Taiwan’s history is complex and nuanced, and there’s still a lot of dissonance about how people understand their history. Sometimes you’ll see very conflicting views about the same things. Quite honestly, people don’t talk about their history a lot, and often seem to be even a little uncomfortable about it. It will be interesting to see how the national view aligns in the coming years.

In 1895, Japan annexed Taiwan as a colony. Japan wanted to make Taiwan as Japanese as possible, tearing down the city walls in Taipei, and encouraged Japanese culture, language and dress. Japanese companies built subsidiaries in Taiwan, railroads were built and a comprehensive health plan was instituted. While many chaffed under foreign rule, it’s hard to argue that the Japanese colonization period saw a lot of improvements

for Taiwan.

When Japan lost WWII, it gave up sovereignty in Taiwan, and it reverted to Chinese rule.  Sadly, the Chinese governor sent to Taiwan was very corrupt and the people, suffering under heavy taxation and regulation, revolted. On February 28, 1947 the violence came to a head when a young widow selling illegal cigarettes was beaten and the entire island rioted against the mainlanders. The KMT (the mainlander government) cracked down on the islanders and tens of thousands of people were killed or imprisoned.

In the 1930’s the Chinese Civil war was fought between the KMT, led by Chiang Kai-Shek and the Communist Chinese, led by Mao Tse-tung. When the communists won, about two million Chinese, mostly the KMT army, fled to Taiwan. Chiang Kai-Shek set up a provisional government in Taiwan known as the ROC and Taiwan was ruled by the exiled mainlanders. Although they continued martial law from the 2-28 incident until 1987 (38 years!) Taiwan was a huge economic success and the island developed a very high standard of living.

In 1971, the United Nations recognized Beijing as the legitimate ruler of China, instead of the exiled government in Taiwan. In 1979, The United States followed suit. The US no longer has an embassy in Taiwan and the former ambassador’s house is now a movie theater.

There’s a strange political dichotomy in Taiwan. Chiang Kai-Shek square is the centerpiece of the city, with a huge monument and statue of Chiang Kai-Shek and hourly changing of the guard. Just a few blocks away is Peace Park with the sobering 2-28 museum, commemorating the victims of the White Terror instituted by Chiang Kai-Shek and the KMT. In our experience, when you ask people about this, they quickly change the subject. It seems that the Taiwanese people have not yet processed their own difficult history.