Formosa Betrayed is a detailed, impassioned account of Chinese Nationalist (KMT) misrule that remains the most important English-language book ever written about Taiwan.
Author George H. Kerr lived in Taiwan in the late 1930s, when the island was a colony of Japan. During the war, he worked for the U.S. Navy as a Taiwan expert. From 1945 to 1947, Kerr served as vice consul of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Taipei, where he was an eyewitness to the February 28 Massacre and the subsequent mass arrests and executions.
As well as chronicling KMT repression during the early years of the White Terror, Kerr documents widespread corruption, showing how the island was systematically looted. The “betrayed” in the title refers not only to the crushing disappointment Taiwanese felt when they realized KMT rule was worse than that of the Japanese but also to the culpability of the American government. The United States was in large part responsible for handing Taiwan over to the Nationalists and helping them maintain their grip on power.
Formosa Betrayed has served as a foundational text for generations of Taiwanese democracy and independence activists. It had an explosive effect among overseas Taiwanese students; for many, the book was their first encounter in print with their country's dark, forbidden history. A 1974 Chinese-language translation increased its impact still more. It is a powerful classic that has withstood the test of time, a must-read book that will change the way you look at Taiwan.
In this definitive edition Kerr scholar Jonathan Benda has added a detailed, thoroughly-researched introduction as well as a biographical sketch of the author. **
Review
"Mr. Kerr's book deserves wide attention not only because of the authority which thirty years of involvement with his subject confers, but also because it is the only book to expose the whole truth of a critical problem."
-- Kirkus Reviews
Author(s): George H. Kerr
Edition: First
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Year: 1965
Language: English
Commentary: Bookmarked, OCR (Clearscan)
Pages: 552
City: Boston
Tags: History, Formosa, Taiwan, Republic of China, ROC
Front Cover
Half Title Page
Full Title Page
Copyright
The Heart of the Matter
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Contents
Formosa: Frontier Island (Map)
Introduction: A Frontier Tradition
PART ONE THE VIEW FROM WASHINGTON 1941-1945
I The Cairo Declaration
Filling the Empty Files at Washington, 1942
Intelligence Reports - Chinese Style
Bombing Objective Folders and Propaganda
Formosa's Future: The Battle of the Memoranda
"China Firsters"
The Fateful Cairo Declaration
II "Island X''
Operation Causeway: The Nimitz Plan to Seize Formosa
Bombs Away!
WJw Will Get the Prize?
The Washington View in 1944 and 1945
A Struggle for Place in the New Island Government
The Chen Yi Appointment: Chiang Shows his True Colors
PART TWO THE CHINESE TAKE OVER
III The Surrender on Formosa, 1945
Formosa in Limbo
September Liberators
The Chinese Take Over - with Some Help
A Matter of "Face" at Taipei
The Formal Surrender, October 25, 1945
IV Americans in Uniform
The American Image: the "God-Country"
All Eyes on the Americans in Uniform
What Returning Formosan Labor-Conscripts Had to Say
Wanted: Permanent Consular Representation at Taipei
V A Government of Merchants
The KMT Military Scavengers
Formosan Reaction to the Nationalist Armed Forces
The Stockpile Bonanza: Something for the Men at the Top
The Chinese Commissioners Prepare to Build a New Formosa
Nationalist Party Men as "Tutors" in Formosa
The Confiscated Japanese Property Deal
VI Chen Yi's "Necessary State Socialism''
The Monopoly Mechanism
"lf You Can't Sell the Product, Sell the Plant!"
Ships and Rails: Communications in an Island World
Crisis Behind the Scenes?
Cutting the Formosan Pie Another Way
VII Unwelcome Witnesses
The Formosa Problem That Would Not Go Away
Institutional Schizophrenia: The Amierican Consular Establishment
Okinawans and Other Troublesome People
Chinese Reaction to Foreign Critics: "Getting the Facts Straight"
VIII The UNRRA-CNRRA Story
The Peculiar UNRRA Program for China
The Fraudulent CNRRA Program
UNRRA's Battle of the Pescadores
The Communications Stranglehold
The Break-up of Public Health and Welfare Services
Plague and Cholera Return: "This is China Now"
PART THREE CRISIS AND AFTERMATH
FORMOSA (TAIWAN) (MAP)
IX The Formosans' Story: A Year of Disenchantment
Law and Order Under the New Regime
Representative Government and the Kuomintang
The First Peoples' Political Council Assembly versus Chen Yi
The Development of Opposition Leadership
X The Search for Recognition
Intervention: Nanking, Tokyo, Washington, or the UN?
