Creative gems from Spartan conditions

　　　　◆Shell Paintings
A shell-relief masterpiece using mother-of-pearl, sea urchin, and other marine life. A respite from dreary prison life, such art pieces were given to fellow prisoners or shown at the canteen. (above left by Lin Yue-sheng)(above right  by Chen Peng-yun)

　　　　◆Diving Goggles
　　　　Made of commonly available local plant life, the material was soft yet kept its shape. Each pair was uniquely shaped to conform to the shape of the diver’s face. (Produced by Ou Yang Wen, photo by Taiwan Art-in Design Company)

　　　　◆Hand-made Violin
　　　　The top and bottom panels of this violin were carved from wood salvaged from a shipwreck, while the ribs were made from a window panel of a camp structure that had been blown down in a typhoon. The neck of the violin and the bow were fabricated using a hardwood hoe handle. The fingerboard and other parts were assembled from items contributed by inmates working in the camp’s carpentry department.The E and A strings were made of wire taken from a discarded electrical cable, while the D and G strings were made of brass wire wound on a specially made jig. The bow string was fashioned of fiber made from the stem of the Dracaena angustifolia. (Provided by Chen Ming-ho)

　　　　◆ABOVE,L : Life of Jesus
　　　　When Tu Nan-shan was transferred to Green Island, he secreted away two books, a Japanese Bible, and Yanaihara Tadao’s Life of Jesus. Separated into ten parts and wrapped in oxskin paper, the Life of Jesus was hidden away in a grass hut or in the cracks of the prison’s rock walls. Using his spare time, Mr. Tu produced a translation with nine evisions. Upon release, he took his manuscript with him. The Chinese edition of Life of Jesus was published by Taiwan Gospel Publishing in 1987. (Provided by Tu Nan-shan, reproduced by Taiwan Art-in Design Company)

　　　　◆ABOVE,R :Artistic Frame
　　　　Wu Shui-teng created this piece of photo handiwork. (Provided by Wu Shui-teng reproduced by Taiwan Art-in Design Company)

　　　　◆Musical Score
　　　　Besides labor and classroom instruction, the prisoners still had free time for such activities as transcribing guitar practice books by hand.The musical staff lines were made by inking a carved potato stamp. (Provided by Wu Shui-teng)

　　　　◆Astrological chart
　　　　Painted by former National Taiwan University Hospital ophthalmologist Hu Hsin-lin during his ten-year term, now held by his son, the violinist Hu Nai-yaun. The elder Hu once jokingly told his son it would enable him to find his way home upon release. (Provided by Hu Nai-yuan, photographed by Taiwan Art-in Design Company)

Oasis Villa (1972~1987)

　　　　◆Oasis Villa(photo by Ronald Tsao)

Oasis Villa
  Popularly called “Oasis Villa” this complex went by the formal title of “Green Island Reform and Reeducation Prison.” Oasis Villa was a typical high-walled isolation facility. The main prisoner Bakua Building’s plus-shape configuration was for better centralized control, with four blocks on each of two floors, each block having 52 cells of various sizes. Most political inmates were held on the first floor, the second floor being reserved for special cases. Four exercise areas allowed outdoor relief of 20 to 30 minutes twice a day. Within the prison were also a special observation and medical room, solitary confinement cells, a kitchen, a storage room, and an off-limits room. On the east side of the administration building was visitation space. Oasis Villa held prisoners of all ages, and it was there that prisoners held at Green Island for as long as 34 years finished their sentences. Thanks to the changed external environment of the times, Oasis Villa enjoyed relatively better communication with the outside. Collective hunger strikes were launched in response to outside actions calling for democracy and human rights.

　　　　◆Prison Layout(provided by Taiwan Art-in Design Company)


　　　　◆Oasis Villa Rock

　　　　The rock reading “Oasis Villa” at the prison entrance was placed there in the 1970s. (photo by Ronald Tsao)

　　　　◆Visitation Area

　　　　The prison main gate and the bridge leading into the visiting area.(photo by Ronald Tsao)

　　　　◆Chushan Bridge 

　　　　Families crossed this bridge to meet loved ones.(photo by Ronald Tsao)

　　　　◆Exercise Area

　　　　Oasis Villa’s northern exercise yard.(photo by Ronald Tsao)

　　　　◆Slogan

　　　　A mottled slogan on prison wall interior surface shows political propaganda of the time:“Be firm against communism and ready to win.”(photo by Ronald Tsao)

　　　　◆Solitary

　　　　Dubbed the “prison within the prison” by the prisoners, the solitary confinement area was isolated in the western part of the Oasis Villa.(photo by Ronald Tsao)

　　　　◆Solitary(photo by Ronald Tsao)

　　　　◆Detention Cells
　　　　Ministry of Justice had rebuilt parts of the doors and floors of the detention cells and the tiles of the washing area before 2002. Oasis Villa was restored completely in 2002, but the rebuilt parts by Ministry of Justice are kept.(photo by Ronald Tsao)

Rescue

  Political prisoner rescue efforts, both within and outside of Taiwan, spanned decades since their inception in the 1960s, with countless individuals and groups participating, including overseas Taiwanese, church groups, foreigners, Amnesty International, the media, and academia.

