The invented myth behind the Taiwanese ‘national’ holiday: The collective memory of Peace Memorial Day

Abstract

This study aims to discuss how the state of the Republic of China, which is Chinese-oriented, created the discourse of the national holiday of Peace Memorial Day to reinforce Taiwanese nationalism. Peace Memorial Day was proclaimed to commemorate the tragedy of the state’s massacre of Taiwanese locals on 28 February 1947, usually known as the ‘228 Incident’. Based on resources collected from the two officially sponsored museums, this study explored how the Republic of China government has ‘selectively’ presented the sources of the 228 Incident, reshaping the contested text as part of a mnemonic past shared by itself and society, and on which basis it has developed the cultural discourse embodying Taiwanese nationhood. The research results also suggest that the officially constructed memory underscores the core value of democratisation not only to reinforce the notion regarding the Republic of China as a ‘Taiwanese’ government, but also to mark the distinction between the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China as two ‘national’ unities.