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The 228 Incident of 

Taiwan

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The 228 Incident was a popular uprising against the KMT controlled government of Taiwan that

happened at February 28, 1947. Shortly after World War Two, General Chiang Kai-Shek used the

acceptance of surrender of Japanese territory as an excuse to occupy Taiwan. Tensions rose between

the “mainlander” Chinese and the native Taiwanese, with only the Chinese being allowed to hold the top

 jobs and have the best payment, while massive inflation occurred due to the mass shipping of resources

to China for the war against the communists. “[the] perks and privileges went to a small number of 

 people, [and] there was widespread corruption... [the government] monopolized the procurement, sale

and export... of products. The lives of the Taiwanese became even more difficult and impoverished.”

(The 228 Incident) The 228 Incident was sparked by monopoly agents shooting and killing a bystander 

to their violent disagreement and beating of an old cigarette vendor. Violence escalated all around

Taiwan, with protests erupting everywhere. The following military crackdown resulted in the deaths of 

many people. with conflicting claims ranging from a total of less than 800 to more than 300,000 in a

single city. A generally accepted number is somewhere from 18,000 to 28,000 people killed overall

during the 228 incident. The 228 Incident should never be forgotten because of the extreme violence

and brutality that occurred, its demonstration of power abuse of the government, and because it is still

an important political factor in Taiwan.

The 228 Incident should always be remembered because of the extreme violence and brutality

that occurred during that incident. The incident started with the violent beating of an illegal cigarette

vendor by government agents. The angry crowd that gathered was shot at as the agents fled, killing one.

Later, a massive protest was set up at a government building. “The public... [demanded] that the culprits

 be turned over for persecution, but their demands were not met.” (The 228 Incident) At least not met

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the way they wanted. The unarmed protesters were met by machine guns, instead. As more protests

rose all over Taiwan, the government lost control over most of Taiwan. Governor Chen Yi set up peace

talks and agreements with the public, but he was actually stalling for a mainland army to arrive. “the

 bodyguard of Chen Yi revealed... that Chen had received a telegram from Chiang ordering him to

suppress any and all opposition: ‘Kill them all, keep it secret.’” (Chiang Kai-shek and the 28 February

1947 Incident: A Reassessment) A mainland army shortly arrived and a military crackdown began,

starting with the killing of those involved in the original peace talks set up by Chen Yi. On the other hand

of this incident, the Chinese mainlanders also suffered a lot. The native Taiwanese blamed them for their

difficult and impoverished lives, and took out their anger on them. “Taiwanese would speak to strangers

in Japanese, Taiwanese or Hakka to determine... [if] they were mainlanders. If they could not respond,

the victims were beaten, often fatally.” (Taiwan’s 228 Incident and the Politics of Placing

Blame) It is estimated that over 1000 Chinese mainlanders would killed during this incident, a number 

generally not counted in the overall death toll. The 228 Incident should never be forgotten for how the

extreme violence conducted by both parties that occurred during the incident.

Another reason why the 228 Incident should always be remembered is because it demonstrates

 power abuse of the government. A major cause of the 288 Incident was the enormous amount of 

corruption among local officials, along with the poor overall KMT management of Taiwan. Local

officials ignored the well being of the public, Taiwan’s resources were constantly being shipped to China

to facilitate the fight with the communists, resulting in massive inflation. “Widespread smuggling and th

civil war between the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) led to the

outflow of goods and materials from Taiwan, causing prices to soar and economic crisis.” (The 228

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Incident二二八事件) Consumer items such as matches, cigarettes, liquor, and camphor were

monopolized by the government. All of the above resulted in the lack of daily necessities and economic

issues within Taiwan. That resulted in a black market for monopolized items, and people illegally buying

and selling them such as the old cigarette vendor who’s beating sparked this incident. In addition to all

of this, the war with the Chinese Communists brought more trouble than just inflation. “Many young

Taiwanese men were conscripted into the army, sometimes forcibly, and sent to... fight the Chinese

Communists.” (228 Day) The political setup of Taiwan was not much better off than the economic

 portion. The government claimed that Taiwan had no talent politically, and used the excuse that

Taiwanese did not understand the official language of Mandarin to exclude them from all but the lowest

tier jobs. After the original protests had died down, Governor Chen Yi set up peace talks with leading

Taiwanese intellectuals to discuss a better system and the original killings. He was actually stalling for 

time for a Chinese mainland army to arrive. When they did, “The 228 Incident Committee was declared

an illegal organization and ordered to disband. Many... who had attended... became targets of the

military crackdown.” (The 228 Incident) Power abuse is a big issue in the world and examples of it

should not be forgotten.

Another reason why the 228 Incident should never be forgotten is because it is still a big

 political factor in Taiwan today. The Kuomintang (KMT) claim that the 228 Incident was caused by

corruption among local officials and soldiers, and are not apologizing for it, mostly distancing themselve

from the incident. “In damage control the KMT had to differ its view... displaced blame from the party

itself to a few individuals... Chen Yi.” (Taiwan’s 228 Incident and the Politics of Placing Blame) They

claim that Chiang Kai-Shek had no involvement, and blame everything on the governor Chen Yi, who

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was later executed for disloyalty charges that had nothing to do with Taiwan. On the other hand, The

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) use the 228 Incident to promote themselves, blaming the incident

on the KMT and Chiang Kai-Shek, claiming that the incident was a struggle for people’s rights. “[They]

captured the symbolic power of the incident in their struggle for independence.” (Taiwan's 228 Incident

and the Politics of Placing Blame) The 228 Incident is still used by the DPP as propaganda, saying that

the KMT falsifies and simplifies the incident. In addition to all of this, the KMT also claim that the 228

Incident was set up by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), despite them having little to no presence in

Taiwan at the time. Also, the 228 Incident had no benefit to the CCP as they were still fighting the KMT

in China, and they had no power in Taiwan to work to the incident. “They [the CCP] heralded the

incident as an exclamation of the will of the people.” (Taiwan’s 228 Incident and the Politics of Placing

Blame)The CCP took advantage of it anyway, claiming that the 228 Incident was work towards their 

grand communist governments. Because it has been used and is still being used in Taiwanese politics to

a great extent, the 228 Incident should never be forgotten.

More than 50 years have passed since the 228 Incident occurred, and it is still an important

event in Taiwan, with even a national holiday every February 28th. Despite it having happened such a

long time ago, the 228 Incident is still an important event in Taiwan, and should never be forgotten. It

still has a major effect on Taiwanese politics today, and is something to consider in every issue, involvin

every political party. In addition, the violence and brutality that occurred during this incident, along with

the corruption and abuse of power that went along with this incident are important things that should

always be remembered.

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Works Cited:

Lee Shiao-Feng. “The 228 Incident”, Taipei Times,

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2004/02/28/2003100472/1, 2/28/2004.

Craig A. Smith. “Taiwan’s 228 Incident and the Politics of Placing Blame”, History and Classics,

http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/pi/article/view/4228/3465, 2008.

Gary Rawnsley & Ming-Yeh Rawnsley. “Chiang Kai-shek and the 28 February 1947 Incident: A

Reassessment”, Issues and Studies vol. 37 no. 6,

http://ics-www.leeds.ac.uk/papers/gdr/exhibits/5/Chiang_Kai-shek_and_the_2-28_Incident.pdf , 2001.

Lauren Mack. “228 Day”, About.com,

http://chineseculture.about.com/od/historyofchina/a/228-Day.htm, unknown.

Chen Tsuilien. “The 228 Incident二二八事件”, Encyclopedia of Taiwan,

http://taiwanpedia.culture.tw/en/content?ID=3838, 2011.