Why the Death of a Professor During Martial Law Sparked Int'l Outrage
Forty-five years since the death of Chen Wen-chen, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, on the grounds of National Taiwan University in Taipei, TaiwanPlus speaks with his brother-in-law and a movie producer who are both inspired to keep his story alive. Chen's sudden death was never solved, but it sparked international attention and bolstered the pro-democracy movement in Taiwan. Decades later, the Transitional Justice Committee found that he was likely killed by government agents, but no clear resolution has been given.
In the center of Taiwan’s top university, a tilted black stone box stands quietly.
It’s a memorial for Chen Wen-chen, a former mathematics professor and democracy advocate living in Pittsburgh...
Who on his first summer break back in his homeland in years... met a tragic fate.
MARTIN TAI, CHEN'S BROTHER-IN-LAW (Taipei)
He was a very simple person. Before he went to the US, he didn’t have any strong political views. He wasn’t for Taiwanese independence or unification. He was focused on his studies.
Taiwan was under martial law at the time – and it was known in the overseas Taiwanese community that the government had spies abroad, to snuff out any dissent.
And Chen was involved with the tangwai or “outside the party” movement on the government’s watchlist, because of his help in transferring funds to the pro-democracy Formosa Magazine.
MARTIN TAI, CHEN'S BROTHER-IN-LAW (Taipei)
I think when he went to America he has many new knowledges, new ways of thinking. So he starts to recognize that under this kind of government is not so reliable.
Being part of the tangwai movement during martial law was dangerous... those seen as opposing the government could be jailed, tortured, or killed. But when state police came knocking on Chen’s door, just two months after he returned to Taiwan, his family thought he might just be questioned and then released... as he was waiting for an exit permit to return to the US.
MARTIN TAI, CHEN'S BROTHER-IN-LAW (Taipei)
He is not such a big guy in America. In the independence [movement] he does not have any function. So he thought he should be always all right.
Chen’s body was discovered on the morning of July 3, 1981, hours after state police said they released him from questioning.
The official investigation originally said Chen committed suicide, falling from the fifth floor of this building... out of fear of being punished for his unlawful activities. But friends questioned why the 31-year old Carnegie Mellon professor with a wife and one-year-old son who had been planning on heading back to the US would leave all that behind.
Investigators later claimed Chen’s death could have been accidental.
But the mystery surrounding Chen’s fatal visit resonated overseas... with university officials asking Taiwan’s government for a thorough investigation... drawing attention to Taiwan’s complicated political situation... and making headlines across America.
Years after Chen’s death, in 1987, Taiwan officially lifted martial law. And in 1996, it held its first direct presidential election, marking a milestone in its transition to democracy. Slowly, stories of government injustice from the period that had been known as “White Terror” began to emerge...
This 2009 movie about a CIA agent sent to assist Taiwan’s investigation into an American professor’s death in Taipei once again brought unsolved tragedies like Chen’s story to global attention.
WILL TIAO, ACTOR, WRITER, PRODUCER, "FORMOSA BETRAYED" (Los Angeles)
At that time, you have to remember, you know, so what are we, we're two decades out of martial law at that point, right? 21 years. Um, and still yet there's still a reticence about talking about the past, particularly that part of the Taiwanese past, the white terror period.
Screening to audiences in the US, Taiwan, and now distributed in 40 countries around the world... Tiao says the film resonates with viewers who have felt the shared struggle against oppression in their countries.
WILL TIAO, ACTOR, WRITER, PRODUCER, "FORMOSA BETRAYED" (Los Angeles)
If you don't remember your history, you are destined to repeat it. And I think that what Taiwan does, it's not easy, right? The ramifications of what happened in the past still has effects to this day. And we know that. Right? But the fact that the Taiwanese are willing to face it, that takes courage.
In 2020, the Transitional Justice Commission said Chen was likely killed by state police.... but nobody has ever been charged.
TIFFANY WONG, TAIWANPLUS REPORTER (Taipei)
45 years after Chen’s death, and nearly four decades since the end of martial law, his story... and others like it... remain unresolved... but reminders like these across Taiwan ensure they still will not be forgotten.
