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Formosa Betrayed
Formosa Betrayed is a detailed, impassioned account of Chinese Nationalist (KMT) misrule that remains the most important English-language book ever written about Taiwan.
Author George H. Kerr lived in Taiwan in the late 1930s, when the island was a colony of Japan. During the war, he worked for the U.S. Navy as a Taiwan expert. From 1945 to 1947, Kerr served as vice consul of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Taipei, where he was an eyewitness to the February 28 Massacre and the subsequent mass arrests and executions.
As well as chronicling KMT repression during the early years of the White Terror, Kerr documents widespread corruption, showing how the island was systematically looted. The “betrayed” in the title refers not only to the crushing disappointment Taiwanese felt when they realized KMT rule was worse than that of the Japanese but also to the culpability of the American government. The United States was in large part responsible for handing Taiwan over to the Nationalists and helping them maintain their grip on power.
Formosa Betrayed has served as a foundational text for generations of Taiwanese democracy and independence activists. It has an explosive effect among overseas Taiwanese students; for many, the book was their first encounter in print with their country’s dark, forbidden history. A 1974 Chinese-language translation increased its impact still more. It is a powerful classic that has withstood the test of time, a must-read book that will change the way you look at Taiwan.
In this definitive edition Kerr scholar Jonathan Benda has added a detailed, thoroughly-researched introduction as well as a biographical sketch of the author.
Author George H. Kerr lived in Taiwan in the late 1930s, when the island was a colony of Japan. During the war, he worked for the U.S. Navy as a Taiwan expert. From 1945 to 1947, Kerr served as vice consul of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Taipei, where he was an eyewitness to the February 28 Massacre and the subsequent mass arrests and executions.
As well as chronicling KMT repression during the early years of the White Terror, Kerr documents widespread corruption, showing how the island was systematically looted. The “betrayed” in the title refers not only to the crushing disappointment Taiwanese felt when they realized KMT rule was worse than that of the Japanese but also to the culpability of the American government. The United States was in large part responsible for handing Taiwan over to the Nationalists and helping them maintain their grip on power.
Formosa Betrayed has served as a foundational text for generations of Taiwanese democracy and independence activists. It has an explosive effect among overseas Taiwanese students; for many, the book was their first encounter in print with their country’s dark, forbidden history. A 1974 Chinese-language translation increased its impact still more. It is a powerful classic that has withstood the test of time, a must-read book that will change the way you look at Taiwan.
In this definitive edition Kerr scholar Jonathan Benda has added a detailed, thoroughly-researched introduction as well as a biographical sketch of the author.
514 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
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875 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
March 13, 2014
This is a must-read for anyone from Taiwan (Formosa), living in Taiwan, or planning to move here. I have learned so much about the recent past of this county, which has given me invaluable insight on the current-day environment of Taiwan. In so many ways, I now understand why Taiwan is the way Taiwan is.
I'll leave it at that.
5/5 as an informative non-fiction
4 for readability
4.5 average
I'll leave it at that.
5/5 as an informative non-fiction
4 for readability
4.5 average
August 31, 2019
George Kerr《被出賣的台灣》
選書契機：之前聽過書名，在《臺灣史上最有梗的臺灣史》讀到原來《被出賣的台灣》的作者是曾經在台目睹二二八事件的外交官（還協助兩個傷患就醫）。
我覺得由第三方寫兩岸情勢很有意思，應該值得一讀
一月開始讀，228那陣子讀到書裡寫三月屠殺前後的段落（也就是這本書的一半）。
後半部則從三月看到八月，拖這麼久有兩個原因：
一是我大致上知道會看到什麼，但還是會因為害怕而抗拒。
二是我對國共內戰跟歷史上的國際關係的資料庫實在嚴重不足，看到後來實在很痛苦……一點都不想把書打開來 😂 （當然也可以選擇不看完，但我就是有時逃避有時面對有時掙扎）。
2019年讀這本書，許多地方看了很感慨。例如以下幾段：
「當時沒有人能預見九年後，開羅宣言才由舊金山條約履行了一部分，也沒有人預見廿二年後（一九六五年）台灣主權誰屬仍是一個激烈辯論的問題。」
「一九四七年香港成爲逃亡的台灣人最安全的暫時避難所，英國法律對中共及國民政府有所限制。」
「在艾奇遜宣稱台韓屬美國利益防衞圈外的當天，我收到一封沉痛的來信說，今後台灣人將在蔣幫特務統治的踐踏下等待中共來接替，該信透露台灣人是如何細心的探索每一個從外國發出來的信息及對外的聲明，看看是否能給予台灣人一線希望」
（真的好多，全列出來會太長XD）
btw, 本來以為不會在今年看完這本書了，但前陣子加入栞開的電子書閱讀群組，給自己設了閱讀目標，要在八月前看完這本書，總算是了了一樁心事XD
readmoo電子書：
http://moo.im/a/0pCDRZ
選書契機：之前聽過書名，在《臺灣史上最有梗的臺灣史》讀到原來《被出賣的台灣》的作者是曾經在台目睹二二八事件的外交官（還協助兩個傷患就醫）。
我覺得由第三方寫兩岸情勢很有意思，應該值得一讀
一月開始讀，228那陣子讀到書裡寫三月屠殺前後的段落（也就是這本書的一半）。
後半部則從三月看到八月，拖這麼久有兩個原因：
一是我大致上知道會看到什麼，但還是會因為害怕而抗拒。
二是我對國共內戰跟歷史上的國際關係的資料庫實在嚴重不足，看到後來實在很痛苦……一點都不想把書打開來 😂 （當然也可以選擇不看完，但我就是有時逃避有時面對有時掙扎）。
2019年讀這本書，許多地方看了很感慨。例如以下幾段：
「當時沒有人能預見九年後，開羅宣言才由舊金山條約履行了一部分，也沒有人預見廿二年後（一九六五年）台灣主權誰屬仍是一個激烈辯論的問題。」
「一九四七年香港成爲逃亡的台灣人最安全的暫時避難所，英國法律對中共及國民政府有所限制。」
「在艾奇遜宣稱台韓屬美國利益防衞圈外的當天，我收到一封沉痛的來信說，今後台灣人將在蔣幫特務統治的踐踏下等待中共來接替，該信透露台灣人是如何細心的探索每一個從外國發出來的信息及對外的聲明，看看是否能給予台灣人一線希望」
（真的好多，全列出來會太長XD）
btw, 本來以為不會在今年看完這本書了，但前陣子加入栞開的電子書閱讀群組，給自己設了閱讀目標，要在八月前看完這本書，總算是了了一樁心事XD
readmoo電子書：
http://moo.im/a/0pCDRZ
May 9, 2019
I usually breeze through books in hours, and it took me nearly six months to read this book. Mostly because it was so painful, I couldn't stand to read it for too long because I'd be so mad after two chapters. It makes me see both the US and Taiwan in a new light, and reminds me that life is very different when you live in a country that is not a superpower. A powerful book that I'm glad George Kerr had the courage to write. The flyleaf summary ends, "This book leaves the reader angry and informed." That about sums it up.
October 13, 2018
“228” is a national day of remembrance in Taiwan. It is the day when a Formosan was killed by Chinese national soldiers, after they tried to stop a woman from selling cigarettes, generating an angry crowd for beating her and taking her money. This incident set of a chain of events that resulted in tens of thousands of executions and deaths.
