴嫑) was struck by a stray bullet and ignored as soldiers looted her home and beat her second son Png Tsin-lai (方振來) to death.

On March 23rd, Soo Hien-tsiong (蘇憲章), director of the Shin Sheng Daily News (新生報), was executed among others.

On April 22nd, Ng Ma-tian (黃媽典), mayor of Puzi (朴子) was executed.

Wooden clogs seller Tan Tinn-to (陳甜桃) was killed by a stray bullet as she stood in the arcade in front of her own house.

Kang Tsin-iu (江振猷) left his home to buy medicine for his mother and never returned.

Soldiers stormed the home of Lim Kim-sing (林金城) and demanded 200,000 yuan for his release. He ultimately died a violent death.

Lim Kim-sing’s wife, Lim Ng-phang (林黃紡) was injured in a separate incident during 228. On her way home to Hsinkang, Ng-phang caught a stray bullet in her left thigh.

Lim Tshua-tang (林蔡桐), a driver for the Highway Bureau (公路局), was arrested as he entered Chiayi Station and was never seen again.

Hi Sam-kui (許三貴), a tailor in Meishan, was arrested by a Fujianese official over a private dispute, and on May 5th he was paraded through the streets and executed.

Four good samaritans — Tsiong Kui-iu (鍾季友) an accountant for the Taiwan Sugar Company, Tan Hian-tsong (陳顯宗) son of Chiayi Middle School principal Tan Khing-guan (陳慶元), as well as Lua Iau-khim (賴耀欽) and Khu Tshong-jin (邱創仁) — encountered a group of KMT soldiers at Kia-a-thau while escorting two Mainlanders to a KMT office. They were tied to a tree and stabbed to death for their efforts.

In 1952, Peace Times (和平日報) reporter Lo Kim-tshiann (羅金成) and his brother Lo Hoo-siong (羅雨祥) were arrested for their connection to the “Tsai Hsiao-chien (蔡孝乾) case”. Tsai was a spy for the Chinese Communist Party who revealed his network of contacts to the KMT. Lo Kim-tshiann and his brother Lo Hoo-siong were later executed, and Tsai joined the KMT’s intelligence division.

Chiayi