The Formosan Press Fonnulates the Issues
Is the U.S.A. Responsible?
The Chiangs Visit Taipei
American Propaganda Feeds the Fires of Discontent
The Second PPC Assembly Brings the Crisis Near
The Government's "Hate Foreigners" Campaign
XI On the Eve of Disaster
How the Match Was Laid
Are Form.osans Brothers, Cousins, or Enemy Aliens?
No Constitution in 1947?
Fornwsa and the Crisis at Shanghai
The February Monopolies
A Formosan Appeal to General Marshall, Secretary of State
XII The February Incident, 1947
Murder in the Park and Mobs in the Street
How to Settle the Incident?
"Formosans Attack the American Consulate!"
March 2: Chen Yi Concedes a Need for Change
March 3: An Appeal for American Understanding
XIII Town Meetings, American Style
Island-wide Mobilization of Public Opinion
The "Star-Spangled Banner" and All That
Miss Snow Red and the Communists
The Youth League and Local Political Expression
The "Thirty-two Demands" - What the Formosans Wanted
Reform - Not Rebellion
XIV The March Massacre
The Betrayal
General Chen's Monday Morning View of the Situation
What the Unwelcome Foreigners Saw
The Generalissimo's View of the Affair on Formosa
XV The Aftermath
The American Position at Taipei
Settling the Incident, Nationalist Party Style
Chinese Press Notices and Propaganda in the United States
The Situation in the American Embassy, Nanking
Diplomatic Paralysis Sets In
XVI The "Reform Administration''
General Chen Yi Rewarded
Dr. and Mrs. Wei's Reform Administration
The Terror Continued
General Wedenieyer's Visit
Sun Fo: "Communist Agents in the American Consulate?"
American Bases for Formosa?
XVII The Retreat to Formosa
How to Regain American Support?
Chiang's Search for Assurance
A Million Dollars for the Missionaries
General Chen Cheng Prepares the Island Refuge
Chinese Theatre: The Generalissimo ''Retires"
PART FOUR FORMOSA BECOMES "FREE CHINA''
XVIII Turning Point
Saving Chiang in Washington
Taipei, "Temporary Capital of China"
Reform! Reform!
Chiang Returns to the Presidency
Chiang Saved - But Leashed
XIX Formosa's "Republican Decade"
Problems of Representation - and Misrepresentation
MacArthur on Formosa
The American Embassy's View of Formosa
The Attack on the American Embassy in May, 1957
The Missionary Picture
XX Behind the Reform Facade
Cooperation's Price Tag
Dumping the Liberals
A Case for Mr. Dulles
Getting at the Facts: The Conlon Report
XXI Two Chinas?
Red China's Formosa
Peking Prepares to Liberate Formosa
"Little China" - the Chinese Liberals, Program
XXII Free Formosa
The Search for Independence
Emerging Independence Leadership
Japan as a Refuge from Both Chiang and Mao
The "Provisional Government" at Tokyo
New Voices Overseas
An "Appeal for Justice"
APPENDICES
Appendix I The Thirty-two Demands Presented by the Settlement Committee to Governor-General Chen Yi at Taipei, March 7, 1947
Appendix II Dr. K. C. Wu's Views on the Police State and General Chiang Ching-kuo
NOTES
Introduction
I. The Cairo Declaration
II. "Island X"
III. The Surrender on Formosa, 1945
IV. Americans in Uniform
Chapters V and VI
VII. Unwelcome Witnesses
VIII. The UNRRA-CNRRA Story
IX. The Formosans' Story: A Year of Disenchantment
X. The Search for Recognition
XI. On the Eve of Disaster
XII. The February Incident, 1947
XIII. Town Meetings, American Style
XIV. The March Massacre
XV. The Aftermath
XVI. The ''Reform Administration''
XVII. The Retreat to Fonnosa
XVIII. Turning Point
XIX. Formosa's ''Republican Decade"
XX. Behind the Reform Fa9ade
XXI. Two Chinas?
XXII. Free Formosa
INDEX