That February 28 (2 28) 1947 “incident” is to focal point of the book. The author, assigned to the American Consulate in Taipei at the time, gives the historical background to this pivotal event, still engraved in the memory of many Taiwanese. The background starts with Taiwan under Japanese rule, and with the “Cairo” declaration by the World War II Allies (including China) of the disposition of lands acquired and held by Japan (as early as 1895). It moves on to the very slow removal of Japanese at World War II’s end, and allowing the Nationalist Chinese to act as managers of the island. At the time of the handover (1945) Taiwan had a strong infrastructure, Taiwanese were able to feed themselves well, and relative to mainland Chinese were very well off, well educated, and had rules of law which were followed.
The author is a very good writer, and does a wonderful job building the story of ultimate disillusion by the Taiwanese with the mainland Chinese, many of whom had not seen a bicycle, and who taught that Taiwanese were “barbarian”, and enemies to China because of they had been tainted by Japan. Early in this “occupation”, the mainland Chinese were made to lose face. The Chinese soldiers were not well disciplined and took from the population what they needed. Furthermore, the government that was put in place was for the most part very corrupt, ultimately robbing Taiwan of the surplus on the island, in the name of fighting the civil war on the mainland.
By the time of the incident, the Taiwanese were fed-up with corruption and the Chinese are distrustful of the Taiwanese. The author builds the tension so I often had to take breaks in reading the book to relax.
Of course, while only one person is killed on 228, that incident set in motion an attempt by the Taiwanese, at the request of the “governor” to reform the government. The governor, Chen Yi, was just buying time. On March 8 several boatloads of Chinese Army troups arrived, and created a reign of terror, killing tens of thousands of Taiwanese. It was a time for settling scores.
Then two years later, the Nationalists lose the civil war, and in mass numbers retreat to Taiwan. And again the Taiwanese are forced to support this.
The book was first published in 1965, 18 years after the incident. The author draws on his notes, on letters from many Taiwanese friends and colleagues, in putting together this accounting. His final chapters talk about the reign of terror under Chiang Ching-kuo (Chiang Kai-shek’s son) who was head of the secret police. At the time of the writing he assumed Chiang Ching-kuo would succeed his father, but he could not see the changes that ultimately took place to make Taiwan a vibrant democracy it is today.
Throughout the book there are many references to the US role in Taiwan (or roles they could have undertaken – but refused to consider). There was much reference to the US not wanting to have any territorial aspirations. Also, the thought was the Taiwan was part of China, and the US would not interfere. And how Truman made a statement that US had no interest in Taiwan or Korea (there was a sharp about face on that when the communist invaded South Korea). And in fact, that invasion saved the Chiang Kai-shek regime’s flow of dollars, since geographical location of Taiwan was finally appreciated by US policy makers. In addition, there was another arm of the US government that was telling the “US story” of self-determination of people, leading to a very mixed message from the US.
The book also makes clear how different the Taiwanese experience had been from the mainland experience, having been separated since 1895.
It also talks about how Chiang Kai-shek (his government) did a lot to influence American opinion and policy.
Throughout the book there is a strong theme of the desire by the Taiwanese to self-rule, starting under Japanese rule, and the desire being very clearly articulated in the first years after Japan surrendered.
In addition, another theme is that in all of the “decisions” made about Taiwan, the Taiwanese were never consulted. Depending on one’s perspective, this does or does not make sense. In short, if a war-weary US had not conceded Taiwan back to China, there could be a very different geopolitics happening now.
In short, this well-written book is a unique contribution to the period around the February 28, 1947 incident, by a person who was in Taiwan at the time, who had a very strong back ground on Taiwan culture and many contacts in Taiwan, and who was able to follow the situation from afar when he was recalled. I recommend this to anyone interested having a basis for contemporary Taiwan history and politics.
That February 28 (2 28) 1947 “incident” is to focal point of the book. The author, assigned to the American Consulate in Taipei at the time, gives the historical background to this pivotal event, still engraved in the memory of many Taiwanese. The background starts with Taiwan under Japanese rule, and with the “Cairo” declaration by the World War II Allies (including China) of the disposition of lands acquired and held by Japan (as early as 1895). It moves on to the very slow removal of Japanese at World War II’s end, and allowing the Nationalist Chinese to act as managers of the island. At the time of the handover (1945) Taiwan had a strong infrastructure, Taiwanese were able to feed themselves well, and relative to mainland Chinese were very well off, well educated, and had rules of law which were followed.
The author is a very good writer, and does a wonderful job building the story of ultimate disillusion by the Taiwanese with the mainland Chinese, many of whom had not seen a bicycle, and who taught that Taiwanese were “barbarian”, and enemies to China because of they had been tainted by Japan. Early in this “occupation”, the mainland Chinese were made to lose face. The Chinese soldiers were not well disciplined and took from the population what they needed. Furthermore, the government that was put in place was for the most part very corrupt, ultimately robbing Taiwan of the surplus on the island, in the name of fighting the civil war on the mainland.
By the time of the incident, the Taiwanese were fed-up with corruption and the Chinese are distrustful of the Taiwanese. The author builds the tension so I often had to take breaks in reading the book to relax.
Of course, while only one person is killed on 228, that incident set in motion an attempt by the Taiwanese, at the request of the “governor” to reform the government. The governor, Chen Yi, was just buying time. On March 8 several boatloads of Chinese Army troups arrived, and created a reign of terror, killing tens of thousands of Taiwanese. It was a time for settling scores.
Then two years later, the Nationalists lose the civil war, and in mass numbers retreat to Taiwan. And again the Taiwanese are forced to support this.
The book was first published in 1965, 18 years after the incident. The author draws on his notes, on letters from many Taiwanese friends and colleagues, in putting together this accounting. His final chapters talk about the reign of terror under Chiang Ching-kuo (Chiang Kai-shek’s son) who was head of the secret police. At the time of the writing he assumed Chiang Ching-kuo would succeed his father, but he could not see the changes that ultimately took place to make Taiwan a vibrant democracy it is today.
Throughout the book there are many references to the US role in Taiwan (or roles they could have undertaken – but refused to consider). There was much reference to the US not wanting to have any territorial aspirations. Also, the thought was the Taiwan was part of China, and the US would not interfere. And how Truman made a statement that US had no interest in Taiwan or Korea (there was a sharp about face on that when the communist invaded South Korea). And in fact, that invasion saved the Chiang Kai-shek regime’s flow of dollars, since geographical location of Taiwan was finally appreciated by US policy makers. In addition, there was another arm of the US government that was telling the “US story” of self-determination of people, leading to a very mixed message from the US.
The book also makes clear how different the Taiwanese experience had been from the mainland experience, having been separated since 1895.
It also talks about how Chiang Kai-shek (his government) did a lot to influence American opinion and policy.
Throughout the book there is a strong theme of the desire by the Taiwanese to self-rule, starting under Japanese rule, and the desire being very clearly articulated in the first years after Japan surrendered.
In addition, another theme is that in all of the “decisions” made about Taiwan, the Taiwanese were never consulted. Depending on one’s perspective, this does or does not make sense. In short, if a war-weary US had not conceded Taiwan back to China, there could be a very different geopolitics happening now.
