One milestone at a time

As I work through this process, I try to acknowledge the little milestones I've reached.

In December I finally finished translating all three years worth of interviews that I've conducted with Su Beng. I've audio and video recorded all of our interviews which are done in Hoklo Taiwanese. Now I finally have written, English transcripts of all the interviews. Many people have asked why I don't just have a translator do the job for me. Aside from not having the funds to hire one to do this, I prefer to take on this challenge myself. Who better than me to understand the purpose behind the questions I have asked Su Beng and the context of his answers? I wouldn't want the spirit and flavor of what's being said in the interviews to get lost in translation. It is a tedious task at times, but it is a part of the process that is absolutely necessary for me to have a complete understanding of this man's life.

These past few months I've been going through this pile of information- recompiling, organizing, documenting and merging all of it. At times it is mind-numbing and repetitive as I try to get the facts straight by listening and "relistening" to various interviews in which we have discussed one particular situation over and over again. This sometimes happens since it takes a few interviews to dig deeper for certain details and specifics. I realize that this is far from the writing and editing process, which will be far more interesting and stimulating for me.

At times I am surprised at what I learn from "relistening" to our interviews. I feel as though I am unearthing little details which are revealing, and that collectively they will tell an authentic story of this man's life. I am amazed by this one man's persistence, and fight against adversity throughout his life. Here are a few of the highlights:

With dogged determination he went to China during World War II to oppose Japan's rising aggression in Asia. Working as an undercover agent for the Chinese Communists, Su Beng grew disillusioned and made a dramatic escape from China back to Taiwan, just as the Chinese Nationalist party (Kuomintang), who had lost to the Chinese Communists, also fled to Taiwan. During the early years of martial law imposed by the authoritarian Kuomintang regime, he started the Taiwan Independence Armed Corps- a group organized to assassinate Chiang Kai-shek. They stockpiled old guns left behind by the Japanese in Taiwan at the end of their 50 year occupation. When the stockpiles of guns were discovered Su Beng went on the lam and eventually escaped once again by stowing away for days in a banana boat bound for Japan.

And if these adventures are not impressive enough, just try to fathom what it took to write Taiwan's 400 Years of History- his most palpable contribution- there are remarkable stories here. Written during Su Beng's years of exile in Japan, and while Taiwan was still under martial law, the first version, which was written in Japanese was published in 1962. An expanded, more complete Chinese version was published in the US in 1980. Supporting documents for the Chinese version were appropriated and bribed from the Kuomintang and smuggled from Taiwan through Su Beng's underground network to Japan. When Kuomintang authorities learned that Su Beng was writing this book, he had to write in secrecy.

I'm looking forward to getting back to Taiwan later this month to fill in the pieces that make up the rest of Su Beng's life story.

On December 11, 2007

Su Beng is pictured here in a photo from The Liberty Times (a Chinese language newspaper) protesting with a pro-independence group in front of the National Normal University in Taipei. They demanded that the university dismantle the Chiang Kai-shek statue standing at the entrance.

If you'd like to read the complete Chinese language article that appeared in The Liberty Times click here.

Ninety... nearly

Su Beng was born on this day in 1918, in the Shih Lin district of Taipei, Taiwan. So I called Su Beng earlier (due to the time difference between New York and Taipei) to wish him a Happy Birthday. Based on the Gregorian calendar, he would now be eighty-nine years old.

But according to Taiwanese custom, he celebrated his ninetieth birthday a few years ago. In Taiwan, a baby is considered one year old when he or she is born. When the new lunar year arrives, another year is added to a person's age, making him or her two years old. Since the first day of the lunar new year usually falls between January 20 and February 21st of the Gregorian calendar, by the end of February 1919, Su Beng was considered 2 years old. By November 18, 1919, he would still be two years old. Following this line of logic, Su Beng would have been eighty-nine years old in 2006. To complicate matters further, the number 9- and odd numbers in general- are considered unlucky by the Taiwanese, so people customarily skip the eighty-ninth year and just round up to ninety. So, Su Beng celebrated his ninetieth birthday in 2006.

We chatted briefly. I told him that I was planning to return to Taiwan in the new year and he told me that he recently published a short book titled, "Why Should Taiwan Be Independent." Once I'm back in Taiwan I will be back to work with him and plan to him help translate "Why Should Taiwan Be Independent" into English.


Draft pages from Su Beng's short book, "Why Should Taiwan Be Independent"

Being Su Beng's biographer

Finally, at long last, after over three years, I have dropped everything to focus exclusively on working on this project- to write and document Su Beng's life.

