With victorious songs sung, flowers presented and a parade marching through Taipei's main street, people of Taiwan commemorated the 75th anniversary of the island's recovery from Japanese occupation.
The day of Oct. 25, 1945 marked the end of the 50-year Japanese occupation in Taiwan, while in the rest part of China, a prolonged war of resistance against Japan's invasion ended with victory. Across the world, the World War II concluded just a few weeks earlier with the defeat of Fascist forces.
In front of the same hall where Japan surrendered 75 years ago in Taipei, about 400 people gathered Sunday morning to pay their tribute to the monument marking the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and Taiwan's recovery from Japanese occupation.
They sang the songs celebrating the end of Japanese occupation in Taiwan and honoring the fighters against Japan's invasion, presenting flowers to the monument.
Huang Tai-feng took the one-hour bus from her home in Taoyuan county to attend the event in the downtown of Taipei.
"The day of Oct. 25 used to be a public holiday but the authority canceled it years ago. Now even schools do not teach this part of history. My grandsons would not be aware of this historic day if we did not talk about it at home," said Huang, the grandmother of two boys, one in the elementary school and the other in the junior middle school.
"It is important for us to have a complete understanding of our own history and pass the knowledge to our children," she said.
The Democratic Progressive Party authority and the force of "Taiwan independence" have tried hard to cut off the historical connection between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan and whitewash Japan's colonial rule in Taiwan, which led to the intentional neglect of the historic victory of Taiwan's recovery from Japanese occupation, according to people attending the event.
"We would like to call on the Taiwan society to recognize the historical significance of Taiwan's recovery from Japanese occupation," said Wang Chuan-ping, vice chairperson of Taiwan's Labor Party and one of the organizers of the event. "We also call on the authority to restore the day of Oct. 25 as a public holiday and properly celebrate it."
Also on Sunday, the association for relatives of patriots in Taiwan who fought against Japanese occupation held a conference to celebrate the historic event.
Shaw Kai-ping, the association's president, recalled Taiwan people's heroic resistance against Japan's colonial rule and the great sacrifice they paid.
"We call on more people in Taiwan to take part in the great cause of national reunification and rejuvenation," he said.
Taiwan's New Party and the Kuomintang (KMT) also held memorial events.
"Taiwan returned to the motherland 75 years ago and should not be separated again. People on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait should work together for the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation," said Wu Cheng-tien, chairman of the New Party.
History should not be forgotten nor manipulated, the KMT said in a statement, calling on the public not to forget the day of Taiwan's recovery from Japanese occupation.
