An old soldier never die,..

"Old soldiers never die, they just fade away"... This is a famous quotation from the fareware speech of General Douglas MacArthur in 1951 after 52 years of military service in the United States.

In U.S. General MacArthur qualified to be "an old soldier". In Taiwan, the person who qualifies to be "an old soldier" is Teacher Su-Ming, 史明. I was so honored to have the photo taken with him on May 7, 2009 at 2-28 park of the Taichung City.

Who is Teacher Su-Ming 史明? and how did I get the opportunity to have a photo with him?

The original name of Teacher Su-Ming 史明 (1918-) is Shu Chau-Huei 施朝暉. He was born and raised in Taipei. In 1937, Su-Ming 史明 went to Waseda University 早稲田大學 of Japan to study political economics. That was very rare at the time. During the Japanese colonialism, most Taiwanese studied to either becoming a medical doctor or becoming a school teacher. At Waseda University, he was fascinated with Karl Marx's ideology of communism that he went to China(1942) to fight side-by-side with Chinese Communist against the Japanese aggression in China. However, he was very disappointed and disenchanted with Chinese Communist that he eventually escaped to Taiwan in 1949. In 1952, he had organized a "revolutionary army" near Taipei and had attempted to assassinate Chiang Kai-Sheik but was not successful. He fled to Japan and continued his work for Taiwan independence in Japan until 1993 when he returned home in Taiwan. From 1952 to 1993, Su-Ming has published many books. One of them is "Taiwanese 400-year history." I have a copy of the book in my book shelf.

The period of 1942-1949 was an important turning point for Su-Ming 史明. Such a period of working with communist Chinese side-by-side made him aware of his Taiwanese identity. Su-Ming 史明 has transformed himself from a naive Chinese communist follower to a firm and resolute Taiwanese nationalist. This transformation can be a good lesson for many Taiwanese to naively believe that life under PRC would be better.

Teacher 史明 is 92 years old. He participates in walk for Taiwan independence this year from Heng-Chung of Ping-Tong County to Taipei. The group had walked since April 22, 2009. On the 16th day of their walk (May 7), the group was in Taichung City. I came to support in solidarity and got the honor to have the picture taken with the Taiwanese 'old soldier', Teacher Su-Ming 史明.

Teacher Su-Ming 史明 is in the middle of the photo while I am wearing a black Tee-shirt saying that Taiwanese worship Taiwanese spirit. The person on the left of Teacher Su-Ming is Professor Liaw of National Chung-Hsing University.