There are hours upon hours of video footage and audio recordings of interviews, which need to be translated and edited. I am still working out a balance between focusing on the actual writing of the biography and editing of video footage.

The network of people who's lives have been touched by Su Beng is extensive and rich. In working on the concept of a video documentary I have started interviewing some of these people, as another angle from which tell the story of Su Beng's life. It is amazing how I have come to find these contacts through my personal networks.

Since I've been back in North America I have interviewed someone who knew Su Beng in his youth, in Taiwan. This person now happens to live in the state of Massachusetts.

From 1981-1982, when Su Beng was still based in Japan, he began traveling overseas (to Europe and North America and Brazil) to mobilize overseas Taiwanese in the fight for Taiwan's independence. He traveled around reaching out to these Taiwanese communities. He would spread the word and speak about why Taiwan should become independent, and promote the Chinese language version of Taiwan's 400 Years of History which was published in 1980. In the process, he further broadened his underground network of activists and supporters worldwide. Of course there are some supporters and members of his underground network in the U.S. that I'll be reaching out to while I'm here.

Now I am based in New York, the publishing mecca of the world. Opportunity awaits.

Response to June 29 Reuters article about Su Beng

Ralph Jennings' article about Su Beng came out the day before I was to leave Taiwan to relocate in New York City. I have finally composed my response, which I've sent off to some major newspapers, and I offer it here in its complete unedited form:

===========================

While Mr. Jennings’ June 29, 2007, article, “Taiwan ex-communist on long march for independence,” succeeds in juxtaposing Su Beng’s involvement and eventual disillusionment with the Chinese communists, it also creates the false impression that Su Beng became a member of the Chinese Communist Party under the direct tutelage of Mao Zedong.

Being labeled a communist is certainly nothing new to Su Beng and it’s a label loaded with complexity. During his years of study at Waseda University, Su Beng became a Marxist devotee and he fully embraced Marx’s communist ideology. But to imply that Su Beng went to China to be trained by Mao to become a (Chinese) communist is deeply misleading.

When Su Beng left for China in 1942, he was already a “believer” of communism- of the purely Marxist variety. To him communist China was a utopian society that offered him the opportunity to be a part of the Chinese Communists’ resistance of Japanese imperialism. At that time he couldn’t even speak Mandarin, so it’s doubtful that he set out specifically to participate in the Chinese revolution. His motivation was to oppose Japan’s rising aggression.

To say that “Su Beng trained assiduously under Chairman Mao Zedong” is tantamount to stating that Su Beng was personally trained and shaped by Mao Zedong to follow the Chinese revolution. This a bit of a stretch; the reality of the situation is not so stark. The Chinese Communists faithfully used Mao’s teachings to indoctrinate all those within their reach; there was no choice in this matter and Su Beng was no exception.

Mr. Jennings’ description of Su as “disillusioned with his former party” brands Su Beng as a member of the Chinese Communist party. If Mr. Jennings had delved deeper or simply asked Su Beng about his relationship with the Chinese Communists; his article would not be leading the reader into such false assumptions.

In my discussions with Su Beng, he has talked about how the indoctrination of Maoism led to his disillusionment with the Chinese Communist party; Chinese communism bore no resemblance to Marx’s theory of communism. It was then that he vowed never to join the Chinese Communist Party. He has also talked of how the Chinese Communists kept a watchful eye on him and excluded him from party member meetings.

Mr. Jennings continues to describe Su Beng’s ongoing fight for Taiwan’s independence, but neglects to mention Su’s greatest legacy, which is authoring the mammoth “Taiwan’s 400 Years of History”- a veritable encyclopedia of Taiwan’s history, that has influenced generations of Taiwanese by awakening an awareness of their past and a sense of Taiwanese identity.

Two final points of clarification required. First, the charge of 50 days in jail now facing Su Beng, is for failing to stop a protest after being given 3 warnings. On April 27, 2005, Su Beng and his motorcade assembled outside of a jail to protest the immediate arrest of the taxi driver who- just the day before (April 26 2007)- had driven Su Beng during a high speed chase of Lien Chan’s (then chairman of the Kuomintang party) car en route to the Taiwan Taoyuan airport. On that day, mass protests erupted in the Taiwan Taoyuan airport in response to the visits of Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) officials with the People’s Republic of China officials.

