Huang began his photo series on these Korean War POWs in 1989, more than three decades after their arrival in Keelung. “During the Cold War, their decision to defect to Taiwan became an important symbol of political victory for the ‘free world’”, says Huang.

The tattoos on their bodies were especially attention-grabbing, and reflected their Nationalist (KMT) loyalties. The tattoos included phrases such as “Annihilate the Communist Party and revive the nation”, “Swear upon death to return to Taiwan”, “Anti-communism and resist the Soviet Union”, “Kill Zhu De and Mao Zedong”, “Pledge allegiance to the party-state,” and “Our national flag is the blue sky, white sun and a wholly red earth”.

These tattoos laid bare the POWs’ determination to seek residence in “Free China” and their at-a-whim decision to come to Taiwan also helped stabilized the KMT government at the time.

During that era, young Taiwanese were taught to obey, love the country and the nation, and defeat the vicious Communist bandits. Everyone strived to hold the same opinions as everyone else, be satisfied with the status quo, and settle for a happy and secure life. The KMT government emphasized homogeneity, and in order to make this solidarity a national ethos, they instilled an ideology of “with us or against us” in the public psyche.

It was a time period of easy binaries — good and bad, right and wrong. You didn’t need to second-guess whether a character on a TV show was good or bad in those days; the bad guy was the one with the sleazy face using frivolous language.

When I first went to the US in the 1980s, it was difficult to understand American TV shows, because I was so used to the simple logic of Taiwan’s TV programming. Most American or European shows required the audience to feel, think and reflect upon characters and plotlines. They didn’t use media and art to propagandize or strengthen a particular ideology in the minds of the audience.