Taiwan Church News
3886 Edition
17 ~ 23 August, 2026
Weekly Topical
Following Traditional Ghost Festival, Taiwan’s Citizen Groups Convened to Remember the Dead in 228 Massacre and White Terror
Reported by Chiu Kuo-rong from Taipei
The seventh month of lunar calendar is commonly known as the Ghost Month in Taiwan. During this month, the Ghost Month Festival(aka Chongyuan Pudu) will be held to host the wandering ghosts with incense and offerings for the peace and well-being of the people alive. On August 15, Taiwan Rebels Culture Movement held the “Cultural Chongyuan Pudu: Commemorating the dead sacrificed in Taiwan’s dark hours” on Ching-Dao East Road to pay tributes to the dead sacrificed or massacred in Taiwan’s colonial past. Rev Huang Chun-sheng, chief pastor of Chi-Nan Church of Chi-Hsin Presbytery, Daoist Master Chen Bor-yu and His Eminence Geshe Thrinley Gyatso Rinpoche of Tibetan Buddhist were invited to co-host the memorial event. Rev Huang led the audience to offer the prayer.
According to Taiwan Rebels Culture Movement, in the 1950s (White Terror era) current address – No. 3 Ching-Dao East Road, Taipei City – was the headquarter of both Taiwan Provincial Security Command and Military Detention Center of Taiwan Garrison Command, which was well known as “Ghost Gate” in Taiwan society. The heinous death penalties of many innocent prisoners were sentenced here. And this was also the site many prisoners wrote their last letters back home but had never been sent out. This Ghost Month Festival was held in front of this Ghost Gate, inviting citizens to pay tributes to the dead with a resolve to fulfill the tasks of transitive justice.
In his public prayer, Rev Huang said, “Taiwan was ruled under martial law by KMT’s authoritarian regime for decades. Many people had been unlawfully arrested and even lost their lives due to their idea, speech, faith and political belief. The incurred pain of the victims and their family shall not be forgotten. The tragedies buried in history must be uncovered, and the distorted memories must be rectified especially when Taiwan is facing the relentless threat of military annexation from China. If Taiwan knelt down to China, the following shallow peace will only be illusional. Taiwanese should have the wisdom to tell truth from falsehood, the courage to protect our homeland Formosa, the will to stand up fighting for democracy and freedom. Sincerely we wish the Chinese people could break free from CCP’s autocratic controls to enjoy freedom of thought, speech, belief and eternal peace.”
Regarding current democratic crisis in Taiwan, Rev Huang reminded the audience that the power is not the privilege to rule the people, but a responsibility committed and entrusted by the people. “The congress should respect the constitutional government, the judiciary should remain independent, the media should be vigilant to find the truth, and citizen society should be brave to fight for justice,” called he, “let’s carry on the spirit of sacrifice, cherish the hard-won freedom and democracy, and march on to accomplish the mission of transitive justice.”
Dr Wu Hao-jen, professor of the Department of Law at Fu Jen Catholic University, shared his thoughts about KMT’s authoritarian rulings and its party-state system in a speech entitled as “Taiwan’s outside spectres and internal ghosts”. He said, “if Taiwan wants to accomplish the ideals of transitive justice, the historical wrongs done by KMT’s party-state system has to be exposed and fixed. If the injustice cannot be thoroughly listed, checked and rectified, the transitive justice pursued diligently by Taiwan society may just an ‘illusion of democracy’”. Facing the political crisis around the corner, he stressed that Taiwan should deliberate its future with a brand new vision and Taiwan independence is absolutely a top priority.
Speaking from his own experiences of promoting campus democracy and social movements, Mr Alvin Chang, president of Better Together for NextGen Taiwan, remarked that “memory” is a powerful tool to safeguard democracy. Taking as example the recent news of Jiayi high school students, who earnestly searched the alumni killed in the 228 massacre or white terror and paid their silent mourning for the deceased alumni at the school assembly, Mr Chang pointed out that even if the younger generation did not personally engaged the cruelties of KMT’s atrocities, they could still uncover the lost history through courageous actions.
“From the Sunflower Student Movement(2014), to Stand Up with Hong Kong Protests(2019 – 2020), to many citizen rallies in recent years, democracy movements facilitate young generation to become resilient and intrepid,” indicated Mr Chang, “the youth should not be self-conceited, taking democracy for granted, but be daring to act with historical consciousness. So, together with our loyal fellow partners, democracy can be safeguarded into our future generations in Taiwan.”
Translated by Peter Wolfe
