Book Talk | The Tragedy of 228: Historical Truth and Transitional Justice in Taiwan
Friday, April 14, 2023
2:00 PM – 3:15 PM ET
Room 505
Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E Street NW Washington, D.C. 20052
The 228 Incident – a violent suppression of anti-government protests on February 28, 1947 committed by the Nationalist government that ushered in decades of martial law on Taiwan known as the White Terror – is a significant event that intersects subjects such as transitional justice, social memory, and democratization issues. In a new book titled The Tragedy of 228: Historical Truth and Transitional Justice in Taiwan, the Memorial Foundation of 228 – established in 1995 by special legislation in Taiwan – attempts to set a new milestone in the study of the 228 Incident within international academic communities by investigating transitional justice issues as well as introducing and promoting Modern Taiwanese History to the world. The book explores various dimensions of the 228 Incident, including causes, international perspectives of the massacre, the use of military forces, the roles of local governments and intelligence agencies, and attitudes of past presidential administrations in Taiwan regarding transitional justice.
This event is free and open to the public. A limited number of free copies of the book will be available at the event.
About
Speaker
Dr. Wen-Tang Shiu is currently the Director of the Memorial Foundation of 228, Taiwan. He is also an Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of Modern History at Academia Sinica. He earned his PhD from the University of Paris-Diderot.
Dr. Chia-hao Chen is currently an Associate Research Fellow at the Memorial Foundation of 228, Taiwan. He is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Graduate Institute of Taiwan History at National Chengchi University. He earned his PhD from the Graduate Institute of Taiwan History at National Chengchi University.
Moderator
Professor Daqing Yang graduated from Nanjing University and received his Ph.D. from Harvard University. He specialized in the history of modern Japan. His research interests include the Japanese empire, technological developments in modern Japan, and the legacies of World War II in East Asia.
In 2004, Dr. Yang was appointed a Historical Consultant to The Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group at the U.S. National Archives. In fall 2006, Dr. Yang served as the Edwin O. Reischauer Visiting Professor of Japanese Studies at Harvard University.
Professor Yang is a founding co-director of the Memory and Reconciliation in the Asia Pacific program based in the Sigur Center for Asian Studies, and is currently working on a new project on postwar China-Japan reconciliation. He is the author of Technology of Empire: Telecommunications and Japanese Expansion in Asia, 1883-1945. He co-edited the following books: Memory, Identity, and Commemorations of World War II: Anniversary Politics in Asia Pacific; Toward a History Beyond Borders: Contentious Issues in Sino-Japanese Relations, which was also published simultaneously in China and Japan; Rethinking Historical Injustice and Reconciliation in Northeast Asia; and Communications Under the Seas: The Evolving Cable Network and Its Implications.
