My Fulbright Year in Taiwan

I finally finished reading the book “1949” 大江大海 by Long Ying-tai 龍應台. It took me about three months to get through the whole book (about 350 pages), but it was worth the effort. The book chronicles the turmoil that took place in China and Taiwan from World War II through the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. By the end of 1949, the Nationalists had won the war against Japan, but lost the civil war against the Chinese communists. They had to flee to Taiwan, which until 1945 had been a colony of Japan, and was populated by 8 million people who for the past 50 years had been told to be Japanese, not Chinese. Two million people from China thus had to try to find a way to get along with 8 million natives. Each side was burdened with different backgrounds, and came to the stage of 1949 from very different places. The book sought to describe the history, events, and experiences that led up to 1949. Just reading the book was emotional and heart-wrenching. I can’t even imagine living through it.

In an earlier blog post, I mentioned that my father-in-law was one of the mainlanders who came over to Taiwan in 1949. We recorded a bit of his history, and he has been writing his story down. Earlier this month, he visited his old hometown in China for Tomb Sweeping Day. Stacy typed up the first part of his autobiography, and we converted the text to simplified characters so that his relatives on the mainland could read it. Apparently, when they were reading it, one of Stacy’s uncles, who lived through the events as well, became so emotional that he had to leave the room.

In the preface to the book, the author says that history records that the Nationalists lost the war, but that she doubts that any war can have a winner. A common theme throughout the book was the human misery that results from war.

I’ll have to find something lighter to read next.