This year Thanksgiving brought bittersweet tears to Thomas Liu after he received two letters from his brother sixty years after his execution during the Whiter Terror period in Taiwan. Liu doggedly pressed officials in the Republic of China in-exile to release the confiscated letters, one written by his brother hours before his death. The letters from the grave were published for the first time on Nov22 by a Taiwanese-American news service.
Lau Thian-hok was a music student killed, ironically, for studying the Chinese language. Thian-hok struggled with Mandarin which had been imposed on the island by the Chinese occupation force and so he formed a study group with fellow students. In the chaos of the White Terror period under harsh martial law the study group was mistaken as a Communist cell and all four young men were sentenced to death.
“Dear Dad, Mom, Brothers, and Sisters,
I really do not know how to apologize to you all. It is all very clear to me now. Tonight, I will sing heartily to wish you all well. I believe death would bring one forever peace and joy. I ask you all not to be sad for me, and not to waste any money on my passing. Please grant me this very last wish. I’ll forever wish you all peace and happiness.
Thianhok, Aug. 23, 1952 at 7:00 pm
Garrison Command Prison”
The second “dead letter” from the music student was written a month earlier while in prison awaiting his fate.
“Dear Dad and Mom,
I was so very happy to receive the many items from you. However, I was soon overcome by so many memories and became depressed. I do not think I shall ever have a chance to pay you back. Other than this point in my mind, I have always been happy. Everyone will pass. Everyone is only a bubble in the sea of humanity.
My dear dad and mom, please do not feel sad for me. Look at everything as all pre-scripted by fate.”
Thomas Liu, now living in the United States, says his brother was very devoted to the family.
Liu said: “His major regret and apology was for the fact that he could not take care of his parents and help extricate his family from poverty. What was clear to him was that the lofty American ideal of Liberty was only a phantom. What was also clear to him was that the incoming Chinese-in-exile were no better than a bunch of corrupt bandits expelled by their own people from China.”
The effort to secure the letters was protracted but Liu remained determined to read what his brother wrote.
“The letters were eventually released to us,” said Liu. “It makes me wonder how many of these letters from the victims of the White Terror period will never go home.”
2012-10-27
http://www.examiner.com/article/republic-of-china-dead-letter-office-delivers-last-words-of-white-terror-victim
