The Formosa Incident

On February 28, 1980, Lin Yi-hsiung waited for his trial at the Taipei Chingmei Military Detention Center. That day, Taipei police and intelligence personnel guarded the front door of his home on Xinyi Road all day, but no one entered. It was not until dusk that someone discovered: his 60-year-old mother, Lin You-a-mei, had been stabbed 13 times and lay dead in the basement. His 7-year-old twin daughters, Lin Liang-chun and Lin Ting-chun, each suffered a gunshot wound through the chest and back, dying on the spot. His 9-year-old eldest daughter, Lin Huan-chun, was shot six times; she miraculously survived with a backpack on her back. ¹

That day marked the 33rd anniversary of the February 28 Incident. The killer remains unknown to this day.

30-Second Overview: On December 10, 1979, the Formosa Magazine Society held a World Human Rights Day rally in Kaohsiung, sparking a police-civilian conflict and leading to the arrest of over 150 people. ² The 1980 public military trial was an attempt by the KMT government to crush the opposition through legal means, but the media broadcast made the democratic demands of the non-KMT figures heard across Taiwan for the first time. The young lawyers who defended the defendants—Chen Shui-bian, Hsieh Chang-ting, Su Tseng-chang, and Chang Chun-hsiung—later became President or Premier. Of the eight defendants, seven later served as Chairman or Acting Chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

A Magazine, the Precursor to a Political Party

In late 1978, a major structural hole appeared in US-Taiwan relations: the United States severed diplomatic ties with the Republic of China. Chiang Ching-kuo immediately issued an emergency decree, indefinitely postponing the scheduled supplementary election for legislative members, depriving non-KMT figures of their most important channel for political participation.

They turned to publishing magazines.

In June 1979, the Formosa Magazine Society officially launched, with Huang Hsin-chieh as publisher, Hsiao Hsin-liang as president, and Shi Ming-te as general manager. The magazine's name was taken from Li Shuang-ze's song of the same name. The 61 editorial board members gathered non-KMT figures from all over Taiwan ²—from the radical Shi Ming-te advocating for Taiwanese independence to the relatively moderate Kang Ning-hsiang, effectively forming a party without a name.

After the magazine's launch in August, sales climbed steadily, and by October, service centers had been established in 11 cities across Taiwan. ³ The authorities' nerves were stretched tight. Starting in September, people began smashing venues and causing trouble. On November 29, Huang Hsin-chieh's Taipei residence and the Kaohsiung service center were simultaneously smashed with axes, while the Pingtung service center was attacked with firearms, injuring one staff member.

The magazine society had originally planned to hold a commemorative assembly on World Human Rights Day, December 10, in Kaohsiung. Despite receiving repeated threatening phone calls demanding cancellation, they decided to proceed with the plan.

December 10, 1979: The Da Gang Pu Roundabout in Kaohsiung

Around 6 PM, the parade队伍 set off from the service center. The originally planned venue, Rotary Park, had been blocked, so the crowd moved to the large roundabout at the intersection of Zhongshan Road and Zhongzheng Road. Tens of thousands gathered.

⚠️ Controversial Viewpoint
There are different accounts of who threw the first punch that night. Official charges claimed non-KMT figures intentionally caused trouble; the non-KMT side and several eyewitnesses described that unidentified individuals wearing plain clothes and party badges infiltrated the crowd, threw eggs, and created chaos. Riot control troops gradually tightened the encirclement and deployed tear gas; after riot control vehicles entered the crowd, intense conflict between the two sides erupted. Story magazine's report recorded descriptions from multiple eyewitnesses stating that someone infiltrated and struck first. ⁴ Ultimately, about 100 police and military personnel were injured, and some non-KMT figures were also injured. ²

The conflict lasted until late at night. The next day, media coverage was overwhelmingly one-sided, labeling it a "violent incident" and "rebellion."

26 Days on the Run

Early on the morning of December 13, before dawn. A synchronized mass arrest across the island began. Non-KMT elites such as Chen Chu, Lin Yi-hsiung, Lu Hsiu-lien, and Chang Chun-hsiung were arrested in succession. Huang Hsin-chieh was arrested on the morning of the 14th after secret approval by the Legislative Yuan.

Only Shi Ming-te escaped.

He became the headline of the evening news. The government issued a warrant, and the bounty quickly increased from 500,000 to 1 million NT dollars. ⁵ His face appeared on newspapers, television, and telephone poles everywhere. Shi Ming-te relied on a network of friends to hide in various places and asked dentist Chang Wen-ying to perform plastic surgery to alter his appearance. Pastor Gao Jun-ming and Elder Lin Wen-chen of the Presbyterian Church, who assisted in hiding him, were later imprisoned for this as well.