Secondly, when Su Beng stowed away in a banana boat to Japan in 1952, he was immediately arrested for illegal entry and charged with four months in detention, despite his request for political asylum. It is an oversimplification to state that Su Beng “persuaded authorities to let him live in exile.” In a strange twist of fate, the banana exporting company reported Su Beng missing to the Kuomintang authorities in Taiwan, who in turn contacted Japanese authorities for their cooperation in arresting Su. Since Su was wanted for plotting to assassinate Chiang Kai-shek, this notification actually proved that Su Beng was in need of political asylum, and so he was released and allowed to live in Japan in exile.

Furthermore it is Mr. Jennings' opinion that the authorities wouldn’t let a 90-year-old man serve time in jail. When he asked me what I thought about the matter I said that I believed that Su Beng probably wouldn’t have to serve time since he has not yet served any time for previous arrest warrants. Su Beng has not been officially pardoned, but before President Chen Shui-bian’s inauguration in 2000, he honored Su Beng for his contributions to Taiwan.

Mr. Jennings has used broad statements that are open to wide interpretation to simply grab the reader’s attention without considering the damage done by putting such falsehoods on out record. There is still much more to set straight about the life of Su Beng- revolutionary, historian, educator and idealist.

Felicia Lin
Su Beng’s biographer

Reuters article about Su Beng

Ralph Jennings' article about Su Beng appears
here on Reuters. I have much to say on it. My comments will follow shortly.

Taiwan ex-communist on long march for independence
Fri Jun 29,2007 7:32PM EDT
By Ralph Jennings

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan-born Su Beng trained assiduously under Chairman Mao Zedong 60 years ago to be a communist, shunning marriage and refusing to have children so he could follow the Chinese revolution.

But more than half a century later, Su, weak and almost 90, is now back in Taiwan, long ago disillusioned with his former party as he cultivates a network to press for the self-ruled island's formal independence from China.

These days his tactics include traffic blockades and burning Chinese flags to dramatize his cause.

"In 400 years the Taiwanese have never been their own bosses. It's not independent yet," said Su, sitting in the study of his Tapei home, a room filled with books, four of which he wrote. Su's spirited tactics are aimed at promoting change from the bottom up, but they have also gotten him and his 2,000 Taiwan supporters in trouble at times.

Su, who walks with a limp and sports a mane of long white hair, is appealing a six-month sentence for setting off fireworks at the Taipei international airport in an April 2005 protest against a trip to China by a top official of the main opposition Nationalist Party.

He faces another 50 days in jail for refusing to disband a traffic blockade.

Possibly because of his age, or because today's ruling party quietly supports him, Su may be excused from serving time, his biographer said.

"Su Beng has recently risen out of relative obscurity in the wake of China's growing aggression and the Chinese Nationalist Party's questionable exchanges with China," said Felicia Lin, an English teacher in Kaohsiung, who is writing the biography.

In her blog, Lin refers to Su as an "inspiring" man who believes it is not a question of if, but when, Taiwan will gain formal independence.

Taiwan has been self-ruled since the Nationalists, headed by Chiang Kai-shek, fled there in 1949 after losing a civil war to the Communists. But it has never declared formal independence, and Beijing has threatened to invade if it ever does so.

Su, the nom-de-guerre for the man born as Shih Chao-hui, was anti-Japanese for much of his formative years, opposing Japan's colonial control of Taiwan during his time as a Waseda University student in Tokyo and later in China from 1942 to 1949.

Disheartened by what he describes as cruelty among the Communists, he returned to Taiwan shortly before the Communist victory, going back and forth between Taiwan and Japan since.

Shortly after his initial return to Taiwan, he fought Chiang Kai-shek's authoritarian rule by stockpiling old Japanese weapons, leading to charges that he was plotting to assassinate the late strongman.

He escaped the government's fury by stowing away in 1952 on a banana boat to Japan, where he persuaded authorities to let him live in exile. Su became a legend there by opening a noodle restaurant that trained revolutionaries on its fifth floor.

During his 40 years in Japan, he illegally entered Taiwan several times to try to destabilize the Nationalists and promote Taiwan independence. He returned to stay in 1993, and since then he has organized motorcades of slogan-painted taxis on weekends and started a foundation to promote his history books.

He expects local supporters to carry on his cause as he ages.

"It's their era," he says.

Speaking about Su Beng

My friend, Jerome Keating, who organizes monthly breakfast meetings up in Taipei, has kindly asked me to speak about Su Beng and the project I've been working on.

The meeting will be held at The Shannon, on Sunday, June 17 at 10:00am. The Shannon is located at: 6 Tun Hua North Road, just south of Nanking E. Rd., next to Dan Ryan's and across from the new baseball stadium, Tel: (02) 2772-0948.