In short, this well-written book is a unique contribution to the period around the February 28, 1947 incident, by a person who was in Taiwan at the time, who had a very strong back ground on Taiwan culture and many contacts in Taiwan, and who was able to follow the situation from afar when he was recalled. I recommend this to anyone interested having a basis for contemporary Taiwan history and politics.
August 6, 2009
For anyone interested in Taiwanese history, this is a must read. It covers the despicable hand off of Taiwan to the KMT fascists from China and in particular the 1947 massacre of Taiwanese bureaucrats and intellectuals. Some 30,000 were murdered at this time.
October 17, 2020
Overall this is an immensely important, firsthand history of the "White Terror" and the brutality of the Chinese Nationalist reign over Taiwan. It's a thoroughly discarded history which has until recently remained buried under significant and hefty propaganda.
February 2, 2021
It’s true that history books are written by the winners, which is why understanding the true history of Taiwan/Formosa is so difficult. Written by an American diplomat stationed in Taiwan during the 228 Incident, this book offers a detailed look at the Formosan people’s history of abuse and degradation by various regional and global powers over the years. It puts so much in context regarding Taiwan’s current political situation with both China and the United States. I highly recommend this book to anyone trying to understand Taiwan.
January 28, 2018
Probably the best account of the March 1947 massacre.
May 9, 2025
Very thorough history of the end of the Japanese occupation/retreat of the KMT to Taiwan. Great to have an account from someone who was there at the time, but it was pretty dry at times and the quotes were too long too.
November 16, 2020
As a Taiwanese this is an important part of our history. On my last visit I had the chance to see 228 Peace Park, but I didn’t know too much about it and my mother was only a toddler during this period of time.
My view of Taiwanese (Formosan) independence is absolute so in terms of whether or not Taiwan is a part of China this only further emphasised my belief in Taiwanese independence. What I did not know what the various mis-steps in US policy to actually achieve a resolution. This ended with me asking a lot of ‘what-if’ questions.
All in all though towards the end I found it a little laborious, it was still an interesting read
My view of Taiwanese (Formosan) independence is absolute so in terms of whether or not Taiwan is a part of China this only further emphasised my belief in Taiwanese independence. What I did not know what the various mis-steps in US policy to actually achieve a resolution. This ended with me asking a lot of ‘what-if’ questions.
All in all though towards the end I found it a little laborious, it was still an interesting read
July 28, 2008
Probably the most important memoir from early postwar Taiwan, cited in almost every work I have read about Taiwan on the post 1945 period. As with all such memoirs needs to be read and used with care but I am interested to see that this book, published long after the events he describes match contemporary reports I saw filed by Kerr in state department archives I came across from when he was based at the consul in Taiwan.
Want to read
October 16, 2021The book Formosa Betrayed, George Kerr, traces the history of the island nation that has been in dispute among nations vying for control of the South China Sea for more than a century. Taiwan came under Japanese control in 1895. At the end of World War II, Taiwan was neglected and betrayed by America and other allied governments.
I am barely a tenth of the way through the book but already feeling the same deep sadness I felt when an utterly corrupt American President sold out the Kurds to the Turks to protect his hotel in Istanbul. Just after the betrayal, I heard an Israeli Rabbi saying, “Trump could betray us just as quickly.”
As a Jew, I already felt connected to the struggle of Taiwan to maintain identity and independence when vastly outnumbered. In an echo of current politics, the U.S. ambassador to China near the end of World War II was forced out by an arrogant, incompetent Republican general who used his military rank and connections to circumvent the state department.
The rogue general Patrick Hurley was eventually pushed out, but Republicans backed by Christian missionary organizations started lobbying to give power over Taiwan to General Chiang. Chiang was corrupt and a timid military leader but was favorable to the missionary groups. So, a cabal of Republicans and Christians worked against the best interests of Taiwan and its people. Soong Mei-ling, the wife of General Chiang, spoke fluent English and was educated in Methodist schools. She used her Christian connections to hide the rampant corruption of her husband.
The ugly effects of conservative Republicans and conservative Christians working together is something that seems to crop up everywhere on the underside of American domestic and foreign policy.
I'll be writing more as I learn more.
I am barely a tenth of the way through the book but already feeling the same deep sadness I felt when an utterly corrupt American President sold out the Kurds to the Turks to protect his hotel in Istanbul. Just after the betrayal, I heard an Israeli Rabbi saying, “Trump could betray us just as quickly.”
As a Jew, I already felt connected to the struggle of Taiwan to maintain identity and independence when vastly outnumbered. In an echo of current politics, the U.S. ambassador to China near the end of World War II was forced out by an arrogant, incompetent Republican general who used his military rank and connections to circumvent the state department.
The rogue general Patrick Hurley was eventually pushed out, but Republicans backed by Christian missionary organizations started lobbying to give power over Taiwan to General Chiang. Chiang was corrupt and a timid military leader but was favorable to the missionary groups. So, a cabal of Republicans and Christians worked against the best interests of Taiwan and its people. Soong Mei-ling, the wife of General Chiang, spoke fluent English and was educated in Methodist schools. She used her Christian connections to hide the rampant corruption of her husband.
The ugly effects of conservative Republicans and conservative Christians working together is something that seems to crop up everywhere on the underside of American domestic and foreign policy.
I'll be writing more as I learn more.
October 13, 2024
I’m ashamed to admit total ignorance to the situation on the island of Formosa during the 20th century. In my memory President Chiang was a flawed but affable person, but Formosa Betrayed sets that right. Written by an American consulate worker posted on the island during some of the times of unrest it gives many eyewitness and written testimonies from what went on as the KMT gained control and ultimately retreated to Formosa.
Unfortunately the books stops rather abruptly before it becomes clear how the power shifts after Chiang Kaishek’s retirement, and how the KMT finally bent to popular demand to allow multiparty politics.
Unfortunately the books stops rather abruptly before it becomes clear how the power shifts after Chiang Kaishek’s retirement, and how the KMT finally bent to popular demand to allow multiparty politics.
March 4, 2019
Acudí a este libro para acercarme a la bibliografía taiwanesa enun intento de comprender la actual situación entre China continental y la isla de Taiwán. Lejos estaba de imaginarme el complejo marco que subyace tras las tensiones actuales. Especialmente nunca sospeché que en en 1945, fue el KMT, el actual gobierno de la isla, el protagonista del expolio de la isla.
Es un libro que sutilmente trata y da mucho qué pensar sobre la soberanía legítima de un territorio. Hasta qué punto un gobierno de una isla es legítimo en mantenerse.
