Breathing Exercise helped me to sit during the 2-28-Rally in Taipei

On the 62th anniversary of the 2-28-incidence of Taiwan, the Taiwanese Professor Association 台教会 staged a 1000-people sit-in demonstration-and-ceremony at the Freedom Square 自由廣埸 in front of the Taiwanese Democratic Freedom Memorial Hall 台湾民主紀念館. These 1000-people fit into a word pattern, "勿忘 228" (Literally translates as Do not forget 2-28.) (See the attached photo). I sat on the slot, #506 with a red Taiwanese straw-hat 斗笠. I sat there for 2 hours--so were the other 999 persons on the square.

It was not easy for anyone to sit there for two hours. (If you don't believe me, try it yourself at home.) Fortunately, the organizers had thought about that problem and had this problem solved by hiring one meditation teacher to teach us how to breath and how to focus so that we can endure the body pain.

Amazingly, I almost did it. I sat there for 1 and 1/2 hour then changed the sitting posture to a kneeling posture for the rest of the time. So, did with most of the other 999 people on the square.

What had motivated us to stage such a rally? There are several reasons: First, the justice for the 2-28 killing and massacring had not been done. The war criminals of this killing such as Chiang Kai-Sheik 蔣介石, Peng Mun-Chi 彭孟剘 are still worshiped like heroes under Ma's administration. Ma even schedules to change the name of Taiwan Democratic Freedom Memorial Hall into Chiang Kai-Sheik Memorial Hall 中正紀念堂. What's an insult to the family members of the 2-28 victims. Second, Taiwan is under the threat of being annexed by China. With the current Ma's pro-China policy, the threat is very REAL. We all feel that if one day Taiwan is annexed by China, there will be incidences more severe than the 2-28 incidence happened 62 years ago.

If you love Taiwan, don't feel the same way?

She gave me joy--but, I cannot remember her name

The Wu-Feng Presbyterian Church 霧峯長老教会 is asking me to give a Faith Witness. I am planning to give several stories instead. If my congregation members believe those are good witness, then they are. Otherwise, they will be just part of my stories.

The first story I want to share is about a girl, my childhood friend. She had given me joy. But, I cannot remember her name. I will call her Miss Wu.

She and I grew up together in the same neighborhood of Chang-Hua, the most impoverished neighborhood of the city. The neighborhood did not have sewer systems; nor garbage pick-up. No asphalt road, only the dirt roads. There were 30-40 families clustering together; ignored, neglected or forgotten by the rest of the Chang-Hua city. Every family was struggling from one meal to the next meal. Yes, I had experienced those hard days in my early childhood life. So did she.

Summer days were hot and long. Because none of the family could afford the electric fans, we usually left our door open to catch some breeze. Once the doors were open, we all knew each other very well; especially our religion. In the folk religion, each family would put ancestors and other gods' images on the altar in the first room of the house. For a very long time, Miss. Wu's family was just like any other families, they also had ancestor and Buddha's images.

Then one day, those images and the altar were all gone from Miss Wu's family. Ms. Wu's family became a Christian family. That did not catch much of my attention until I noticed that she was helping her parent distributing flour, bread and butter to our neighborhood. What's a God-sent gift to all of us in the neighborhood for the bread and butter. They are the calories everybody needed. Apparently, her church had worked with American churches to distribute food reliefs to the needed Taiwanese families. That was the first experience we had with the charity and generosity of American churches and American people. Everyone in the neighborhood was deeply appreciated. During that time, she had also asked me to help her and her parent. I did , and I was very happy to do that. From time to time, she also invited me to attend children sessions of her church service. I did; I was specially motivated because the minister of the church would give us beautiful cards to keep if we could recite bible phrases in the sessions. I have gotten many cards and I had kept those cards for a long time. Those are the joyful times I had with my childhood.

Then suddenly there was an epidemic swept through Taiwan like a hurricane. It was the Diphtheria 白帿 epidemic which stroke very hard on the children under 15 years old especially in the neighborhood that had no money to afford the basic medical care. Schools and churches were closed for a while and I did not see her since then.

One night, I had seen a group of people gathering together at her house singing hymes. Other than that, I did not notice anything unusual.

