Tossed by the Waves of Politics: Chen Cheng-po’s Legacy During the Japanese

• In Event: Periphery as Center: Art and Identity of Taiwan under Japan

Abstract

As Frantz Fanon wrote, “Decolonization never takes place unnoticed, for it
influences individuals and modifies them fundamentally.” The process of decolonization
may also include rewriting and modifying the accounts of individuals and periods in
order to institute specific perspectives. This phenomenon is illustrated during and after
Japan’s occupation of Taiwan (1895-1945). Contemporary publications reveal a
concerted effort first by the Japanese colonial government and later by the Kuomintang
(KMT) to shape public perception of colonial governance in the colonization and the
subsequent decolonization of the island. This paper investigates these broad
“modifications” of opinions of the Japanese colonial period as observed by tracing the
shifting viewpoints expressed about the Taiwanese painter, Chen Cheng-po (1895-1947).
During the occupation, Chen was celebrated as an example of colonial success and
received a coveted teaching position in Shanghai. Following the end of the Japanese
occupation and the arrival of the KMT in Taiwan, he was killed by the incoming
government as part of the massacre known as the 228 Incident. His name was
subsequently erased from the public sphere. As laws changed and discussion of the 228
period began, Chen’s violent death was used to portray him as a martyr. However, these
posthumous efforts to revive his legacy discounted his artistic merit and marginalized his
contributions to the artistic world in modern China and Taiwan. This paper seeks to
address the misconceptions caused by these “modifications” and fill in gaps left due to
the telling and retelling of many versions of the same history.

Author

• Christina Mathison, Ohio State University