La dominación de la isla a lo largo de la historia ha pasado por diversas manos. Los japoneses fueron los primeros en establecer pequeños asentamientos de pescadores alrededor de la isla. Los españoles fueron los primeros europeos en llegar a Formosa. Construyeron un par de fuertes en Tamsui y Keelung (1626), aunque su presencia fue meramente testimonial. Los holandeses poco después echarían a los españoles de la isla y formarían el primer gobierno (1642) efectivo en la isla. Fue durante esta época cuando hubo migraciones masivas de los chinos continentales durante las guerras civiles de la dinastía Ming. Así como los holandeses establecieron colegios y misiones para los aborígenes, los inmigrantes chinos los trataban como subhumanos y consideraban que habían de extinguirlos. Los chinos, cansados de los abusivos impuestos que ponían los holandeses, se rebelarían bajo el mando de Cheng Cheng-Kung (Koxinga) y les expulsaron en 1662. Koxinga se mostró como defensor de la dinastía Ming y propuso la invasión de la China continental para expulsar a la dinastía Qing. Sin embargo veinte años después, eran los chinos continentales los que estaban preparados para invadir la isla, por lo que finalmente se firmó un tregua y Taiwán pasó a ser dependencia de la provincia de Fukien. Durante doscientos años de dominio continental la isla quedó en el olvido administrativo y se consideraba una de las regiones más peligrosas y menos saludables de todo Oriente. En 1887 el gobierno chino ascendió el rango de la isla a provincia, aunque en la práctica dos tercios del territorio estaban fuera de control. En 1895, tras ser derrotados por Japón, la isla pasó a manos de los japoneses. Durante este período nadie jamás cuestionó la soberanía de los japoneses sobre la isla, quienes la modernizaron y la sacaron del caos que se encontraba. Fue sin embargo durante la segunda guerra mundial, en el tratado de El Cairo de 1943 donde los americanos e ingleses prometieron la isla a los chinos tras la derrota de Japón. Este sería el principio de todos los problemas que nos describe el libro, donde una vez finalizada la guerra en 1945, el tratado se hizo efectivo y se cedió la isla a los chinos continentales (en aquel momento el KMT) y entraron en la isla como en tierra conquistada. Esto supuso una gran decepción para los taiwaneses, que al principio veían con buenos ojos volver a ser un territorio de la china continental, pero cuando fueron conscientes que no se les iba a dar ningún tipo de autonomía, y el gobierno iba a caer en manos de los continentales, empezaron a echar de menos a los japoneses. Desde 1945 en adelante, la isla estaría sometida a un régimen opresivo y corrupto, que causaría el incidente del 228 (28 de febrero de 1947) donde los locales se manifestaron contra el gobierno, y el gobierno en acto brutal de represión se cargó a decenas de miles. Así el KMT declaró la ley marcial hasta finales de los años 80 (casi cuarenta años de ley marcial).
Es bajo esta persepectiva donde los términos legitimidad y soberanía empiezan a tambalearse. Está claro que un dominio tan represivo y brutal con su población, sobretodo cuando viene de fuera de la isla, no parece en absoluto legítimo, pero cuando la población local empieza a ahogarse entre las oleadas de inmigración masiva de la china continental y que ve con ojos más benévolos a ese mismo gobierno, los límites ya no quedan tan claros. Es lo que pasó con Taiwán donde en 1945 había 5 millones de habitantes en la isla y hacia 1959 alcanzaban casi los 10 millones debido a la masiva emigración de la China continental llevados por la guerra civil.
Y todo esto, ¿en qué papel deja a la China Comunista o PRC del día de hoy? ¿Son sus pretensiones justificadas? No parece que las reivindicaciones del PRC sean muy diferentes de las que tuvo el KMT en 1945. ¿Qué significa ser Taiwanés hoy en día? En todas las jugadas geoestratégicas que condicionan el mapa terrestre, está claro que el pensimiento local tiene un alcance muy corto y débil en el tiempo, y tras años de dominio e imposición, lo que se consideraba sacrílego se considera sagrado.
Esta reflexión viene por los comentarios en el libro en referencia a las diferencias entre los taiwaneses y los chinos continentales pero también cómo en un primer momento veían con buenos ojos el volver a estar unificados (hasta que fueron conscientes del expolio al que fueron sometidos):
As an island, settled long ago by Chinese who had left China proper to get away from it and with a centuries long tradition of separation and pioneer independence, Formosa had been easily ceded by China to Japan in 1895. Fifty years of intensive social and economic development under Japanese direction had made it wealthy and had given the Formosan people a standard of living far beyond that of any province in China. Formosan leaders had turned toward the Western world.
we were about to restore them to a “New China,” sponsored, guided, and brought forward into world affairs by the United States. They knew well enough that Formosa was far ahead of any mainland province in physical development and social well-being, and they looked forward with pride and zest to the part they might play in building a new country.
We are afraid the United Nations recognizes Formosans as similar to Chinese. We are sure that Formosans have the blood connection with them, but you should inspect our nature [which] have already been [changed] and promoted for 50 years [through] Japanese culture in every sort of scholarship. Especially we have learnt patriotism and anti-tyranny [because] of them. The Cairo Congress drove us into this “Living Hell.”
Here before our eyes was repeated the drama of bitter choice which the American colonists had had to make in 1776. There were those who loved England, but loved freedom more.
Formosans are “Chinese” in the same sense that Americans are “English".
American rebellion took place when the colonies had a population of less than four million, all told; Formosa had a population exceeding six million
Therefore we [Chinese] cannot but give our urgent cry to these six million Taiwan brothers saying that “We are all Chinese and descendants of the Great Han race,” that from our origin we are brothers of the same blood, that we have been separated because of Taiwan’s half-century under the Japanese.
En estas afirmaciones se observa el contraste, por un lado cómo sienten esa patria común, pero por otro lado, desde el momento en que son conscientes del retraso administrativo y cultural de los chinos continentales, cómo quieren poner tierra de por medio.
Es por estas razones que este libro ilustra, aunque no sea su intención, las complejidades inherentes a los fundamentos de un estado. ¿Qué es un país? ¿Un sentimiento o una administración, una voluntad o una imposición?
Al margen, resaltar las aserciones del autor donde se nos deja claro que los taiwaneses no querían saber nada del comunismo:
for a half century the island had been cut off from the confusion of civil war on the Chinese mainland. There were no local warlords, and no Communist organizations. The few avowed Communists on Formosa had long been in jail, at hard labor, or on probation under surveillance. After many years of intensive anti-Communist indoctrination, a fundamental distrust of Communist promises and ideology had taken root. There were no “hungry masses” to which the Communists might appeal.
the Formosans were not at all prepared to turn to the Communists for help. Communism had made no headway in prosperous prewar Formosa. There were no concentrations of industry to produce a radical urban proletariat. There had been full employment and a slowly rising standard of living in town and countryside alike. This was not the proper soil for communism. Between the two world wars the Japanese had hunted down agents and agitators who entered from Shanghai or Canton or Tokyo, driving them from the island or thrusting them into jail. Organizations suspected of leftist sympathies were kept under strict surveillance. It should be recalled that the Japanese drive to suppress communism began with the Russian revolution, and that it continued with unwavering zeal while Chiang Kai-shek and his son, Ching-kuo, in turn studied communism and communist techniques in Moscow. When MacArthur’s orders freed all political prisoners in the Japanese Empire in 1945, the Communists held in Formosa were released. There were no cheering crowds awaiting them at the penitentiary gates. Some left the island promptly and some returned quietly to their village homes. Events were soon to show that some sixteen months after Japan’s surrender there were fewer than fifty self-declared Communists on Formosa in a population exceeding six millions.
We repudiate, therefore, all forms of totalitarian dictatorship, Chinese Communist or Nationalist.
