National 228 Memorial Museum

Freedom is earned, not given. After KMT government came to Taiwan to take over the island from Japan, there has been many conflicts between the military force government and local Taiwanese. There are two many differences between customs and languages. KMT government has fought against Japan for the entire eight years and they surely felt the once Japanese island wasn’t their home. The government also extracted lots of resources from Taiwan without justice. Their claim and goal is to take China back. The 228 Event happened when a cigarette leaf vender was killed by government officials. Many people protested and were killed by the guards. It has evolved into a horrifying event with thousands of civilians died. Later on, the curfew time lasted for 38 years. Not until in 1990’s our government started the action to clarify the history. One of the action is to build the 228 Memorial Hall. This building is actually the Taipei Broadcasting Bureau previously, which was the organization KMT government used for propaganda purposes and dealing with the event at that time. This is a very important milestone for people in Taiwan to earn the freedom and democracy. The design uses similar method as it is in Jewish Museum Berlin. They post pictures of victims on the wall and use the axis of time to describe what was happened at that time, bringing you to the circumstances of the victim. There is also a tiny room built in the hall to mimic the situation that one of the people hid in a hidden space at the back of wall to escape the pursuit of soldiers. Democracy is fragile, for there are so many people who want the power, and to get on top of other people. This is something we always have to remember.