Jingmei Human Rights Memorial and Cultural Park

 

For interested participants, a guided tour will be held on the morning of July 19 (Sunday) to the Jingmei Human Rights Memorial and Cultural Park (the former Jingmei Detention Center). Jingmei Human Rights Memorial and Cultral Park is located in Xindian District of New Taipei City.

 

From 1949 to 1987, Taiwan was under martial law implemented by the Kuomintang Government following the 228 massacre in 1947. Ranked as the second longest period of matial law in the world (surpassed only by the Syrian half-century martial law from 1963 to 2011), the 38-year-long martial law era is also known as the "White Terror" period in Taiwanese history. 

 

During the "White Terror," authorities and military officials were endowed with supreme authority. Freedom of speech and public assembly were forbidden. Suspects who were considered harmful to "the common good" (mostly under the name of spying for Chinese communists) would be taken into custody or even sentenced to death, while many others were reported missing. Jingmei Human Rights Memorial and Cultural Park was previously one of the major detention centers for these political prisoners and ideological criminals.

 

After the martial law was lifted, the Jingmei Detention Center was mainly used by the Ministry of Defense and Millitary Court. In 2001, Vice President Lu Hsiu-lien (呂秀蓮), one of the former ideological criminals jailed in the Jingmei Detention Center following the Formosa Incident (1979), proposed the preservation of the park, which has since been redefined as a hitorical site and expanded to what we see today.

 

Jingmei Human Rights Memorial and Cultural Park will be part of the National Human Rights Museum (still in the planning stages). The Preparatory Office of the National Human Rights Museum was established in 2011 to supervise projects related to the research and collection of  Taiwan’s human rights documents and histories. In addition to the JHRMCP, a memorial park on Green Island is also under construction. Another important museum for Taiwan's human rights history is the National 228 Memorial Museum, which is located in front of Taipei Botanical Garden, a short walk from Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall MRT Station.

 

The Official Page of Jingmei Human Rights Memorial and Cultural Park.

The Facebook Page of Jingmei Human Rights Memorial and Cultural Park.

(Both in Mandarin)