The Formosans are against the Communists and do not want to merge with Communist China. Chiang Ching-kuo and Communist China know this fact better than anyone else. The communist’s China consequently fears the Formosans and Chinese liberals more bitterly than [they fear] the Nationalist government.
Y sin embargo, cómo los comunistas de la china continental querían también quedarse con Taiwán:
Let no one underestimate the degree to which the Communists are seeking to take advantage of the political situation on Formosa. As might be expected, they are playing both ends against the middle. To the Nationalists, they urge a return to the motherland, with all past sins being forgiven. To the Formosans, they promise the rights of “cultural autonomy” and freedom from “the American-Chiang Kai-shek clique.” Presumably, they hope that few Formosans know the true Communist record in Tibet and Sinkiang.
Communist leaders state most emphatically that the Formosan Problem must be solved and Peking’s claims to the island must be recognized before there can be any consideration of other issues outstanding between the United States and China. They promise the Formosans “liberation.” The Formosans on their part think of it as a threat rather than as a promise.
Y en definitiva surgió el problema de las dos chinas:
After 1960 there began to be serious talk of “two Chinas” and the talk was not Chinese.
Washington knows that Peking will never recognize the existence of a second China, and neither will Chiang Kai-shek at Taipei. It is difficult to believe that the United Nations could be persuaded by the United States to recognize a “Big China” and a “Little China.”
Por último, sería estupendo encontrar un libro que enlace el final de éste con la situación actual. Al fin y al cabo, el gobierno del KMT que aquí se describe sólo acarrea opresión y decadencia donde el desarrollo impulsado por los japoneses cae en desgracia. Sin embargo, todos sabemos del impulso económico que volvió a tener Taiwán en las últimas décadas del siglo XX el conocido como 'Taiwan Miracle'. En particular quisiera conocer cómo esta período influyó en la mentalidad de la sociedad, especialmente en la población nativa (los descendientes de la primera oleada en las guerras Ming), y cuál es la opinión actual del gobierno y democracia taiwaneses.
En definitiva 'Formosa Betrayed' es un libro estupendamente documentado sobre los incidentes del 228, al que debo un enorme agradecimiento por aportarme tanta información que desconocía. Sobretodo teniendo en cuenta que cogí este libro con una mentalidad simplista, donde el PRC es la amenaza y el KMT el gobierno legítimo de la isla.
Es un libro que sutilmente trata y da mucho qué pensar sobre la soberanía legítima de un territorio. Hasta qué punto un gobierno de una isla es legítimo en mantenerse.
La dominación de la isla a lo largo de la historia ha pasado por diversas manos. Los japoneses fueron los primeros en establecer pequeños asentamientos de pescadores alrededor de la isla. Los españoles fueron los primeros europeos en llegar a Formosa. Construyeron un par de fuertes en Tamsui y Keelung (1626), aunque su presencia fue meramente testimonial. Los holandeses poco después echarían a los españoles de la isla y formarían el primer gobierno (1642) efectivo en la isla. Fue durante esta época cuando hubo migraciones masivas de los chinos continentales durante las guerras civiles de la dinastía Ming. Así como los holandeses establecieron colegios y misiones para los aborígenes, los inmigrantes chinos los trataban como subhumanos y consideraban que habían de extinguirlos. Los chinos, cansados de los abusivos impuestos que ponían los holandeses, se rebelarían bajo el mando de Cheng Cheng-Kung (Koxinga) y les expulsaron en 1662. Koxinga se mostró como defensor de la dinastía Ming y propuso la invasión de la China continental para expulsar a la dinastía Qing. Sin embargo veinte años después, eran los chinos continentales los que estaban preparados para invadir la isla, por lo que finalmente se firmó un tregua y Taiwán pasó a ser dependencia de la provincia de Fukien. Durante doscientos años de dominio continental la isla quedó en el olvido administrativo y se consideraba una de las regiones más peligrosas y menos saludables de todo Oriente. En 1887 el gobierno chino ascendió el rango de la isla a provincia, aunque en la práctica dos tercios del territorio estaban fuera de control. En 1895, tras ser derrotados por Japón, la isla pasó a manos de los japoneses. Durante este período nadie jamás cuestionó la soberanía de los japoneses sobre la isla, quienes la modernizaron y la sacaron del caos que se encontraba. Fue sin embargo durante la segunda guerra mundial, en el tratado de El Cairo de 1943 donde los americanos e ingleses prometieron la isla a los chinos tras la derrota de Japón. Este sería el principio de todos los problemas que nos describe el libro, donde una vez finalizada la guerra en 1945, el tratado se hizo efectivo y se cedió la isla a los chinos continentales (en aquel momento el KMT) y entraron en la isla como en tierra conquistada. Esto supuso una gran decepción para los taiwaneses, que al principio veían con buenos ojos volver a ser un territorio de la china continental, pero cuando fueron conscientes que no se les iba a dar ningún tipo de autonomía, y el gobierno iba a caer en manos de los continentales, empezaron a echar de menos a los japoneses. Desde 1945 en adelante, la isla estaría sometida a un régimen opresivo y corrupto, que causaría el incidente del 228 (28 de febrero de 1947) donde los locales se manifestaron contra el gobierno, y el gobierno en acto brutal de represión se cargó a decenas de miles. Así el KMT declaró la ley marcial hasta finales de los años 80 (casi cuarenta años de ley marcial).
Es bajo esta persepectiva donde los términos legitimidad y soberanía empiezan a tambalearse. Está claro que un dominio tan represivo y brutal con su población, sobretodo cuando viene de fuera de la isla, no parece en absoluto legítimo, pero cuando la población local empieza a ahogarse entre las oleadas de inmigración masiva de la china continental y que ve con ojos más benévolos a ese mismo gobierno, los límites ya no quedan tan claros. Es lo que pasó con Taiwán donde en 1945 había 5 millones de habitantes en la isla y hacia 1959 alcanzaban casi los 10 millones debido a la masiva emigración de la China continental llevados por la guerra civil.
Y todo esto, ¿en qué papel deja a la China Comunista o PRC del día de hoy? ¿Son sus pretensiones justificadas? No parece que las reivindicaciones del PRC sean muy diferentes de las que tuvo el KMT en 1945. ¿Qué significa ser Taiwanés hoy en día? En todas las jugadas geoestratégicas que condicionan el mapa terrestre, está claro que el pensimiento local tiene un alcance muy corto y débil en el tiempo, y tras años de dominio e imposición, lo que se consideraba sacrílego se considera sagrado.
Esta reflexión viene por los comentarios en el libro en referencia a las diferencias entre los taiwaneses y los chinos continentales pero también cómo en un primer momento veían con buenos ojos el volver a estar unificados (hasta que fueron conscientes del expolio al que fueron sometidos):
As an island, settled long ago by Chinese who had left China proper to get away from it and with a centuries long tradition of separation and pioneer independence, Formosa had been easily ceded by China to Japan in 1895. Fifty years of intensive social and economic development under Japanese direction had made it wealthy and had given the Formosan people a standard of living far beyond that of any province in China. Formosan leaders had turned toward the Western world.
we were about to restore them to a “New China,” sponsored, guided, and brought forward into world affairs by the United States. They knew well enough that Formosa was far ahead of any mainland province in physical development and social well-being, and they looked forward with pride and zest to the part they might play in building a new country.
