Transitions in Taiwan: Stories of the White Terror

by Ian Rowen

Taiwan's peaceful, democratic society is built upon decades of authoritarian state violence with which it is still coming to terms. At the close of World War II in 1945, after fifty years of Japanese colonization, Taiwan was occupied by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). The party massacred thousands of Taiwanese while it established a military dictatorship on the island with the tacit support of the United States.
Although early episodes of state violence (such as the 228 Incident in 1947) and post-1980s democratization in Taiwan have received a significant amount of literary and scholarly attention, relatively less has been written or translated about the four-decade period known as the White Terror, which began right after the 228 Incident and continued until the end of martial law in 1987. The White Terror was aimed at eliminating alleged proponents of Taiwanese independence as well as supposed communist collaborators, and it wiped out an entire generation of intellectuals. Both native-born Taiwanese as well as mainland Chinese exiles were subject to imprisonment, torture, and execution. During this time, the KMT institutionally favored mainland Chinese over native-born Taiwanese and reserved most military, educational, and police positions for the former. Taiwanese were forcibly "reeducated" as Chinese subjects. China-centric national history curricula, forced Mandarin-language pedagogy and media, and the renaming of streets and public spaces after places in China further enforced a representational regime of Chineseness to legitimize the KMT's authority. Taiwan's contemporary commitment to transitional justice and democracy hinges on this history of violence, for which this volume provides a literary treatment as essential as it is varied. This is among the first collections of stories to comprehensively address the social, political, and economic aspects of the White Terror, and to do so with deep attention to its transnational character. Featuring contributions from some of Taiwan's most celebrated authors and from genres that range between realism, satire, and allegory, this book examines the modes and mechanisms of the White Terror and party-state exploitation in prisons, farming villages, slums, military bases, and professional communities.
Transitions in Stories of the White Terror is an important book for Taiwan studies, Asian Studies, literature, and social justice.
This book is part of the Cambria Literature in Taiwan Series , in collaboration with the National Museum of Taiwan Literature, the National Human Rights Museum, and National Taiwan Normal University. See

290 pages, Paperback

Published April 30, 2021

Reviews

[Peter A · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of stories in the recent Literature from Taiwan Series offers a lot into various types of transition in life of people living in Taiwan during the time of the white terror, roughly 1947 (some say 1949, the beginning of martial law) to 1987, the end of martial law. We see attempts of people to transition from years of confinement to the freer Taiwan, or transitions in language over recent Taiwanese history, to transitions in food, and even one transition from man to bird, to escape captivity.

As a reader, I particularly enjoyed Dixson’s Idioms, Huang Chong-kai, trans. Brian Skerratt, and also that of Beef Noodles, Li Ang, trans. Sylvia Li-chun Lin. In each, I learned something I had not known.

1. Long, Long Ago There was an Urashima Taro, Chu Tien-hsin, trans. Sylvia Li-chun Lin and Howard Goldblatt. First published in November 1990. This depicts the transition of Li Jianzheng’s life as he copes with life after 30 years in captivity on an island off Taiwan’s coast to home life, believing he is still being followed by the secret policy, and estranged from his wife and his son. His solace comes from talking with another released prisoner. [The protagonist claims earlier in life he could tell the difference between the different police groups by the type of questions they asked.]

2. The Taste of Apples, Huang Chun-ming, trans. Howard Goldblatt. First published in December 1972. In this story, an American officer, driving a car, strikes and injures a Taiwanese worker, Jiang Ah-fa. The rain acts as a background to how the family is informed and escorted to the hospital to meet the recovering husband and father. The American is covering the costs and providing for the family’s future incompensation. Ironically, the family had recently moved to make a better life, which cost the permanent crippling of Ah-fa.

3. Rice Diary, Sung-Tse-lai, trans Ian Rowen. First published on October 25, 1979. The longest story in the collection, it depicts events in a small farming village, Daniunan, and the villagers’ struggle to sell rice during a rainy harvest period. The author depicts three strata in the community by their physical position in the village, and captures Taiwan at a time of social transition, away from a landowner dominated society, yet duped by one landowner.