The epidemic was over after three-week school and church recess. After that epidemic, she was not seen in the school; nor in the church. She was gone. The Diphtheria has taken her life away. That happened approximately 50 years ago.

She had given me joy in my childhood; but I cannot remember her name. I will call her, Miss Wu.

Three bowls of squid-rice soups魷魚粥--A story to commemorate the 2-28 incidence of Taiwan

The following story was told by Lee Ron-Chung (李榮昌) and was published in the Taiwan Church News 台湾教会公報, vol 2973 , entitled 'commemorating 62 anniversary of 2-28 incidence in Taiwan'. Lee Ron-Chung is 77 years old today. At the day of the 2-28 incidence, he was only 15 years old. He witnessed the day when his dad Lee Zuei-Han (李瑞漢), his uncle Lee Zuei-Fon (李瑞峰), and his dad's friends Lin Lien-Chung (林連宗) were taken away by the soldiers and never returned.

Lee Zuei-Han (李瑞漢), (a Taiwanese lawyer who graduated from Japan Central University日本中央大学 during Japanese occupation of Taiwan) was the chair of Taipei Lawyer Association 台北律師公会 . Lin Lien-Zon(林連宗) was a Taiwanese representative in the constitution reform committee. Lin Lien-Zon (林連宗) was also a classmate of Lee Zuei-Han (李瑞漢) in Japan Central University. Lee Zuei-Fon(李瑞峰) was a younger brother of Lee Zuei-Han(李瑞漢); he was also a lawyer. All three of them were Taiwanese intellectual elites at the time because in those days, not many Taiwanese went to universities, let alone becoming lawyers. The 2-28 incidence happened 63 years ago. In that incidence, thousands of Taiwanese were brutally killed or massacred under the order of Chiang Kai-Sheik representing Chinese colonialism and oppression in Taiwan.

Here is Lee's story:

In the afternoon of March 10, 1947 my uncle and my dad's friend, Mr. Lin were at my house. Mr. Lin lived in Taichung. The government imposed a curfew on March 10; Lin was not able to go home from Taipei. He stayed at my place; dad and Lin were very good friends when they were classmates back in Japan before the end of World-War II. The day before Lin was my house, my neighbor gave us some squid 魷魚; it was a precious treat at the time of material scarcity. My mom cooked squid-rice soup for the guest and for my uncle. My dad was just in a wonderful time having conversation with Lin and his brother when suddenly the wife of our village chief 隣長 took one officer together with four other plain-cloth 'investigators" to our house. After identifying names and persons together with the help of the wife of the village chief 隣長, the officer spoke to my dad, uncle and Lin.

"Our superior, Chen Yi 陳儀 (then the Commander of KMT in Taiwan), would like to speak all three of you" said the officer in Mandarin.

My dad, my uncle, and Mr. Lin were then taken away with the officer's military jeep. They even did not finish their squid-rice soup.

They never returned.

On March 12, there was a list of so-called "criminals" from the authority; there were also words from the authority saying that these "criminals" have to be properly punished (that meant execution in KMT language); my dad, my uncle, and Mr Lin were in the list. After that my mom was trying to identify any body she could find on the street (There were many bodies on the street at the time.) but could not find any of them.

Year-after-year, there was no news, no body, and no closure; only the grief.

How did my mom cope with that kind of stress? She taught us to have a faith in God, to always remember our dad. Every year on the anniversary of dad's being taken away, she cooks squid-rice soups for us, read Bible Psalm #23 詩篇卄三章 symbolizing the return of my dad.

My mom passed away on January 7, 2008. She did not see my dad since March 10, 1947.

A Belgium-native catholic priest has a nickname of Tu-Ti-Kon ( 土地公)or earth god) at Yun-Lin County雲林縣

On February 3, I had written a story about Tu-Ti-Kon 土地公, or the earth god which is the most favored god in Taiwan even he ranked the lowest among all gods. A person can even have a nickname of Tu-Ti-Kon 土地公 if he is well-respected and well-loved by the citizens or fellow friends. At Yun-Lin County, 雲林縣, Rev. Georges Massin 松喬神父 was called Tu-Ti-Kon 土地公 of the Yun-Lin County, 雲林縣; and the hospital he led, Joselph Hospital, 若瑟医院, has the nickname of Tu-Ti-Kon-Temple 土地公廟. Please note, Rev Georges Massin is not a Taiwanese; the hospital is a Catholic-sponsored hospital. However, it doesn't matter because Taiwanese thanks Rev Massin from their hearts due to extensive devotion of Rev. Massin to the health care of the citizens at Yun-Lin-County 雲林縣.