We are afraid the United Nations recognizes Formosans as similar to Chinese. We are sure that Formosans have the blood connection with them, but you should inspect our nature [which] have already been [changed] and promoted for 50 years [through] Japanese culture in every sort of scholarship. Especially we have learnt patriotism and anti-tyranny [because] of them. The Cairo Congress drove us into this “Living Hell.”
Here before our eyes was repeated the drama of bitter choice which the American colonists had had to make in 1776. There were those who loved England, but loved freedom more.
Formosans are “Chinese” in the same sense that Americans are “English".
American rebellion took place when the colonies had a population of less than four million, all told; Formosa had a population exceeding six million
Therefore we [Chinese] cannot but give our urgent cry to these six million Taiwan brothers saying that “We are all Chinese and descendants of the Great Han race,” that from our origin we are brothers of the same blood, that we have been separated because of Taiwan’s half-century under the Japanese.
En estas afirmaciones se observa el contraste, por un lado cómo sienten esa patria común, pero por otro lado, desde el momento en que son conscientes del retraso administrativo y cultural de los chinos continentales, cómo quieren poner tierra de por medio.
Es por estas razones que este libro ilustra, aunque no sea su intención, las complejidades inherentes a los fundamentos de un estado. ¿Qué es un país? ¿Un sentimiento o una administración, una voluntad o una imposición?
Al margen, resaltar las aserciones del autor donde se nos deja claro que los taiwaneses no querían saber nada del comunismo:
for a half century the island had been cut off from the confusion of civil war on the Chinese mainland. There were no local warlords, and no Communist organizations. The few avowed Communists on Formosa had long been in jail, at hard labor, or on probation under surveillance. After many years of intensive anti-Communist indoctrination, a fundamental distrust of Communist promises and ideology had taken root. There were no “hungry masses” to which the Communists might appeal.
the Formosans were not at all prepared to turn to the Communists for help. Communism had made no headway in prosperous prewar Formosa. There were no concentrations of industry to produce a radical urban proletariat. There had been full employment and a slowly rising standard of living in town and countryside alike. This was not the proper soil for communism. Between the two world wars the Japanese had hunted down agents and agitators who entered from Shanghai or Canton or Tokyo, driving them from the island or thrusting them into jail. Organizations suspected of leftist sympathies were kept under strict surveillance. It should be recalled that the Japanese drive to suppress communism began with the Russian revolution, and that it continued with unwavering zeal while Chiang Kai-shek and his son, Ching-kuo, in turn studied communism and communist techniques in Moscow. When MacArthur’s orders freed all political prisoners in the Japanese Empire in 1945, the Communists held in Formosa were released. There were no cheering crowds awaiting them at the penitentiary gates. Some left the island promptly and some returned quietly to their village homes. Events were soon to show that some sixteen months after Japan’s surrender there were fewer than fifty self-declared Communists on Formosa in a population exceeding six millions.
We repudiate, therefore, all forms of totalitarian dictatorship, Chinese Communist or Nationalist.
The Formosans are against the Communists and do not want to merge with Communist China. Chiang Ching-kuo and Communist China know this fact better than anyone else. The communist’s China consequently fears the Formosans and Chinese liberals more bitterly than [they fear] the Nationalist government.
Y sin embargo, cómo los comunistas de la china continental querían también quedarse con Taiwán:
Let no one underestimate the degree to which the Communists are seeking to take advantage of the political situation on Formosa. As might be expected, they are playing both ends against the middle. To the Nationalists, they urge a return to the motherland, with all past sins being forgiven. To the Formosans, they promise the rights of “cultural autonomy” and freedom from “the American-Chiang Kai-shek clique.” Presumably, they hope that few Formosans know the true Communist record in Tibet and Sinkiang.
Communist leaders state most emphatically that the Formosan Problem must be solved and Peking’s claims to the island must be recognized before there can be any consideration of other issues outstanding between the United States and China. They promise the Formosans “liberation.” The Formosans on their part think of it as a threat rather than as a promise.
Y en definitiva surgió el problema de las dos chinas:
After 1960 there began to be serious talk of “two Chinas” and the talk was not Chinese.
Washington knows that Peking will never recognize the existence of a second China, and neither will Chiang Kai-shek at Taipei. It is difficult to believe that the United Nations could be persuaded by the United States to recognize a “Big China” and a “Little China.”
Por último, sería estupendo encontrar un libro que enlace el final de éste con la situación actual. Al fin y al cabo, el gobierno del KMT que aquí se describe sólo acarrea opresión y decadencia donde el desarrollo impulsado por los japoneses cae en desgracia. Sin embargo, todos sabemos del impulso económico que volvió a tener Taiwán en las últimas décadas del siglo XX el conocido como 'Taiwan Miracle'. En particular quisiera conocer cómo esta período influyó en la mentalidad de la sociedad, especialmente en la población nativa (los descendientes de la primera oleada en las guerras Ming), y cuál es la opinión actual del gobierno y democracia taiwaneses.
En definitiva 'Formosa Betrayed' es un libro estupendamente documentado sobre los incidentes del 228, al que debo un enorme agradecimiento por aportarme tanta información que desconocía. Sobretodo teniendo en cuenta que cogí este libro con una mentalidad simplista, donde el PRC es la amenaza y el KMT el gobierno legítimo de la isla.
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October 11, 2020從第三者的視角來看1941年到1960之間發生的事件，同時也寫出了當時美國對於台灣的冷漠對應，也產生了大量的對於目前台灣官方教科書內容的疑問，什麼是史實????這是一本身為台灣住民都應該要看的一本書，對於曾經的加害者延續，應該承認過去的錯誤，對於曾經的受害者，讓撫平傷口，共同開創一條對生存於這塊土地的一切人事物，更好的路。
August 4, 2017
Phenomenal
Excellent overview of the inadequacy of US policy on Taiwan and China after WWII, the GMD dictatorship, and Taiwan's long history of liberal democratic resistance. Essential reading for anyone interested in the modern Taiwan strait issue, Sino-American relations, or Taiwanese history and culture.
Excellent overview of the inadequacy of US policy on Taiwan and China after WWII, the GMD dictatorship, and Taiwan's long history of liberal democratic resistance. Essential reading for anyone interested in the modern Taiwan strait issue, Sino-American relations, or Taiwanese history and culture.
December 30, 2019
This is a must read for anyone who wants to understand modern Taiwan. It is the definitive history of post-war Taiwan.
One minor complaint- someone at Camphor has to do a better job editing the book. There are too many instances where the word “be” was written where the author meant to write “he”.
One minor complaint- someone at Camphor has to do a better job editing the book. There are too many instances where the word “be” was written where the author meant to write “he”.
June 19, 2022
Mr. Kerr was a US Naval attaché serving in Taiwan after WWII. I learned a lot from this book. I grew up in Taiwan, but the history of Chiang Kai Shek and the Nationalists coming over to Taiwan wasn’t talked about. I grew up knowing it couldn’t be talked about…and that we couldn’t talk about “the Mainland”. It was good to have a lot of information gaps filled in.
June 8, 2018
A detailed first hand experience, from an Americans point of view, of when the warlords of the Chinese Civil War took control of the island of Formosa.
