2-28 Incident

February 28 Incident

People gathered in front of the Tobacco Monopoly Bureau on February 28, 1947
Native name	二二八事件
Date	February 28, 1947 (1947-02-28)
Location	Taiwan
Type	Anti-government uprising
Cause	High-handed and frequently corrupt conduct on the part of the Kuomintang
Outcome	Beginning of the White Terror
Deaths	10,000

The February 28 Incident or the February 28 Massacre, also known as the 2.28 Incident (from Chinese: 二二八事件; pinyin: Èr’èrbā shìjiàn), was an anti-government uprising in Taiwan that was violently suppressed by the Kuomintang-led Republic of China government, which killed thousands of civilians beginning on February 28, 1947. The number of Taiwanese deaths is estimated to be 10,000. The massacre marked the beginning of the White Terror in which tens of thousands of other Taiwanese went missing, died or were imprisoned. The incident is one of the most important events in Taiwan's modern history and was a critical impetus for the Taiwan independence movement.

In 1945, following the surrender of Japan at the end of World War II, the Allied Forces handed temporary administrative control of Taiwan to the Republic of China (ROC), thus ending 50 years of Japanese colonial rule. Local inhabitants became resentful of what they saw as high-handed and frequently corrupt conduct on the part of the Kuomintang (KMT) authorities, their arbitrary seizure of private property and their economic mismanagement. The flashpoint came on February 27 1947 in Taipei, when a dispute between a cigarette vendor and an officer of the Office of Monopoly triggered civil disorder and an open rebellion that lasted for days. The violence spread and led to indiscriminate lynching of Mainlanders. The uprising was violently put down by the military of the Republic of China, and the island was placed under martial law.

The subject was officially taboo for decades. On the anniversary of the event in 1995, President Lee Teng-hui addressed the subject publicly, a first. The event is now openly discussed and details of the event have become the subject of government and academic investigation. February 28 has been designated Peace Memorial Day (和平紀念日; hépíng jìniànrì), an official public holiday. Every February 28, the president of the ROC gathers with other officials to ring a commemorative bell in memory of the victims. The president bows to family members of 2/28 victims and gives each one a certificate officially exonerating any victims previously blacklisted as enemies of the state. Monuments and memorial parks to the victims of 2/28 have been erected in a number of Taiwanese cities, including Kaohsiung and Taipei. Taipei's former "Taipei New Park" was rededicated as 228 Peace Memorial Park and houses the National 228 Memorial Museum to commemorate the tragic incident. The museum opened on February 28, 1997, and re-opened on February 28, 2011, with new permanent exhibits.