After breakfast is served, I will begin my presentation. My project is still very much in progress, so I see this as a wonderful opportunity to not only share what I've done so far but to also bounce ideas off of fresh minds.

The charges are in

I always come away so re energized from my visits with Su Beng. It is always so inspiring and reaffirming to talk to this man who so steadfastly believes it is not a question of whether or not Taiwan will one day become an independent, normal country; it is a matter of when.

All legalese aside, Su Beng has told me that the Supreme Court has charged him on two counts.

First count- 50 days

On April 26th the taxi driver- who drove (Su Beng) right up beside Lien Chan's car on the expressway enroute to the airport- was arrested and held without bail. The following day, Su Beng led a motorcade of taxis in protest outside of the jail where his driver was held. He has been charged with serving 50 days in prison for continuing to protest after being given 3 warnings to stop. He will not be able to post bail in lieu of serving the 50 days.

Second count- 6 months

Su Beng has also been charged with serving 6 months in prison for setting off fireworks in the Taiwan Taoyuan Airport on April 26, 2005 during the mass protests of Lien Chan's trip to China.

Su Beng's assistant, Bin Hong has been charged with 8 months for her involvement in the activities at the Taiwan Taoyuan airport on April 26th.

Su Beng and Bin Hong may post bail for over NT$600,000 total- for both of their 6 month and 8 month charges respectively.

He is currently seeking legal advice on how to proceed with this.

Deciphering fact from fiction

Certainly those who have heard tall tales about Su Beng may wonder what is fact or fiction and here I will offer some points of clarification.

History buffs should be the first to note that Su Beng, who was born in 1918, would have only been about 16 years of age when the Long March began in October of 1934. So, no, he did not participate in the Long March, which was the yearlong military retreat of the Red Armies of the Communist Party of China as they attempted to dodge Kuomingtang forces.

On getting a vasectomy

Su Beng did indeed get a vasectomy before the age of thirty, while he was in Shanghai (1942-1945) working as an undercover agent for the Chinese Communists; his reasons for electing to get a vasectomy include some “colorful” and practical reasons. It was common practice for the Chinese Communists to pair up male and female undercover agents, thereby assigning them to live as a “married” couple. And so they did- live under the same roof and sleep in the same bed. Inevitably, some “couples” ended up consummating their relationship, and if this resulted in offspring, the agents were transferred away to remote areas, abandoned by the Chinese Communists and considered to no longer be of any use. Su Beng saw this and decided that he didn’t want to meet such demise. He had followed his Marxist, socialist ideals to come to China in order to resist Japanese imperialism; nothing was going to prevent his revolutionary purpose.

Was this a man who simply knew himself- that he was just human and that he would have these undeniable urges which he wouldn’t be able to control? Some might say he could have just used some self-control and restraint, but just how realistic is that view? Were there more noble reasons at work in Su Beng’s decision? Decisions like this are not always as simple as they seem.

The one person that Su Beng said he’d have to “answer to” for this life decision would be his grandmother- who raised him like a son. Su Beng's mother was an only child, so he was given his mother’s maiden name Shi (施)rather than his father’s surname Lin in order to continue the Shi lineage.

On being a Communist

Su Beng went to China (1942-1949) a socialist idealist; working for the Chinese Communists was a means to resist Japanese imperialism. He became disillusioned with communism as the hypocrisy and brutality of the Chinese Communists became apparent. He resisted and did not join the Communist party, he knew he'd have to devise a way to escape their clutches. It wouldn't be easy.

And there’s more…

There’s the woman who’s said to be the love of his life- a Japanese woman that Su Beng met in Beijing, who fled with him out of China (in 1949) and away from the grip of the Chinese Communists to Taiwan. After his involvement in a plot to assassinate Chiang Kai-shek, he fled from Taiwan by stowing away in a banana boat to Japan (in 1952). Later she reunited with him in Japan.

During the 40 years or so (from 1952-1993) that Su Beng lived in exile in Japan, he illegally entered Taiwan several times in order to continue his underground efforts to destabilize the KMT and promote Taiwan independence.

Just what ARE the charges?

Though the charges facing Su Beng and his assistant, Bin Hong were reported in the Chinese language Liberty Times newspaper today, Su Beng himself and his assistant have not yet received an official notice of the charges.

So the exact terms of the charges have yet to be confirmed; it is not clear how much bail may be posted in lieu of serving time or whether bail will be even be allowed to be posted.

No comments yet on how Su Beng or Bin Hong will proceed or whether Su Beng will post bail, or actually serve the time.