A touring exhibition presenting Taiwanese history from authoritarianism to democracy opened yesterday in Taipei, with the aim of shedding light on the White Terror era as the nation moves toward transitional justice.
The exhibition of photographs and films is to run through Aug. 17 in Taipei, then move on to New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, said the Taiwan Association for Financial Criminal Law Study and the Memorial Foundation of 228, which organized the show.
The opening at the National 228 Memorial Museum followed the third round of exonerations on Sunday of thousands of people who were wrongly executed or convicted during authoritarian rule from August 1945 to November 1992.
The display includes photographs by Chiu Wan-hsing (邱萬興) that document democracy activism over the past 30 years.
It also features photographs from the period before and after the lifting of martial law in 1987 by Liu Chen-hsiang (劉振祥), who is best known for his long-term collaboration with Cloud Gate Dance Theatre (雲門舞集).
Three films depicting the 228 Massacre and the White Terror era are also to be screened: A City of Sadness (悲情城市), March of Happiness (天馬茶房) and Banana Paradise (香蕉天堂).
The 228 Incident refers to an uprising that began on Feb. 27, 1947, against the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) authoritarian regime. The resulting crackdown, called the White Terror, killed up to 30,000 people and led to nearly four decades of martial law.
The organizers said that the exhibition would also include forums on the 228 Massacre, the White Terror era, the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing and the ongoing protest movement in Hong Kong against a proposed extradition bill.
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