By June Tsai
On the weekend of Aug. 18 and 19, Cheng Hung-yi, the host of a political talk show, introduced a book that would attract widespread public attention. The program was broadcast by Sanlih E-Television, which is widely viewed as a pro-localization network. The book that is attracting so much press coverage is the Chinese-language version of "Formosa Betrayed," written by George Kerr.
Within one month of the book's publication, six printings had been made of the Chinese version, with 2,000 to 3,000 copies in each printing, according to Lim Bun-kim, director of Avanguard Publishing House. The copies sold exceeded the number of all the books it had sold over the past 15 years, Lim said Oct. 2. The Chinese version of "Formosa Betrayed" hit local bookshelves as early as 1991, and 1,000 to 2,000 copies were sold each year afterward, he noted. Avanguard Publishing is known to local readers as an authoritative source for publications on Taiwanese literature and nonfiction books about Taiwan.
Most people that flocked to his shop for this book were over the age of 50, Goo Seng-sam, founder of Taiouan Shop in Taipei, said Oct. 1. Many purchased it for their own reading, but also bought five, 10 or 20 copies to give out to people they knew, he added. "Taiouan" means Taiwan in Holo Taiwanese, and as the name indicates, the shop sells all kinds of products related to Taiwan, such as books, maps, CDs and aboriginal handicrafts.
Kerr's work is regarded as one of the most influential books on Formosa--a name generally used in his time--during its transition from Japanese colonial rule to the Kuomintang administration.
Having served before 1940 as an English teacher in Taipei, Kerr came to Taiwan again after World War II as an American Foreign Service staff officer. He was vice consul in Taipei when he witnessed the KMT's takeover of the island and the resulting aftermath, according to data provided by the Taipei-based 228 Peace Memorial Museum.
The most notorious event during this period was the February 28 Incident in 1947. Chiang Kai-shek appointed Chen Yi to be the governor of Taiwan and handle the takeover. Corruption and mismanagement led to a popular uprising, which was forcibly put down by the military. Kerr wrote reports that were sent to the U.S. embassy in Nanjing, China, and then to Washington, D.C.
The reports contained his firsthand account of the events leading up to the incident and the consequences, as well as his criticism of the Chiang administration. No longer welcomed by the Nationalist government, Kerr left the island on March 17, 1947.
The essential part of "Formosa Betrayed" lies in Kerr's reports. The book argues in favor of a self-ruled Formosa, which was "potentially too important to be treated merely as an ordinary Chinese province" by the U.S. government and whose "wealth and technological development placed it too far ahead of the mainland Chinese provinces to permit an easy return to Chinese control," as the book states.
Kerr's book failed to attract interest from publishers in his home country, but was eventually published in 1966 by Eyre & Spottiswoode Ltd., a London-based company. Taiwan's status was a dilemma for the U.S. government at the time and should have been interesting to readers, yet "Taiwan is too small a place, and topics on it did not have a market," Lim said. It was not until 1992 that the second edition was published by the California-based Taiwan Publishing Co.
The Chinese-language version fared no better. Although the translation was completed by a Taiwanese-American activist, Rong Chen, and was published in Tokyo and New York in 1974, it was banned in Taiwan under the KMT administration, according to Lim. Copies of the pages were smuggled in from abroad. By the 1980s, an abridged Chinese-language version of "Formosa Betrayed" could be found underground in Taiwan. Tens of thousands of copies of it were sold at anti-KMT political rallies, Lim recounted.
The book inspired Taiwanese students studying in the United States during the 1960s and the 1970s and spurred them to think about Taiwan's history and the identity of its people. Goo was a part of this generation.
Studying mathematics and computer science at Columbia University, Goo's eyes were opened by the abundant books, magazines and materials available in the university's Asian Library. The newspapers and magazines there offered a much different view of China, which was depicted as a land of enchanting beauty by textbooks and propaganda back home. This led him to discover the true face of Taiwan.
Seeing the free discussion about politics on the U.S. campus, the students' participation in issues concerning human rights and the atmosphere of an open society was a culture shock for Goo. It was a total contrast to the close-minded and authoritarian environment on the island, and the disparity made Goo wonder what had brought Taiwan to where it was.
"The first book on Taiwan I came across in the Asian Library was 'Formosa Betrayed,' and it touched me," Goo recalled. He said reading the book changed his life forever. He took part in street demonstrations during the 1980s after he returned home. Goo later quit his position as a research fellow at the Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan and established the Taiwan-themed shop in 1993.
At its peak, around 1,000 copies of "Formosa Betrayed" were sold within one week recently in his shop, where one could also buy the English version. Goo said the sales could represent "a desire for historical truth," as the book provided a firsthand account. Though some people of his generation heard stories about the February 28 Incident from their parents, and now everyone is free to talk about it, most could not really share what had happened, according to Goo. This book filled in the gap, a missing chapter of history for most people.
The book's zeal for detail and accuracy, its sympathy and humanitarian intent were and are appealing to Taiwanese readers, Lim noted. The book was a hit when it first appeared in 1991, four years after the lifting of martial law in Taiwan. Now sales peaked again 16 years later. Its sales are phenomenal, Lim noted, given that nowadays around 3,000 titles are published in Taiwan each month while, in contrast, 90 percent of them sold fewer than 500 copies.
Lim felt the media's promotion of the book deserved most of the credit. It is difficult, however, for this book to penetrate the group of people who opted to watch other news channels or talk-show programs for political opinions, as the news media in Taiwan are also divided along political lines.
"The average person only chooses to absorb what he wants to," Hsu Hsueh-chi, director of the Academia Sinica's Institute of Taiwan History, said Oct. 3, adding that "those who don't believe continue to do so."
Hsu noted that some Taiwanese scholars have recently condemned Kerr's book as an unexamined account with observations made by an intelligence agent rather than a diplomat or a scholar. Yet she stressed that Kerr's book offers a different perspective from that of any government authorities. "Regarding political incidents or cases, what people had been told were one-sided statements from the ruling administration," Hsu said.
As a veteran publisher who has been dedicated to publishing "opposition" books since 1982, Lim has something else to worry about. He lamented that fewer people would sit down to read. The situation worsened in recent years, "as there seems to be no need for knowledge of Taiwan's history since the Taiwanese identity is getting clearer in this country."
Lim stressed that the attainment of knowledge, especially historical knowledge, required reading, not surfing the Internet. He recalled that Cheng suggested reviving the habit of reading for knowledge on Taiwan's history through introducing classics such as "Formosa Betrayed."
Its effectiveness is yet to be seen. Yet for Goo, there are still reasons for optimism. Considering Taiwan's history is still marginalized in local educational institutions, he said that he expected parents reading this book to pass it on to their children and encourage them to challenge existing historical knowledge and what they were taught in school.
This article is published in Taiwan Journal Oct. 12, 2007
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