  In the late 1960s, the issue of human rights gradually became a prime concern of the international community, with overseas support of political prisoners becoming ever more organized and diversified. From 1976, when President Carter’s foreign policy brought the human rights issue into the international political arena, the KMT authorities’ records of human rights abuse drew worldwide concern. In 1969 Hsieh Tsung-min and Tsai Tsai-yuan cooperated to compile a list of political prisoners, which Peng Ming-min handed to the US ambassador. In 1970 Tsai Tsai-yuan passed a list of 237 prisoners to Japan, where it was published in Taiwan Chenglian, the first time such a list came to public light.

  In 1970, jailed dissidents such as Tsai Tsai-yuan and Chen Chung-tung, with the cooperation of people outside, like Roger Hsieh and Tsai Chin-keng, compiled detailed information on 214 political prisoners, which they passed on to Amnesty International. This information became a vital reference for subsequent international aid efforts for Taiwan’s political prisoners. After the Kaohsiung Incident of 1979, the KMT vigorously arrested opponents, an act that evoked concern around the world. Pressure from the international community created the environment for resistance against KMT oppression both within and outside of Taiwan.

　　　　◆Hand-written List

　　　　This list of 214 prisoners made it overseas, where it appeared in the monthly Taiwan Chenglian. (Provided by the Dr. Chen Wen-cheng Memorial Foundation)

Redress

  The number of people killed in the 228 Incident of 1947 is beyond calculating. The long period of White Terror, with countless native Taiwanese and mainlanders dying at the Machangting, brought on a struggle for human rights. Forty years later, Cheng Nan-jung, who was born in that year, promoted a redress movement. On a speech-making tour of the island, he was surrounded by riot police everywhere he went. To medicate and rebuild the collective soul of the Taiwan people will require effort, so that the dark authoritarian shadow may be erased in all aspects, political, economic and cultural.

　　　　◆In December 2004, victims held a press conference regarding the content of recently declassified documents, requesting that the Legislative Yuan organize a Commission for the Investigation and Settlement of Post-War Historical Facts, to investigate who was liable during the autocratic period.(photo by Ronald Tsao)

　　　　◆19 May 2007, a group of victims of the February 28 Incident and the White Terror took part in a demonstration to change the name of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall to the Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall. They staged a sit-in displaying a banner reading: “Without truth there can be no reconciliation.”(photo by Ronald Tsao)

Monument

Human Rights Plaque


On the Human Rights Monument erected by the Human Rights Education Foundation are the words of Po Yang:

“In those times

How many were the mothers

Who, for their sons
Imprisoned on this island

Wept through the long night?”

Unveiled on 10 December 1999, it was made into a new wall in 2007. It symbolizes the path of human rights taken by every victim.

◆the Human Rights Monument(photos by Ronald Tsao)

◆the Human Rights Monument(photos by Ronald Tsao)

◆the Human Rights Monument(photos by Ronald Tsao)

　　　　◆the Human Rights Monument (photo by Liu Chen-hsiang, prvided by Taiwan Art-in Design Company)

　　　　◆Performance of Oh Formosa! Requiem for the Martyrs on 17 May 2005, commemorating the anniversary of the first transfer of prisoners to Green Island 54 years before. (photo by Liu Chen-hsiang, prvided by Taiwan Art-in Design Company)

Memorial Site

Potential World Cultural Legacy
  Here is to be found the visible evidence of the sort of suffering endured during the Cold War. It is also a significant representation of the successful democratic transformation into a model democratic country despite one of the longest martial law periods in the last half of the 20th century. Within these grounds were once locked up people from every province in China, from overseas, and from all regions of Taiwan, leaving in their wake intangible cultural assets. More than 20 prisoners served sentences of over 30 years here, perhaps a world record for an island prison. The park’s case list presents a legacy of tragedy, or “negative heritage,” comparable to that of sites on the World Heritage List, including remnants of tragedies such as Auschwitz in Poland, the Atomic Dome in Hiroshima and Robben Island in South Africa, symbol of the pursuit of freedom under the policy of apartheid. 

　　　　◆The Atomic Dome in Hiroshima(photo by Ronald Tsao)

  Green Island’s coastal coral reef, known as the Great Mushroom Head, serves as an indicator of change in the ecology of the nearby ocean waters, a living record of the earth’s history. At least 1200 years old and the largest known Porites lobata coral reef in the world.