228 Incident in Taiwan

The 228 Incident (二二八事件) was triggered on February 27, 1947, when agents of the Monopoly Bureau confronted a cigarette vendor outside Tianma Teahouse (天馬茶房) in Taipei, confiscating her wares and striking her. The ensuing protest, during which agents shot into the crowd and killed a bystander, rapidly evolved into a widespread uprising against Kuomintang (國民黨) governance. While initial protests emerged in Taipei, the unrest spread throughout the island and to the Penghu archipelago, with particularly intense activity in major urban centers such as Kaohsiung, Huwei, Chiayi, and Puli. The geographic scope of the subsequent military crackdown was equally extensive, as KMT forces systematically suppressed dissent through public executions and targeted elimination of local intellectual and social leaders across Taiwan’s cities and rural areas alike. This bled into the multi-decade White Terror that followed.