Ma and 228

Historian Hwang Chang-chien (黃彰健) passed away not too many months ago. You can view his Who's who page at Taiwan News here.

In the later part of his career, Hwang turned his attention to the 228 incident in Taiwan. The results of his research were not exactly pretty nor what I would call reasonable. His research culminated in the publishing of A Draft of Textual Research into the Truth of the 228 Incident (二二八事件真相考證稿). Hwang's research concluded that only 673 people were killed and that foreigners such as George Kerr incited the incident.

President Ma Ying-jeou praised Hwang's research recently. Weichen's most recent post on this topic points out just how twisted Ma Ying-jeou's understanding of 228 must be if he thinks Hwang's research is definitive.