4. Dixson’s Idioms, Huang Chong-kai, trans. Brian Skerratt. First published in the collections of short stories, The Content of the Times (I believe published in 2017). I thoroughly enjoyed this story! The story captures the transition of Taiwan through multiple languages: Japanese, then later to Chinese (not the local Hoklo, Hakka, or indigenous). The protagonist also sees the transitions from the 228 Incident inside a prison. Later he is released, but again, taken away and sent back to Green Island. He is a publisher and has worked with books about English grammar and idioms. Interesting is that the author also captures changes in the US of 1963 (I have a dream speech), as experienced by the wife of the grammarian Robert Dixson (a historical person, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_...).

5. Beef Noodles, Li Ang, trans. Sylvia Li-chun Lin. Adopted for theater in 2007. I have several thought reading this story. First, there is a saying, whatever kindness we can do as we pass through this world, we should endeavor to do it. This story is about fulfilling that kindness immediately. The story’s beginning focuses on a protagonist who is held in prison for 23 years. Part of that time was in the Garrison Command, where prisoners were often executed, on Fridays, with no indication ahead of time who would die. The protagonist has the “luxury” of being able to order beef noodles from time to time, since his family gave him money. He could see the prisoner across the hall watching him, and decided to buy him some, but by the time he ordered, the prisoner had been executed. He regretted that many years later, after he had become a powerful politician.

The second part of the story talks about the origin of beef noodle soup, and how some called is Sichuan or Sichuan-style beef noodles. The author gives the origins of the dish, uniquely Taiwanese, though created by people who fled the mainland in 1949. She also explains the transition in eating in Taiwan to result in such a national dish.

6. Disappearing Manhood, Wu Chin-fa, trans. Chris Wen-chao Li. First published in November 1985. In this story, a former poet, then bird watcher, transforms into a bird, in order to escape the pressures of his own life. In the story, he literally disappears, as often happened during the white terror. The transformation also reflects how authors during that time might have felt, unable to write unincumbered.

7. My Second Brother, the Deserter, Wu He, trans. Terence Russell. First published in 1991. The most challenging of all stories in style, the author describes the actions of a second brother, who continues to desert from his military service, be found, and desert again for the right reason. The narrator, a younger brother, tracks down his brother, sees him living in squalor, and begins his own descent in life.

The collection comes with an informative introduction by the editor. In addition, the Forward by the direction of the national Museum of Taiwan Literature talks about the project in Taiwan that has given rise to Books from Taiwan project, from which this collection has been drawn and translated.

The Literature from Taiwan Series is a collaboration between the publisher, Cambria Press, and the National Human Rights Museum, the National Taiwan Normal University, and the National Museum of Taiwan Literature.

FB. This entry in the Literature from Taiwan Series collects seven stories that share the theme of transitions in Taiwanese lives because of the years of White Terror. Those transitions can be in rejoining society after years of incarceration, in developing new food preferences, or in the role of language in capturing emotions. Several of these stories are outstanding, and all stories reflect the challenges of Taiwan citizens during the many years of martial law and state-sponsored terror.

[Jenny Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really interesting read. I visited the National Museum of Taiwanese Literature once and was really interested to read a literature-focused account of the white terror, and it was that museum which played a large part of the production of this book. It's really interesting to read snapshots of different experiences under the KMT's martial law regime. I particularly enjoyed the story "Dixon's Idioms" and the way it focused on languages spoken in Taiwan and the forced language shift of academics from Japanese to Mandarin as well as the suppression of Taiwanese Hokkien. It did really good job of highlighting the way experiences and the languages they took place in become interconnected, and what different languages can come to represent to multilinguals, particularly in a colonial/post-colonial context. Honestly had to take a minute when I finished that one, it was just really moving.
There were also some slightly more surrealist stories too like "My Second Brother, The Deserter" and "Disappearing Manhood" which i didn't quite enjoy as much, but there are still interesting elements to all the stories in the book. Really interesting read, i'd love to find more books published in cooperation with the National Museum of Taiwanese Literature.