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Elegy of Sweet Potatoes: Stories of Taiwan's White Terror
By Tehpen Tsai
612 pages
13 hours
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Description
A gripping, vital account of one man's imprisonment by Taiwan's police state early in the Cold War.
In 1954 Tehpen Tsai was arrested by the Kuomintang regime on suspicion of being a Chinese communist agent. After initial weeks-long interrogation near his home he was transferred to a detention facility in Taipei specifically for s
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Elegy of Sweet Potatoes: Stories of Taiwan’s White Terror Kindle Edition
by Tehpen Tsai (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
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A gripping, vital account of one man’s imprisonment by Taiwan’s police state early in the Cold War.
In 1954 Tehpen Tsai was arrested by the Kuomintang regime on suspicion of being a Chinese communist agent. After initial weeks-long interrogation near his home he was transferred to a detention facility in Taipei specifically for seditionists and enemy operatives. The evidence against him: two books, one on his shelves at home, and one that another arrestee told police he had seen at Tsai's house.
Tsai was not a communist. But in the febrile atmosphere of the early White Terror era in Taiwan that scarcely mattered; the secret police were commonly thought to operate by a rule to “never miss one true criminal, even if a hundred are killed mistakenly.” He had just one thing counting in his favour: he had recently returned from a scholarship in the USA, and the Chiang Kai-shek government at the time was sensitive to American attitudes and pressure.
In prison he met genuine communists, anti-government activists, intellectuals, and others like him, unlucky people swept up by a tenuous accusation or a chance encounter. One by one his cellmates disappeared, some to the execution grounds, others to Green Island, the notorious political prison off Taiwan’s east coast. Tsai was more fortunate. Sentenced to a term of “re-education”, he was released in November 1955.
Elegy of Sweet Potatoes is a fictionalized version of Tehpen Tsai’s experiences as a political prisoner. Names are changed, dates are fudged, but the narrative here is true to life. A compelling story full of rich description, pathos, and odd moments of humor, it is essential reading for anyone looking to understand the realities of martial law in “Free China”.
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Print length
382 pages
Language
English
Publication date
7 May 2021
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Product description
Review
"Many impressions linger in the mind from this exceptional book. Horrific torture on Green Island, singing prisoners, thumbprints placed at the end of reports on interrogations and two men kneeling in the sand of the execution yard at Hsintien. All in all, this is the best book of any kind, fiction or non-fiction, that I've ever come across on the White Terror. Nobody reading it could possibly come away unmoved or anything but better informed."
-The Taipei Times
--This text refers to the paperback edition.
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Elegy of Sweet Potatoes: Stories of Taiwan's White Terror
by Tehpen Tsai
really liked it 4.00 · Rating details · 10 ratings · 3 reviews
A gripping, vital account of one man’s imprisonment by Taiwan’s police state early in the Cold War.
In 1954 Tehpen Tsai was arrested by the Kuomintang regime on suspicion of being a Chinese communist agent. After initial weeks-long interrogation near his home he was transferred to a detention facility in Taipei specifically for seditionists and enemy operatives. The evidence against him: two books, one on his shelves at home, and one that another arrestee told police he had seen at Tsai’s house.
Tsai was not a communist. But in the febrile atmosphere of the early White Terror era in Taiwan that scarcely mattered; the secret police were commonly thought to operate by a rule to “never miss one true criminal, even if a hundred are killed mistakenly.” He had just one thing counting in his favour: he had recently returned from a scholarship in the USA, and the Chiang Kai-shek government at the time was sensitive to American attitudes and pressure.
In prison he met genuine communists, anti-government activists, intellectuals, and others like him, unlucky people swept up by a tenuous accusation or a chance encounter. One by one his cellmates disappeared, some to the execution grounds, others to Green Island, the notorious political prison off Taiwan’s east coast. Tsai was more fortunate. Sentenced to a term of “re-education”, he was released in November 1955.
Elegy of Sweet Potatoes is a thinly-fictionalized version of Tsai Tehpen’s experiences as a political prisoner. Names are changed, dates are fudged, but the narrative here is true to life. A compelling story full of rich description, pathos, and odd moments of humor, it is essential reading for anyone looking to understand the realities of martial law in “Free China”. (less)
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John
Nov 01, 2019John rated it liked it
Shelves: taiwan
Interesting insight into the life of an accused Communist during the reign of Chiang Kai-Shek in 1950s Taiwan. The translation is so-so.
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R. August
Dec 26, 2007R. August rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Shelves: taiwan, non-fiction, china
An excellent book for anyone who would ever think of voting for the KMT in 2008, especially since those who are running were directly trained by those who perpetrated most of what is described in this book. Then again, no one has ever accused the average Taiwanese voter of foresight or political competence. Where else could a mayor with a 78% approval rating still lose an election?
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Brianna
Jan 05, 2013Brianna rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: read-in-2012, read-in-school, books-i-own-personally
I had to read this for my History of Taiwan class. It was really interesting and good insight into what really happened during the White
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