And how the formosans, schooled by the Japanese colonists, met their new leaders.
If you're interested in Taiwanese history read this book!
And how the formosans, schooled by the Japanese colonists, met their new leaders.
If you're interested in Taiwanese history read this book!
April 22, 2019
More interesting and informative than enthralling - after a while it can drag so maybe read alongside another book - but nevertheless essential reading for anyone interested in Taiwan. A real indictment of the KMT and Chiang Kai-shek.
January 20, 2020
It is hard to say much about this classic. It is THE first hand account of Taiwan under the Chiangs.
A must read for anyone interested in the immediate post war world, and how decisions made them continue to affect millions today.
A must read for anyone interested in the immediate post war world, and how decisions made them continue to affect millions today.
April 25, 2019
对于二二八事件，没有一部书是客观全面的，葛超智的这本也不例外。这与其说是部历史，不如说是对美方政治及政策的反思。不过作为事件的亲历者和台湾问题的专家，作者的这本书还是蛮有参考价值。
May 15, 2022
damn, they don't write like this anymore... seriously, people that wrote between the 50s to 80s were just incredible at parsing mass amounts of information into highly-accessible on-topic straight-forward writings! wtf happened since then?
this old book is possibly the best book i've found about Taiwan, and by far the most informed--i mean CIA level! But, it's a very specific history, most political (but not a terrible generic political history). It's the story of how Taiwan was betrayed, by everyone, starting from before world war two, when no one cared about it, to the end of white terror (i think). It's also a story that was hidden for a long long time, far beyond it's publishing date. And even today, there just isn't much media about this stuff: of how the ROC (an army backed by industrialists) came to have control, and how they killed the native peoples.
you are given an "introduction" which very succinctly goes through the entire history of Taiwan up to Japanese control in world war two / 1940s in just a few pages (incredible, really..). Then, in the first real chapter, you are thrown into the information dump written in a thriller format. I don't know how it's possible to write a thriller with so much information--make it very long?--but he did it.
The real first chapter begins in Washington DC (iirc), with documents stored by various gov info agencies. The author is the leader of one such agency, in charge of parsing tons of data into handbooks to be read by the military, particular, the handbook on Taiwan specifically created in the case of occupying Taiwan, which, by chance, spoiler alert: didn't happen. His sources must have been all be confidential at the time, and surely even hid some data in the writing... But surely only a person of his level even had access to any of it (at the time), which makes this rather unique, in that only he could have wrote it. You really get the feel of how the government think and work: tactically yet haphazardly (quickly making an agreement to give Taiwan to ROC before fighting Japan), given that it's war time. You see the view of the situation from US gov's point of view, by far the most powerful nation (for example: the ROC oligarchy were mere puppets and prima donnas). From their view the rest of the world is a game, one of tactics and strategy. China is a joke in comparison.
it is indeed a ton of information, but, all of that information is necessary. Cutting any information out on something so important would be a crime. Taiwan's fate just happens to be very complex, so it requires more information and anyway history has a lot of factors, but still, it's just that: mere fate, a fate of ridiculous consequences which greatly effects the present day.
i haven't even gotten deep in this book, but i think it's just one of those things you have to read through over time. There's no other way around it. Thankfully, it's very straight-forward, chronological, and the amount of people/names to remember are just a handful. A lot of work must have gone into this to make it so readable, simple, straight-forward. It's refreshing compared to the overly-complex writings of today.
Because the rest of the English books about Taiwan are so painfully bad (encrypted by retarded academic vocabulary, and written by retarded academic workers who are only good at taking exams), it's rather easy to give this 5 stars. Anyway, for it's specific purpose and topic, it is truly worthy of 5 stars.
this old book is possibly the best book i've found about Taiwan, and by far the most informed--i mean CIA level! But, it's a very specific history, most political (but not a terrible generic political history). It's the story of how Taiwan was betrayed, by everyone, starting from before world war two, when no one cared about it, to the end of white terror (i think). It's also a story that was hidden for a long long time, far beyond it's publishing date. And even today, there just isn't much media about this stuff: of how the ROC (an army backed by industrialists) came to have control, and how they killed the native peoples.
you are given an "introduction" which very succinctly goes through the entire history of Taiwan up to Japanese control in world war two / 1940s in just a few pages (incredible, really..). Then, in the first real chapter, you are thrown into the information dump written in a thriller format. I don't know how it's possible to write a thriller with so much information--make it very long?--but he did it.
The real first chapter begins in Washington DC (iirc), with documents stored by various gov info agencies. The author is the leader of one such agency, in charge of parsing tons of data into handbooks to be read by the military, particular, the handbook on Taiwan specifically created in the case of occupying Taiwan, which, by chance, spoiler alert: didn't happen. His sources must have been all be confidential at the time, and surely even hid some data in the writing... But surely only a person of his level even had access to any of it (at the time), which makes this rather unique, in that only he could have wrote it. You really get the feel of how the government think and work: tactically yet haphazardly (quickly making an agreement to give Taiwan to ROC before fighting Japan), given that it's war time. You see the view of the situation from US gov's point of view, by far the most powerful nation (for example: the ROC oligarchy were mere puppets and prima donnas). From their view the rest of the world is a game, one of tactics and strategy. China is a joke in comparison.
it is indeed a ton of information, but, all of that information is necessary. Cutting any information out on something so important would be a crime. Taiwan's fate just happens to be very complex, so it requires more information and anyway history has a lot of factors, but still, it's just that: mere fate, a fate of ridiculous consequences which greatly effects the present day.
i haven't even gotten deep in this book, but i think it's just one of those things you have to read through over time. There's no other way around it. Thankfully, it's very straight-forward, chronological, and the amount of people/names to remember are just a handful. A lot of work must have gone into this to make it so readable, simple, straight-forward. It's refreshing compared to the overly-complex writings of today.
Because the rest of the English books about Taiwan are so painfully bad (encrypted by retarded academic vocabulary, and written by retarded academic workers who are only good at taking exams), it's rather easy to give this 5 stars. Anyway, for it's specific purpose and topic, it is truly worthy of 5 stars.
July 15, 2024
A dissident view of the standard US line on China, deeply ironic considering the current stance on "mainland aggression." Kerr, as a US consular official on then-Formosa, gives a painstaking blow-by-account of the real mainland aggression of 1945, when US forces ceded the island to the Kuomintang and Chiang Kai-Shek's army without consulting the people on it. Though its leaders pled their case in the name of the Atlantic Charter's professed rights of self-determination, these clauses were brushed aside to plant the white star; or as Kerr was bluntly told, "This is China now."
The first postwar mainland takeover resulted in corruption, petty and mass theft, military abuse until public discontent exploded in the "2-28" incident of 1947. Duplicitously agreeing to consult with the island's local assembly, Chiang strung them along until his military could cross the Straits. What followed was a brutal occupation regime of mass arrest and execution, torture, and pillage which cleaned the path for Chiang's eventual retrenchment, after his brutal rearguard was kicked off the continent. All public mention of this invasion and repression was strictly forbidden in Taiwan until the 1990s, even for foreigners.
