Peace Memorial Day
228 Peace Memorial Park in Taipei
Also called228 Peace Day, February 28 Peace Memorial Day
Observed byTaiwan
TypeNational
ObservancesTaiwanese history, transitional justice, and progress
Date28 February
FrequencyAnnual
First time1995 (1995)
Related toFebruary 28 incident

Peace Memorial Day (Chinese: 和平紀念日), also known as 228 Memorial Day, is a public holiday in Taiwan for honoring and mourning the victims and families of the February 28 incident in 1947. Proposals to establish Peace Memorial Day as a holiday began in the early 1990s. It was passed as a national memorial day in 1995 and as an official public holiday in 1997.

History

Origin

A couple years after the Kuomintang government took over the administration of Taiwan from Japan, rampant corruption and heightened inflation led to a general dissatisfaction with the new government. The February 28 incident in 1947 began the Chiang Kai-shek-led government's mass killing of civilians, which continued into a period of political persecution known as White Terror. The imposition of martial law became one of the longest in world history.

Proposals

In February 1987, before martial law was lifted, the 228 Peace Day Association was formed by members of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights and various other human rights groups.[1][2]

On 28 February 1995, 48 years after the 1947 incident, President Lee Teng-hui made a public apology to families of victims and the whole country on behalf of the government. On 23 March 1995, the February 28 Incident Disposition and Compensation Act was passed in the Legislative Yuan, and Peace Memorial Day was officially recognized as an annual memorial day.[1]

In 1997, an amendment to the act, proposed by legislator Lin Kuang-hua, to elevate Peace Memorial Day to an official holiday was passed.[3]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Chiu, Wan-hsing (4 February 2017). "【街頭人生】打破禁忌，走出228的陰影". Taiwan People News. Archived from the original on 8 December 2019. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  2. ↑ Hsieh, Chang-chang (29 February 2000). "The true cause of the 228 Incident". Taipei Times. Archived from the original on 7 April 2018. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
  3. ↑ Kao, Ling-yun; Liu, Su-wan; Lin, Mei-tzu (25 February 1995). "228全國放假 可望 今年實施". 聯合晚報 (in Chinese (Taiwan)). United Evening News.
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