26 days later, on January 8, 1980, Shi Ming-te was arrested in Taipei.

✦ "Three days later, on the cold winter morning of December 13, before dawn, Shi Ming-te surprisingly escaped successfully during a detention operation where special agents had tightly surrounded his home, causing the 'An Ho Plan' previously planned by the special agent agencies to come to naught." — United Daily News (2024) ⁵

The arrest operation ultimately implicated 152 to 156 people. ⁴

The Military Trial: The Defendants Said What the KMT Most Didn't Want People to Hear

In February 1980, military prosecutors indicted Shi Ming-te, Huang Hsin-chieh, Lin Yi-hsiung, Lu Hsiu-lien, Chang Chun-hsiung, Chen Chu, Yao Chia-wen, and Lin Hung-hsuan on charges under "Article 2, Paragraph 1 of the Regulations for Punishing Rebellion"—intending to subvert the government by illegal means and putting it into practice, commonly known as "Article 2 Paragraph 1," carrying the death penalty. ²

Originally, this was supposed to be a closed-door case resolved quickly. However, overseas Taiwanese launched large-scale congressional lobbying in the US, and media outlets like CNA and BBC focused on it. Even the Chinese Communist Party's US Embassy issued a statement supporting the non-KMT figures. International pressure forced the Chiang Ching-kuo government to make an unexpected decision: a public trial. ⁶

On March 18, 1980, the first courtroom of the Chingmei Detention Center held sessions for nine consecutive days. ⁷

Chen Wan-chen, who had been involved in Taiwan's democratic movement for many years, later wrote: "In those 'Formosa Great Trial' courtroom showdowns, more Taiwanese realized that the non-KMT figures were not some kind of notorious bandits, but were only striving for democracy." ⁸²

Shi Ming-te stated in court: "Taiwan should be independent, and in fact, has been independent for over thirty years; its current name is the Republic of China." He listed "party ban, press ban, martial law, and the perennial parliament" as the four major evils of Taiwan's democratization. ² These words spread across Taiwan through the media, achieving an effect the government had completely not anticipated.

On April 5, 1980, the military judgment was issued: Shi Ming-te received life imprisonment, Huang Hsin-chieh 14 years, and the other six received 12 years each. Under international pressure, Shi Ming-te's death sentence was commuted. ⁶⁷

The Lin Family Mansion Massacre: February 28, 1980

Nine days before the start of the military trial, the incident mentioned at the beginning of this article occurred in Lin Yi-hsiung's home.

The house located on Xinyi Road in Taipei was under surveillance by intelligence personnel all day before and after the incident. At the time of the incident, no one entered. ¹

This detail gives the words "unsolved to this day" an unspeakable weight.

Lin Yi-hsiung did not know his family was dead while in prison; he was only informed two days later. He could not go back to mourn at that time. His eldest daughter, Lin Huan-chun, later lived with her mother, Fang Su-min, in the US. The Lin Family Mansion Massacre became the deepest imprint on Lin Yi-hsiung's political life and remains one of the heaviest unresolved cases in Taiwan's Transitional Justice process. ¹

📝 Curator's Note
Why the Lin Family Mansion Massacre occurred on February 28 remains a mystery. Some believe it was a deliberate choice of date, others think it was a coincidence. During Taiwan's White Terror period, how many things happened "coincidentally"? The answer has never been found in court verdicts.

A Defense Bench That Produced a President and Three Premiers

When 15 defense lawyers took on the Formosa Great Trial case in 1980, they were essentially betting their political lives. In that era, defending a "rebel" was itself a declaration of political stance. ²

They were: Chen Shui-bian, Hsieh Chang-ting, Su Tseng-chang, Chang Chun-hsiung, Chiang Peng-chien, Yu Ching, Chang Cheng-hsiung, Kuo Chi-jen, Cheng Sheng-chu, and others.

These people later:

1. 1986/9/28 — The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was founded; Chiang Peng-chien was elected as the first party chairman.
2. 1990/5/20 — Lee Teng-hui granted amnesty to Formosa political prisoners.
3. 2000/3/18 — Chen Shui-bian was elected President of the Republic of China, the first non-KMT president.
4. 2000–2008 — Chang Chun-hsiung, Hsieh Chang-ting, and Su Tseng-chang served as Premier in succession.
5. 2019–2023 — Su Tseng-chang served as Premier again during President Tsai Ing-wen's term.

Chen Shui-bian took on the defense of Huang Hsin-chieh. The person he defended later became the third chairman of the DPP.

