Final Project Research Questions

The 228 Peace Memorial Park is dedicated to the thousands of protestors who were killed in government crackdowns on rioters beginning on February 28th, 1947.  For a long time this topic was illegal to discuss in Taiwan, with disobeyers arrested and jailed, but it was recently, and completely unexpectedly, made discussable by the Taiwanese government.  The main questions I want to answer with this project are:

1.  What government was in power during the 228 Incident, and what tension led to it?

2.  Why was the topic recently un-tabooed?

3.  What does the architecture and design of the memorial park and statue represent?

I believe that all of these questions are intriguing, as well as relevant to an in-depth study of the park.  In learning about the park, the first question seeks to uncover the details of the original event.  The second question relates to the park's relevance to today, since the recent buzz about legalizing the discussion of the incident is certainly important.  And the third question applies to the unique layout of the park relative to the others in Taipei, and the commemorative statues in the middle of the park.