Reuters reporter Ralph Jennings has a wonderful article on Su Beng, the communist who became a leading advocate of independence for Taiwan:Su, the nom-de-guerre for the man born as Shih Chao-hui, was anti-Japanese for much of his formative years, opposing Japan's colonial control of Taiwan during his time as a Waseda University student in Tokyo and later in China from 1942 to 1949.
Disheartened by what he describes as cruelty among the Communists, he returned to Taiwan shortly before the Communist victory, going back and forth between Taiwan and Japan since.
Shortly after his initial return to Taiwan, he fought Chiang Kai-shek's authoritarian rule by stockpiling old Japanese weapons, leading to charges that he was plotting to assassinate the late strongman.
He escaped the government's fury by stowing away in 1952 on a banana boat to Japan, where he persuaded authorities to let him live in exile. Su became a legend there by opening a noodle restaurant that trained revolutionaries on its fifth floor.
During his 40 years in Japan, he illegally entered Taiwan several times to try to destabilize the Nationalists and promote Taiwan independence. He returned to stay in 1993, and since then he has organized motorcades of slogan-painted taxis on weekends and started a foundation to promote his history books.
Looking forward to reading Felicia's biography of Su in a couple of years...
[Taiwan]
1 comment:
I was just going to say you need to talk to Felicia.
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