In 1950 followed the better-known second takeover, as odious as the first as Chiang and his son consolidated their grip on "Free China." Kerr was there for all of it, advocating a strong role of American "trusteeship" to protect Taiwan/Formosa from both Chiang and Mao. While the US government and military was giving Chiang the Israel treatment, lauding him as the "Christian general" standing up to Red godlessness, Chiang in turn was rivaling Mao in anti-imperialist rhetoric while living off the American taxpayer.
And just as Taiwan became the Israel of its time, so did Chiang's friends - the "China Lobby" - flagellate any deviation, warping not just regional policy by helping ignite the Korean War, but also strangling domestic American life. Just like its later counterpart, the Lobby funded McCarthyism (literally) and led the branding and purge of all dissent. This was unleashed on Kerr himself, who was not only stalled for nearly twenty years to publish this book, but was paranoid about it before and after.
The book was immediately targeted by the Lobby and banned in Taiwan. For that reason it became an underground best seller by off-island Taiwanese and fascinating reading for Westerners raised on the frosted excrement of official discourse. Only when it became convenient did the US recognize a one-China policy so it could "defend" Taiwan's sovereignty. If it had done so from the beginning, there would have already been a recognized independent Taiwan before the Peoples' Republic could stake its heirship.
Again, an enlightening work that proves the past is another country - not revisionism, but revelation.
The first postwar mainland takeover resulted in corruption, petty and mass theft, military abuse until public discontent exploded in the "2-28" incident of 1947. Duplicitously agreeing to consult with the island's local assembly, Chiang strung them along until his military could cross the Straits. What followed was a brutal occupation regime of mass arrest and execution, torture, and pillage which cleaned the path for Chiang's eventual retrenchment, after his brutal rearguard was kicked off the continent. All public mention of this invasion and repression was strictly forbidden in Taiwan until the 1990s, even for foreigners.
In 1950 followed the better-known second takeover, as odious as the first as Chiang and his son consolidated their grip on "Free China." Kerr was there for all of it, advocating a strong role of American "trusteeship" to protect Taiwan/Formosa from both Chiang and Mao. While the US government and military was giving Chiang the Israel treatment, lauding him as the "Christian general" standing up to Red godlessness, Chiang in turn was rivaling Mao in anti-imperialist rhetoric while living off the American taxpayer.
And just as Taiwan became the Israel of its time, so did Chiang's friends - the "China Lobby" - flagellate any deviation, warping not just regional policy by helping ignite the Korean War, but also strangling domestic American life. Just like its later counterpart, the Lobby funded McCarthyism (literally) and led the branding and purge of all dissent. This was unleashed on Kerr himself, who was not only stalled for nearly twenty years to publish this book, but was paranoid about it before and after.
The book was immediately targeted by the Lobby and banned in Taiwan. For that reason it became an underground best seller by off-island Taiwanese and fascinating reading for Westerners raised on the frosted excrement of official discourse. Only when it became convenient did the US recognize a one-China policy so it could "defend" Taiwan's sovereignty. If it had done so from the beginning, there would have already been a recognized independent Taiwan before the Peoples' Republic could stake its heirship.
Again, an enlightening work that proves the past is another country - not revisionism, but revelation.
September 22, 2023
An informative record of post-war Taiwan. Made me boil with anger and depression while flipping through the book. People often regard 228 as a singular incident, but Kerr clearly pointed out how it was caused by missteps after missteps of the US, KMT, and UN.
As a Taiwanese with more or less the age as Taiwan's deomcracy, I'm extremely grateful to the people who sacrificed their freedom and lives for us future islanders. It's quite a miracle that at last we broke the never-ending "dogs left and pigs came, pigs left and dogs came" curse in Taiwan.
Flipping through the book, I finally understand why KMT's ideology is getting closer with PRC/CCP these days. They are essentially flip sides of the same coin -- dictatorial, xenophobic, conceited, ignorant, nationalistic (despite CCP's name), and "face-loving" as most dynasty along the Chinese history had been. Essentially, they are way more "Chinese" than "Communist" or "Nationalist".
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While China (PRC) still sinks deep in their out-of-place "Celestial Empire" (天朝上國) mindset with the "emperor after emperor" cycle, I'm glad that Taiwan finally crawled out the shadows of a totalitarian regime. Only 30 years have passed since Taiwan became democratic, but we really acheived a lot and proved that it works.
There's still a long way to go until Taiwan (not ROC) becomes a widely-recognized country, but I think we're on the right path. And of course, as a recurring theme in this book, we could really use some help from the US.
As a Taiwanese with more or less the age as Taiwan's deomcracy, I'm extremely grateful to the people who sacrificed their freedom and lives for us future islanders. It's quite a miracle that at last we broke the never-ending "dogs left and pigs came, pigs left and dogs came" curse in Taiwan.
Flipping through the book, I finally understand why KMT's ideology is getting closer with PRC/CCP these days. They are essentially flip sides of the same coin -- dictatorial, xenophobic, conceited, ignorant, nationalistic (despite CCP's name), and "face-loving" as most dynasty along the Chinese history had been. Essentially, they are way more "Chinese" than "Communist" or "Nationalist".
--
While China (PRC) still sinks deep in their out-of-place "Celestial Empire" (天朝上國) mindset with the "emperor after emperor" cycle, I'm glad that Taiwan finally crawled out the shadows of a totalitarian regime. Only 30 years have passed since Taiwan became democratic, but we really acheived a lot and proved that it works.
There's still a long way to go until Taiwan (not ROC) becomes a widely-recognized country, but I think we're on the right path. And of course, as a recurring theme in this book, we could really use some help from the US.
January 25, 2025
A quite depressing account in how Taiwan was handled over to the fascist KMT regime under Chiang, and how the US manage to fumble through several bad handled foreign affairs policies and administration. Grim reminder that crimes against humanity can be easily swept under the rug with the right political manoeuvre.
True enough Kerr's account might be biased, as ultimately we cannot tell if a full American "stewardship" would have been better in the short or long run - by any means, history has taken another course - the ease with which the white terror was kept alive with US life support money is a dark one
True enough Kerr's account might be biased, as ultimately we cannot tell if a full American "stewardship" would have been better in the short or long run - by any means, history has taken another course - the ease with which the white terror was kept alive with US life support money is a dark one
August 17, 2025
Really insightful book into cross-strait tensions and Formosan self determination!
Unfortunately, the book was published just before Chiang Ching Kuo takes power. Kerr was not able to write about Chiang Ching Kuo's rule and shift towards home rule and democracy. Would be great to read more post CCK to Lee Teng Hui.
Unfortunately, the book was published just before Chiang Ching Kuo takes power. Kerr was not able to write about Chiang Ching Kuo's rule and shift towards home rule and democracy. Would be great to read more post CCK to Lee Teng Hui.
February 13, 2019
Fairly dry, personal account of Taiwan's transitionary period experienced by George Kerr. It wasn't the breadth of coverage I was looking for and I found Kerr's interpretation of the events to be highly personal and therefore somewhat less objective
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November 4, 2020Book by US diplomat in Taiwan during the February 28 represssion. A friend, Dr. Chang Kuan-bin, had Kerr for an English teacher in middle school before the war.
March 30, 2021
4.5 You should read this book if you have any interest in Taiwan whatsoever. Poor Taiwan deserved (and deserves) so much better.
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