Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civilian functions by a government, especially in response to a temporary emergency such as invasion or major disaster, or in an occupied territory.
In 1948, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was poised to lose the Chinese Civil War. In order to prepare the people to fight against Mao’s Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Chiang Kai-Shek, leader of the KMT, imposed martial law to the Republic of China (ROC).
Following World War II, the island of Taiwan came back to China’s control given the impending withdrawal of Japanese forces and colonial government. Martial law was declared in 1949 despite the democracy promised in the Constitution of the Republic of China. After the Nationalist-led Republic of China government lost control of the mainland to the Communist Party of China and retreated to Taiwan in 1949, the perceived need to suppress Communist activities in Taiwan was utilized as a rationale for not lifting martial law until thirty-eight years later in 1987.
The term “White Terror” in its broadest meaning refers to the entire period from 1947 to 1987. Around 140,000 Taiwanese were imprisoned during this period, of whom from about 3,000 to 4,000 were executed for their real or perceived opposition to the Kuomintang (KMT, Chinese Nationalist Party) government led by Chiang Kai-shek.
The KMT mostly imprisoned Taiwan’s intellectual and social elite out of fear that they might resist KMT rule or sympathize with communism.
During this period of martial law, there were no political parties, no human rights, and no free speech. Civilians were tried in military court, people’s thinking and reading were controlled, and no freedom of expression. The secret police, known as the Taiwan Garrison Command, arrested anyone critical of the government and were blacklisted.
Time Traveled is available as e-book or paperback! Buy it either at Amazon or at most major retailers.
Krista Marson 