Joselph hospital was set up in 1955 and was led by a Belgium catholics, Rev. Georges Massin. Rev. Massin came to Taiwan, December 3, 1955. He passed away and died in Taiwan, October 2, 2007. Like Dr. MacKay, he is loved and remembered by all Taiwanese.

Dr. Chen is hand-striking mosquitos (打蚁子) these days

Hello readers:

You may be wondering what else Dr. Chen is doing these days besides doing a high-level scholarly research in Taiwan? To be honest, I spent some time hand-striking mosquito 打蚁子 in my residence these days.

This is only late February and the temperatures in Taiwan are in the 80' and 90's. That is fine except the mosquito also find this temperature comfotable and find my kitchen and bathroom good places to sing and dance. They are small little black mosquito; if they don't bother me, they are kind of cute.

Do you suggest anything that I can do so that my kitchen and bathroom becomes less welcome to those mosquito?

Peggy announced an "Event Service Company" in New York City

You may be puzzled by the title of this post. Who is Peggy anyway?

Well, personally, she is my daughter-in-law. Professionally, she is one of the best organizers I have ever seen; at least, she is better than I. I consider myself a very organize person. If you suddenly drop-by my residence at Taichung, you will find everything from cooking to laundry IS ORGANIZED.

Peggy is married to Leo, my son who is a very good artist. When Leo was a young boy, I often complained about him watching too much DVD. Well, he graduated as a film major from New York University. He is now a free-lance film maker at New York city. I did watch several of his work. I can only say that they are very good. The couple will do a very good job if you have friends planning a wedding.

Peggy sent an e-mail to Meeilei who is my wife. Meeilei forwarded to me. I took the liberty to post here. If you have any friends planning to get married, do not forget to check the following note out.

Here is from Peggy:

Greetings! We hope you and your loved ones are doing well in this new year. We would like to enlist your help in spreading the word of our recent venture, CKY Occasions (https://webmailb.uwgb.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=0b1db0df1a4b4ca686bd3d1c61783dc7&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.ckyoccasions.com%2f). CKY Occasions is a full service event planning company that specializes in unique weddings, elegant events and corporate functions.
CKY Occasions is based in NYC and the team has, collectively, experience in planning over 100 weddings and events. With backgrounds in event planning, management, hospitality, finance and the arts, every aspect will be taken care of with precise detail and care.
If you have any friends that are recently engaged or planning a wedding, please forward our information along. If your company is interested in throwing a corporate event, please do not hesitate to contact any one of us at our emails below.
To find out more about us, please visit https://webmailb.uwgb.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=0b1db0df1a4b4ca686bd3d1c61783dc7&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.ckyoccasions.com%2f.
We hope this email finds you well, and we thank you in advance for your support.

Foot and mouth epidemic outbreaks in Taiwan

Taiwanese was alerted and panic with the news about the outbreak of the mouth-and-foot disease epidemic 口啼疫 in the hog farms of Chang-Hua 彰化 and Yun-Lin 雲林 counties on February 18. In 1997 when the epidemic ran rampant in Taiwan, Taiwanese had slaughtered approximately 3.8 million hogs and literally shut down a profitable hog-meat export business. This time, the authority said that they had slaughtered 677 hogs and had "contained" the disease.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) or hoof-and-mouth disease (Aphtae epizooticae) is a highly contagious and sometimes fatal viral disease for animals like hogs, cattle, water buffalo, sheep and goats.. It is caused by virus. On rare but definite conditions, the virus can transmit to human through contacts. It has been recorded that the disease had killed two children in England in 1884.

Shall Taiwanese relax because the authority had claimed the situation is "under-control"? We just have wait and see. Both mouth-and-foot disease and bird flue virus disease are originated from China. Taiwanese has many good reasons to be alerted because of increased contacts between Taiwanese and Chinese under the new administration policy.