At the same time, of the eight defendants, all seven except Lin Hung-hsuan served as Chairman or Acting Chairman of the DPP after their release. Lu Hsiu-lien later served two terms as Vice President, Chen Chu served as Mayor of Kaohsiung for 12 years before becoming President of the Control Yuan, and Yao Chia-wen served as President of the Examination Yuan. ⁹

Academician Wu Nai-te of the Academia Sinica analyzed: "In the years following the 'Formosa Incident,' the KMT's authoritarian regime was at its most fragile. Leaving the UN and establishing diplomatic relations with the US deprived the KMT's authoritarian system of legitimacy; since recovering the mainland was impossible, according to the Constitution and its Three Principles of the People, the parliament must be fully re-elected, and martial law must be lifted." (Quote from BBC Chinese, 2019) ⁹

📝 Curator's Note
Taiwan's Democratic Transition has a peculiar path: the one who finally pushed for the lifting of martial law was Chiang Ching-kuo himself, rather than street pressure forcing him to fall. The Formosa Incident initiated a contradictory process—it imprisoned almost all non-KMT elites, yet simultaneously brought Taiwanese people into public discussion for the first time about "I want to vote, I want to publish newspapers freely, I want real elections."

Ripples of Democratization: Echoes of the 1980s

After the Formosa Incident, the families of the convicts and defense lawyers filled the political vacuum left by the imprisonment of political figures by "running for office." In the 1981 county and city mayor elections, Fang Su-min (Lin Yi-hsiung's wife), Hsu Jung-shu (Chang Chun-hsiung's wife), Chen Shui-bian, and others ran for office as family members or lawyers, stirring up even greater opposition energy. ⁸

This path ultimately led to:

• September 28, 1986: The Democratic Progressive Party announced its establishment at the Taipei Grand Hotel in Taipei while martial law was still in effect.
• July 1987: Taiwan lifted martial law that had lasted for 38 years.
• 1988: The press ban was lifted; Lee Teng-hui succeeded as President.
• 1990: Formosa political prisoners were granted amnesty.
• 1996: The first direct presidential election.

The incident's influence also extended to the cultural sphere. An excerpt from The Reporter points out that many writers in the cultural circle turned to local concerns and human rights literature after the Formosa Incident, becoming an important driving force for the local literature movement in the 1980s. ¹⁰

Shi Ming-te's Later Years: The Other Side of a Hero

Shi Ming-te served 10 years in prison for the Formosa Incident, spending the most important years of his life in jail. After his release, he became the DPP chairman and was called "Taiwan's Mandela" by many. ¹¹

Then, in 2006, he did something that caused almost all his former comrades to turn against him.

Believing that then-President Chen Shui-bian was involved in corruption, he mobilized one million people to donate 100 NT dollars each, launching the "Million People Anti-Corruption Anti-Chen Movement," bringing the Red Shirts to sit in silence on Ketagalan Boulevard for several consecutive months. He broke with Chen Shui-bian and almost drew a clear line with the entire DPP.

⚠️ Controversial Viewpoint
Shi Ming-te's supporters believe his stance throughout his life was consistent—fighting dictators, regardless of the color of clothes they wear. Critics argue that his anti-Chen actions objectively assisted the KMT's return to power, betraying the ideals they shared in prison. BBC Chinese recorded words he wrote in 2019: "Forty years have passed. Today's KMT members are not the oppressors of the past; hostility remains. Today's DPP members are rarely the fighters of the past; hatred still burns." ⁹ Shi Ming-te passed away on January 15, 2024, at the age of 83. ⁹¹¹

In the many stories of Taiwan politics, Shi Ming-te's life trajectory is somewhat rare—he is not a symbol; he is a living contradiction.

Formosa Station: A Place Name Walked Through by 18,000 People Daily

The Kaohsiung MRT Orange Line intersection station, built on the site of the former Da Gang Pu Roundabout, is named "Formosa Station." The station's dome features a "Dome of Light" depicted in stained glass, with a diameter of about 30 meters and an area of about 660 square meters, making it one of the most representative public artworks of the Kaohsiung MRT. ¹²

About 18,000 passengers walk under that dome every day, most just transferring lines. ¹²

Students in the Sunflower Student Movement who occupied the Legislative Yuan in 2014 cited "the right of the people to resist injustice." That lineage traces back to the night of December 10, 1979, when a group of people at the large roundabout said "lift martial law, lift the party ban," only to receive tear gas and over ten years of imprisonment.

The killer in the 1980 Lin Family Mansion Massacre was never found.

📝 Curator's Note
The most difficult part of Taiwan's transitional justice is not pursuing those who "did what," but reconstructing the scene of "why no one said anything." Who ignited the conflict in the Formosa Incident? Who is the killer in the Lin Family Mansion Massacre? The answers to these questions may never be found in court, but they remain inescapable topics for how a society honestly faces its past.

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