The tragedy of the February 28 Incident [bloody suppression of riots in 1947 against the KMT occupation] not only had its economic and political causes, a clash of cultures also played a role; in no way could that event be explained by such statements as "the Taiwanese people were reduced to a servile mentality under the influence of the Japanese educational system." When Japan was on the brink of defeat, Wu Cho-liu hid away and wrote Ya-hsi-ya te ku-er (Asia's Orphan), a work by a thoughtful Taiwanese intellectual, which depicts the deep pain of the people of colonial Taiwan caught between China and Japan. He himself composed a poem when a new Chinese translation of this work came out in 1962:

[1]
A volume of bitter history--so much has changed in twenty years;
A new day has dawned over the homeland, yet my tears keep coming as before.

[2]
Though pain subsides I still think of the pain; over the hundred two peaks of the ocean
         paradise--
How can I bear looking back; still teary traces remain.

     He went on to write the two books, Wu-hua-kuo (Fig Tree) and T'ai-wan lien-ch'iao (Taiwan Forsythia).  The collection Fig Tree was published in 1971 but was banned.  From September of the same year he began to write Taiwan Forsythia, and at the time of completion he admitted that the second half would only cause trouble if published under the conditions of that time.  According to his own statement, "Chapters one through eight of Taiwan Forsythia have been published in T'ai-wan wen-i (Taiwan Literature);  however,  the remaining portions will not be published now (1975), and I will leave it to someone who comes after me to do so in ten or twenty years."    Wu Cho-liu bears witness with his own personal experiences to the history of the Taiwanese people.  Wu Cho-liu's literary works and autobiography are the precious legacy of Taiwan culture, and yet in his own lifetime he did not receive the attention he deserved;  it is only now with the surge in Taiwan consciousness that his influence is expanding and widening.  Wu Cho-liu's life (1900-1976) is divided between the two different periods of Japanese occupation and Nationalist rule.  He is a writer who came to greatness late in life, as well as an outstanding example of a modern Taiwanese author.

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